The Ballad of Skinless Pete

Director - Dustin Mills (The Puppet Monster Massacre, Night of the Tentacles)
Starring - Brandon Salkil (Zombie A-Hole, Night of the Tentacles), Erin R. Ryan (Bludgeon, Babysitter Massacre), and Dave Parker (Bath Salt Zombies, Easter Casket)
Release Date - 2013
Genre - Horror/Sci-Fi
Tagline - "He searched for a cure.  What he found was a curse"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Director Dustin Mills is a man who can turn nothing into something.  This man can take a script, probably written with gold ink, and using only his talent can craft some of the best damn indie horror flicks I have ever seen.  Mills movies are unlike anything I have seen coming out of the U.S. and can only be compared to the films of Japanese movie company Sushi Typhoon.  I have only known of Mills for about a year now but every time he announces a new flick I freak out like a tween watching a One Direction music video.  I first heard of his newest flick, The Ballad of Skinless Pete, several months ago when he announced it simultaneously with Kill That Bitch.  I pre-ordered the blu for it and as I waited for it to arrive Mills was kind enough to send out an online screener for us ravenous reviewers to sink our teeth into.

     The film follows brilliant scientist and ladies man Peter Peel (Salkil) as he struggles with his own mortality and tries to cure cancer using an enzyme from a parasitic worm.  Peel, along with his sexy partner (Ryan), tries to secure funding but the money bags with all the cash wants them both to illegally go straight to testing strays.  Peel's partner does not want to do this but Peel wishes to go straight to human testing because he has cancer himself.  After testing it on himself his cancerous spot on his shoulder disappears but the next day something far worse happens.  The enzyme changes his body's chemistry in a deadly way.  He loses all his skin and can now spit acid (more or less).  He kills the money bags and his love interest but abducts his partner who he is infatuated with.  He slowly loses his human side and begins to think he is more than human.  He tries to run tests on his partner but she has to convince him he is still human before it is too late.
     Mills is a jack of all trades.  You give him a script and a camera and he will give you a movie full of shocks and great special and visual effects.  This is a man that needs to be in Hollywood or Toronto making horror and not these other deadbeats that are giving us horror fans what they think we want.  Mills is not only a director but a fan of the genre and that shows through in his work and that is why I loved this film.  This movie was a great tribute to the classic monster movies of the late 70s and early 80s.  I could easily see this one on Monstervision with Joe Bob Briggs giving us a tally of how many breasts was in it and man-losing-skin-fu statistic.  The film has that claustrophobic atmosphere that makes monster movies so much fun and feeling of never getting away.  The acting is top notch but that is what I expected from Salkil and Ryan.  Both are amazing in their roles and I am looking forward to seeing them in other films.  As for the story, the best way to sum it up is to say it is a great mixture of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story and The Fly.  Both those elements are clearly visible in the movie but the film is far more than that.  The movie is able to build Peel up as a despicable monster only to end with one of the greatest portrayals of humanity I have seen in film only solidifying what I said earlier about the acting.  Finally, this film  has some of the greatest special effects I have seen in indie horror.  I know I say that a lot when I write reviews for Mills' films but he is always outdoing himself.  When not directing, Mills could easily score a job as a special effects masters.  When Skinless Pete's skin was actually falling off  it was gruesome enough but nothing could prepare you for the horror that was Skinless Pete.  Overall, The Ballad of Skinless Pete is one disgusting masterpiece straight from the hellish mind of Dustin Mills.  I highly, highly recommend this one.