By Douglas A. Waltz

I EAT YOUR SKIN

In 1964 Director Dell Tenney made three films that were slated for infamy. There was the horrid, THE CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE and the so bad its funny THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH. Along with this pair of cinematic wonders was a third filmed originally entitled, VOODOO BLOOD BATH. It sat on a shelf for six long years before Jerry Gross of Cinemation decided he needed something to go with a new in house production entitled I DRINK YOUR BLOOD. The idea of an exotic island setting with voodoo zombies was enough to inspire Mr. Gross to retitle the film and play it with his feature giving us one of the coolest double bills of all time. I DRINK YOUR BLOOD/ I EAT YOUR SKIN played for years in local grindhouses and I DRINK YOUR BLOOD was recently given the special edition DVD treatment. But, not so for the lower part of the bill. I EAT YOUR SKIN was discovered by yours truly at the dollar store, which Kalamazoo is famous for. There was a stack of DVD's that were double features. What, you may ask, did I EAT YOUR SKIN get saddled with in its newest incarnation? None other than SCARED TO DEATH, one of two color films that Bela Lugosi appeared in.
I will admit to never having seen the films when they were originally released, but the DVD release of I DRINK YOUR BLOOD comes with a quirky extra. It plays the prologue and title sequence of I EAT YOUR SKIN. I was fascinated by this black and white obscurity and knew that I would have to find it. Thank goodness for the dollar store phenomenon.
So, it seems that there is this scientist attempting to find a cure for cancer on a remote tropical island. The process involves exposes snake venom to radiation and then injecting it into corpses. Not sure why, seems to me that corpses can't get cancer and if they do it would cause them very little grief. Anyway, the formula has a unique side effect. It turns the corpse into a walking zombie! Crusty skin and bizarre bugged out eyes make these truly fearsome creatures when shown in grainy black and white. Add to that these monsters are truly evil and fast. In the first fifteen minutes of the movie we get treated to one of them chopping off an islanders head with a machete.
Into this picture we get the unlikely trio of Tom Harris (William Joyce) big time novelist and playboy in Florida, his agent Duncan Fairchild (Dan Stapleton) and Duncan's wife, the vain and poodle toting Coral (Betty Hyatt Linton). Seems that Duncan has heard of the island and the stories of voodoo and thinks it will inspire Tom to write a new book and keep them all in the long green.
It doesn't take Tom long once they land on the beach to come across the scientist's daughter, Jeannie Biladeau (Heather Hewitt). Jeannie digs Tom and Tom digs Jeannie and it doesn't take much to convince her to leave the island with Tom. Of course, convincing her father might take a little more doing. Seems there's a dark nasty secret that comes with the island that puts all of them in deadly peril.
Will they escape? Will Jeannie become voodoo fodder? And what about that poor goat?
See, that would be telling and I don't like to give it all away.
I EAT YOUR SKIN is a throwback to god old fashioned, low budget, fly by the seat of your pants film making. Director Tenney manages to keep the story moving along and leaving no time for true boredom to set in. All the main characters are stereotypes of the time period and it really wouldn't work any other way. The zombies are pretty effective and with just a little makeup and some home made eyeballs that are quite creepy the first time you lay eyes on them. Forget I DRINK YOUR BLOOD. While it is loaded with extras and has that seventies sleaze factor that seems to be so hip nowadays, I EAT YOUR SKIN is a solid thriller that will actually keep you engrossed for its entire running time.