Skinheads (1989)

If the so-called Master Race are this stupid, we would be all better off as cavemen.Take all the Nazi stereotypes you can think of, and you'll find them here... including some you didn't. What they tell didn't tell in history class though, is that these guys were as thick as pig s**t, and as ugly as sin. Rather than being menacing though, these idiots are most likely to cause the Jews and Blacks they rail against to die of laughter than cause them any physical harm. Particularly the big guy, ironically called Brains... who wipes his bum on poison ivy instead of leaves. Hardy ha ha. Seriously, if Hitler wanted to clean the Whites of all impurities, he would have started with executing these jokers.This makes it easy to cheer for the college kid and his spunky girlfriend, as they're pursued through the woods by this band of miscreants. They garner support from a grizzled old hunter (there always seems to be one about) when they find his hut, and what follows is a series of shootouts, threats and general idiocy. What's strange though, is how the bad guys never run out of bullets. They find a hand gun right at the start (with no extra ammunition) and yet they seemingly discharge it on more than 100 occasions throughout. We never see them reload it, or check for empties. It must be MAGIC.Apart from having the worse editing ever, and the dreadful acting from all concerned, what is most noteworthy here is just what a bad mouthpiece it is for the far right. None of the arguments preached by the leader of these fanatics are coherent at all, which makes you wonder... how did he convince 6 other people to join his worthless cause? You'd think the writers would have him some kind of gravitas, but nope... the bloke is a walking parody, and impossible to take seriously. This may work as a sop to minority groups who hate the Nazis, but it renders the enemy so pathetic it's impossible to feel any tension as they stalk their prey.So, I'm sure you've gathered by now it ain't no award winner. It won't you jump off a pier, though. Especially if you find a certain charm in low budget movie-making. Damn it... they try their best... can't we give them at least SOME credit?Perhaps a little.We're talking microscopic proportions here.Do you see it?Thought not. 4/10

A small group of skinheads led by Damon (Brophy) are apparently tired of harassing elderly store owners, so they take a skinhead vacation to the rural mountains. When further harassment of the locals such as restaurant owner Martha (Bain) leads to murder, a young couple who witness the incident, Amy (Sagal) and Jeff (Culp) go on the run in the woods trying to stay one step ahead of the skinheads and their underlings such as Brains (Ott). Luckily Amy and Jeff run across the cabin of Mr. Huston (Connors), a grizzled World War II veteran. Together they alternately fight and run away from the skinheads until the final confrontation. What will happen? Unfortunately - very unfortunately - Skinheads is a huge disappointment. Rather than seizing this opportunity to say something incisive, unique, interesting or different about skinheads, instead here they are just generic baddies. They just as easily could have been bikers, crazed backwoods folk, a militia group of some kind, or a group of enemies with no affiliations whatsoever. Most of the movie consists of Amy and Jeff running away from the skinheads, and it gets very repetitive. Skinheads - the movie - has the wrong plot for its idea. By that we mean, you think it's going to be an urban tale about the evil of neo-Nazis and those who stand against them. Instead, improbably, it's a wilderness slog where characters come face to face with bears and sleep in sleeping bags on the forest floor.As the evil racist leader of the skinheads, Brian Brophy looks alarmingly like "Vinny" from Jersey Shore. (Don't worry, we're ashamed we know what Vinny even looks like). His skinhead buddies have swastikas tattooed in the corner of their foreheads, and drive around in a white van with a huge swastika painted in black on the side of it, next to a circle-A "Anarchy" symbol. These anarchist-fascist youngsters have named this completely inconspicuous vehicle the "Death Van", just as the Scooby Doo gang have named their van the Mystery Machine. They have also spray painted a swastika on their blinds at home, so you know they're serious. They also have a poster of Hitler on their wall (where do you shop for one of those?) next to an S.O.D. poster, which truly shows the cluelessness of this production, as anyone who knows that band would know that placing them in this context is a complete absurdity, they are about as far from a skinhead band as it's possible to get.Interestingly enough, fellow on-screen skinheads Brian Brophy and Dennis Ott were both in the classic Road House (1989) - the same year as Skinheads. The great year of 1989 of course. The movie industry sure is funny, isn't it? The main reason we rented this is because of the presence of fan favorite Chuck Connors, and while he's decent in it, it's not really one of Chuck's best. The movie on the whole doesn't SAY anything about the skinhead subculture, it doesn't illuminate anything, or offer any solutions. But it does have a Motorhead-like song that plays often with some crazy guitar solos. Not that a low-budget exploitation movie directed by Greydon Clark has to be some sort of socially redeeming thing, but there's seriously nothing here except mindless chases that wear on the viewer very quickly.Far from the "Second Coming of Hate", as the movie's subtitle promises (unless it's referring to how you'll feel about the movie after watching it), Skinheads is dumb when it doesn't have to be. A shame, really.

I purchased this at a VHS sale in the video store for .99 cents and it was worth it. This movie cannot be liked on merits of good acting , scrip , and direction..it is indeed a terrible film , but hey I like bad films as long as they're funny and entertaining which is what Skinheads:The Second Coming Of Hate is. So it turns out some "skinheads" decided to go on a killing spree at a diner , and soon follows a long chase through the woods til good ole Chuck Conners of Roots fame comes to the rescue in a bravo hammy performance. Speaking of over the top performances..the golden ham award goes to Brian Bophy's who's insane performance will have pretty much anyone rolling on the floor laughing. This isn't your Romper Stomper or American History X type movie , this is basically just "lets put people in danger..ooh let's have skinheads go after them" obviously a lifestyle the writer and director knows nothing about..so therefor this movie is surely going to offend the anti-rascist SHARP skinheads..and even the neo nazi skinheads because it puts them in such a moronic light (which by the way they are anyway so i guess justice was done). See it if you like bad movies

**SPOILERS**Pretty terrible movie that must have been a carear low point for barbara bain (I'm sure Conners has been in just as bad). They are the two mature leads who help the kids battle the skinheads. The acting is universally bad and the plot as dumb as it gets. It's quite tame really and the deaths are all a bit "naff". Spoiller alert!The heroine, the in her fifties but still lovely Barbara Bain, I thought might save the film but her tough cafe owner soon becomes a "please don't hurt me" wreck when confronted by a 16 year old skinhead girl and when she is killed off by the girl, who slitts her throat, it is possibly the least realistic death scene in the movies, it looks like she's just drawn a red crayon across bain's neck!And hey this isn't Physco, what are you doing killing off your female lead after half an hour. All round awful and you'll look back and think what a waste of an hour and a half of my life!