Editorials
[Exhumed & Exonerated] ‘The Ugly’ (1997)
Every decade has its ups and downs when it comes to cinema, no matter the genre. Horror fans love to loft on high the output of the ‘30s & ‘40s, the ‘70s & ‘80s, and the more recent decades. More often than not, however, the 1990s are labeled as the worst decade for the genre. Not only that, but ‘90s horror tends to be written off as a whole, beyond a handful of undisputed classics. The purpose of Exhumed & Exonerated: The ‘90s Horror Project, is to refute those accusations by highlighting numerous gems from the decade. Stone cold classics will be tackled in this column from time to time, but its main purpose will be to seek out lesser-known and/or less-loved titles that I think deserve more attention and respect from fans. Let the mayhem begin!
The Ugly
Directed by Scott Reynolds
Screenplay by Scott Reynolds
Produced by Jonathan Dowling
Starring Paolo Rotondo, Rebecca Hobbs, Roy Ward, Paul Glover, Cristopher Graham, Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Caelem Pope, Vanessa Byrnes, Cath McWhirter, and Darien Takle
Released on May 1, 1998 (U.S. release)
Fresh off a career-making case, psychiatrist Dr. Karen Shumaker (Rebecca Hobbs) is sent to a scrappy asylum in Auckland, New Zealand to evaluate an inmate. That inmate, serial killer Simon Cartwright (Paolo Rotondo), has requested a re-evaluation of his mental state. Claiming that he has been cured, Simon wants a court hearing and he has specifically requested Dr. Shumaker to perform his re-evaluation. Shumaker soon finds herself in over her head as Simon’s mindgames and charismatic nature begin to take their toll. Has he been cured? Is he still insane? Or is there something even more sinister at play?
New Zealand horror is probably best known for the early films of Peter Jackson, particularly the likes of Bad Taste and Dead Alive (aka Braindead). It is also a genre-filmmaking industry that has roared back to life in recent years, with the likes of What We Do in the Shadows, Housebound, Deathgasm, Black Sheep, and more pouring out of the country and delighting horror fans around the globe. There have been others, of course, from 1984’s Death Warmed Up and 1985’s The Lost Tribe to 1993’s Jack Be Nimble and 2000’s Karl Urban-starring The Irrefutable Truth About Demons. And, of course, 1997’s The Ugly!
While the set-up of this is very Thomas Harris-y, early ‘90s “psychological thriller” territory, the film never really lives within that domain. Sure, we get hefty glimpses of Simon’s past that inform the man he has ultimately become, but the heart of the film is very much rooted within Simon himself. The title, if you’re curious, hails from Simone’s favorite book as a child: The Ugly Duckling. After a rather damaging (both physically and emotionally) run-in with some neighborhood bullies, the book is destroyed and Simone is left with a title page that is half-missing. Hence “The Ugly”, which also doubles as Simon’s name for his murderous alter-ego.
Speaking of killer instincts, The Ugly is not interested in building a mindless killing machine or a mugging malevolent baddie for the audience. Instead, it carefully spends its time letting Simon’s charms work on you and juxtaposing them with a background just tragic enough to make you feel a little sorry for him. Think less Hannibal Lecter and more Norman Bates. Not that there’s anything wrong with the former, mind you, but this just isn’t that kind of film.
Clearly crafted on a low budget, writer/director Reynolds actually uses that to the film’s advantage. What the film lacks in resources, it makes up for in style and intensity. There’s a frenetic energy to the proceedings, particularly the kills shown in the flashbacks, that is often lacking in this particular subgenre. This is conveyed through a variety of methods, from the music to hyperactive camerawork to its vibrant color palette (particularly the supremely black-ish blood).
Not simply content to let the performances (all of which are good, especially the two leads) carry the film, Reynolds set out to make the visuals match them. When Simon is depressed and falls into self-loathing, the film itself looks and feels sad. When he is in the midst of an adrenaline-fueled killing spree, the movie feels like someone drove a needle into its heart, Pulp Fiction-style.
There are some supernatural elements at play, primarily when it comes to “The Visitors”. You see, Simon’s victims continue to haunt him after their death. They appear as ghoulish bleeding corpses that taunt him to continue his murderous ways. The film also hints at times that Simon might have some psychic abilities. None of this is ever really made clear, however, so it’s ultimately up to the viewer to decide whether these elements are “real” within the story itself or simple a byproduct of Simon’s psychosis.
Looking into Reynolds’ work in preparation for this entry, I was disappointed to see that he hasn’t made many films since this feature-length debut. He has only made two features since, neither of which I have seen (although that will be rectified). Given the creativity and style on display here, it’s a shame that he hasn’t worked regularly in the (almost) two decades since The Ugly was released.
The Ugly is probably best known for being showcased in a horror film documentary 15 years ago titled Boogeymen: The Killer Compilation. While it naturally showcased the adventures of Freddy, Chucky, Pinhead, Leatherface, etc., it also managed to highlight a few less-celebrated fright flicks like The Guardian, The Dentist, Wishmaster, and…of course…The Ugly. That’s where I became aware of this underseen gem and tracked it down quickly afterwards. It’s been a favorite ever since.
High on style, packed with violence, and topped off with some great performances, The Ugly deserves a much wider audience and positive reception than it has been given to date. While some of the films I have showcased in the column so far have been more endearing in terms of their entertainment factor than actually quality, Scott Reynolds’ The Ugly is a legitimately good movie. Seek it out!
Up Next: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990)
Previously On…
Species | Mute Witness | Popcorn | Wishmaster | Alien 3 | Cast A Deadly Spell
Disturbing Behavior | The Sect | The Addams Family | The Ugly
The penultimate season of Tales from the Crypt (1989–1996) aired its first three episodes on October 31, so it’s understandable that at least one of those three stories is set on Halloween.
Sandwiched between “Let the Punishment Fit the Crime” (Russell Mulcahy, Ron Finley) and “Whirlpool” (Mick Garris, A. L. Katz & Gilbert Adler) is the most severe episode of the bunch. Maybe the entire series? William Malone and Dick Beebe’s “Only Skin Deep” traded the show’s typical sense of fun for startling amounts of bleakness and kink.
“Only Skin Deep” is, apart from the Crypt Keeper’s intro and outro, noticeably unfunny. There are no considerable attempts at making the viewer laugh. Come to think of it, if those bookends had been replaced, and there was more of a sci-fi element in the story, HBO could have easily squeezed this tale into that successor anthology, Perversions of Science (1997). In Crypt, though, “Only Skin Deep” is much too grim for an audience that had become accustomed to campiness and levity.
What makes “Only Skin Deep” feel dark, among other things, is its protagonist. Showing up to a Halloween party where he’s not welcome, and where his former girlfriend (Diane DiLasco) is attending, Carl Schlag (Peter Onorati) first comes across as your standard bitter ex. You soon realize it’s much worse than that, once Carl threatens Linda (“You know, silly me, thinking I gave you what you deserved. If I’d have done that, I’d have killed you”). Now, I haven’t forgotten that Tales from the Crypt was teeming with vile men who did women harm. Yet Carl’s brand of misogynistic menace hits differently—it borders on being too realistic for this kind of series.
Mike Vosburg’s EC-style comic cover for “Only Skin Deep”, as seen in the Tales from the Crypt episode.
Despite donning a party mask for much of the episode, Carl can’t ever mask his true nature. The invitation did say “come as you are”, after all. That inability to change and be better, however, is why Carl ends up in such a karmic predicament. His outburst of anger at the party attracts the attention of one loner partygoer named Molly (Sherrie Rose, who was also in Season Four’s “On a Deadman’s Chest”). Her bone-white, featureless “mask” and body-bag costume don’t initially register as too strange, especially on a night like this. But at a party chock-full of colorful, cartoonish, and lighthearted ensembles, it does look out of place.
Darkness attracts darkness as Carl ditches the party and accompanies the mysterious Molly to her place. Which, by the way, should have been an immediate red flag. But perhaps she’s so hot, he doesn’t seem to mind the serial killer aesthetic. Resembling a warehouse that has been converted into living spaces, but never then decorated to remove the cold, industrial look, Molly’s home (or lair) is as gloomy as this whole episode feels. It’s like the set of a grungy music video, albeit a tad cleaner. The environments in a typical Crypt episode tend to be small, overfilled, and broken-in. Warm, regardless of any weird goings-on. All that empty space in Molly’s hovel, on the other hand, elicits a creepy feeling that Carl was unwise to ignore.
Tales from the Crypt featured more sex than it didn’t, but hands down, “Only Skin Deep” boasts the steamiest scene in the show’s history. Pushing it over the line, in addition to Onorati showing bare buns and the camera never turning down one of his pelvic thrusts, is the twisted dirty talk. Carl stays in the moment, whereas Molly unleashes charged lines like “the hurt, the anger, give it to me” and “take it out on my flesh like you want to”. It’s all quite kinky, as well as tied into the story’s theme of pain.
How else “Only Skin Deep” differs from other episodes is its twists. Or rather, its lack thereof. Nothing comes as a great surprise here, particularly because the deuteragonist’s ulterior motives are so obvious. By no means is Molly a wolf in sheep’s clothing; her face is a fright mask, she practically reeks of death, and she lives in what can best be described as a serial killer’s hideout. That last-act revelation of Molly’s mask really being her face is also nothing shocking. Cleverness is certainly not this episode’s strength.
A page from “…Only Skin Deep!”, as seen in EC Comics’ Tales from the Crypt.
While “Only Skin Deep” isn’t the most universally loved episode of Tales from the Crypt, it’s an interesting preview of William Malone’s future as a director. Most notably, he went on to helm House on Haunted Hill (1999) and FeardotCom (2002), the former of which was co-written by Dick Beebe, this episode’s writer. Dark Castle Entertainment, that genre house founded by Crypt producers Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, and Gilbert Adler, was instrumental in bringing out Malone’s gruesome, over-the-top vision in House on Haunted Hill. However, FeardotCom and Malone’s Masters of Horror episode, “Fair-Haired Child”, are the most stylistically compatible with “Only Skin Deep”.
As one might guess, this episode is nothing like its source material. The “…Only Skin Deep!” found in the pages of EC Comics is set during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and save for its last couple of pages, is pretty sweet in nature. There, a man named Herbert is enamored with a woman he met five years prior to the present-day story. Every year, he has come down to Mardi Gras to see Suzanne, who’s always dressed as a hag-faced witch. Well, this time, Herbert plans on popping the question and marrying someone who is, for the most part, a total stranger. Suzanne accepts his proposal, but with one condition: they stay in costume until they’re officially hitched. You can probably see where this is going…
Once they are married, Suzanne remains incognito, even when she and Herbert have consummated their vows. A semi-predictive nightmare then rattles Herbert; he dreamt that Suzanne’s real face was as wizened as her mask. Finally, in his haste to find out the truth, Herbert winds up killing his new wife. Faceless and well on her way to bleeding out, the dying Suzanne manages to say she never wore a mask.
For more traditional EC-style ghastliness, your best bet is reading the comic. It’s wickedly sad. For something less conventional, as far as Tales from the Crypt goes, the role-reversing adaptation is worth watching. It’s not the best this show had to offer, although Malone’s visual style, plus the sexual abandon, does set the episode apart. If nothing else, “Only Skin Deep” leaves an impression that, even years later, shows no signs of fading.
Season Six of Tales from the Crypt can be streamed on Shudder, starting on June 5.
Tales from Tales from the Crypt celebrates the show’s Shudder premiere by singling out one episode from each season. So don’t even think about changing that dial, boys and ghouls. More spot-“frights” are to come.
Carl discovers Molly’s collection of human ‘masks’ in the Tales from the Crypt episode, “Only Skin Deep”.
You must be logged in to post a comment.