Sheep Skin

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Title:	Sheep Skin
Director:	Kurtis Speiler
Writer(s):	Kurtis Spieler
Cast:	Jamie Lynn Bagley, Mark Resnik, Michael Schantz, Zack Gillette
Genre(s):	Werewolf, Crime, Drama
Release Date:	2014 / 10th of May 2016 [Unearthed] Films

Sheep Skin began from an earlier short film version way back in 2007 (IMDb) from Kurtis Speiler. Then in 2014 Kurtis brought out his debut feature, movie length version of Sheep Skin. The 2016 came around and none other than a bastion of the underground picked it up, Stephen Biro and his Unearthed Films.

An interesting promise for the werewolf genre naturally I would want to check out Sheep Skin. Lucky for us here in the Extreme Horror Cinema team Mr. Biro shared with us the link to his latest release. Knowing Unearthed Films doesn’t release any old shit I was quite excited to have the chance to check this out!

Three little pigs go and kidnap the big bad wolf!

Schafer’s sister was told by the Police his sister was torn apart by a large animal but he knows better!

It was a werewolf and he has the proof!

Plan of capturing the suspected Lycan is put into play. Dylan pretends to be the new lady in the office takes an envelope to their target. Todd is a sleaze bag sleeping behind his wife Nicole’s back. With Schafer’s sister! he is told that the elevator is out of order and to use the fire stairs.

Unfortunately for him he is met by Schafer and the violent Boston Clive. Threatened with a syringe he is hooded and taken to a factory where it will be proved that he is a werewolf.

Handcuffed to a chair on a room that has been laid out with plastic sheeting. easy enough to get rid of the bloody, gory mess of the aftermath of when they slay the beast that Todd surely is.

Soon a forth man arrives, Marcus. He was sent out to make a special purpose, an expensive one too!

Six silver bullets.

Interrogation time!

Accused of being a werewolf Todd flatly denies this and pretty much states the claim is insane. After all, there is no such thing as a werewolf!

First the photos. Pictures of Schafer’s sister ripped apart. Then of a newspaper article of another victim that they can prove that Todd was in the area at the time. How many more victims could be out there? How much research into Todd’s travel movements and newspaper articles will unearth more victims torn apart by a wild animal?

Flat denials leaves to deeper, more violent interrogation! Boston Clive and his knuckle duster. Beatings and pleadings. Money is promised but unfortunately Schafer’s sister was like family to everyone.

Todd’s untrusting wife Nicole comes onto the scene. Not knowing where he is she tracts his mobile phone to the factory. Along with this a security guard finds Schafer and Dylan on site.

Soon everything goes from bad to bloody worse!

Would You Kill A Man To Kill A Monster?

Sheep Skin opens with stills of the crime. Proof of the pudding that a werewolf killed Schafer’s sister. Nice, gory pictures. Then the meat of the tale starts and the story becomes more of a crime drama / thriller until near the end when more of a horror element is brought into play.

Bloodshed does happen naturally within the main body of the storyline. After all the interrogation goes from just words and accusations to violence.Torture is in the form of Boston Clive taking to Todd with his knuckle duster. So naturally there is bloodshed.

Main arc of this story is to take a different slant to the whole werewolf cycle. Of taking the accused and first get a confession out of him. Then after that proves to be useless to get proof in other ways. Of rubbing silver on Todd and through his wounds to stuff like checking his palms for hair. All to no avail. Then it is made aware to the viewer that it is the night of the full moon.

Loved the three little piggies angle. At the beginning the three main kidnappers are dressed up in pig masks…I LOVE piggy masks and these looked great! Just thought it was a great idea and visually awesome as well. menacing in the dark stairwell then later at the factory where they were removed. To be honest though the masks just maybe should have been kept on for much longer. As soon as they came off you knew full well it wasn’t going to bode well for their victim. Plus if they kept the masks on for longer I feel the scenes would of had a more menacing quality to them.

Dug the chemistry between the kidnappers. They are members of a punk band and this felt good. Each were very much into what they had planned as the sister was like theirs as well.

Some criticism has been laid onto Todd’s character. he is too quiet. For me though this was the while wolf in sheep clothing thing. he was being meek on purpose. You could sort of see his real character at the beginning with his initial dealings with Dylan, he had his sights on her to fuck with. Perhaps a victim?

In the end is Todd a werewolf? Or something equally dangerous, a serial killer who targets young woman to tear apart their lives…literally! Has the band bitten off more than they can chew? To unearth this films final bloody conclusion go check it out for yourself!

Though I wished the piggy masks stayed on for much longer, and could have been better with more bloody gory antics, I didn’t feel let down. Kurtis Speiler had his reasons. From what I experienced he aimed for a more drama driven event. One that questioned the actions of a group of people blindly following their leader and his belief. That they had a werewolf in their midsts.

Have to state that Sheep Skin was an interesting choice by Stephen Biro to make for a release through his Unearthed Films. Not as gory or totally insane as some of his other currant releases. But in stating that one worth checking out if you like something different in a traditional horror genre.

Kurtis Speiler‘s Sheep Skin got a release through Unearthed Films on 10th of May 2016.