Skinwalkers

Amazon.com

After the disappointing Dark Wind, executive producer Robert Redford does Tony Hillerman justice with this authentic and ideally cast adaptation of the 1986 bestseller that first paired Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Wes Studi of Dances with Wolves and The Last of the Mohicans) and Officer Jim Chee (Adam Beach of Smoke Signals and Windtalkers) of the Navajo Tribal Police. Leaphorn, a veteran urban cop recently returned to the reservation, is Scully to Chee's Mulder as they investigate a series of murders seemingly committed by a "skinwalker," a shape-shifting evil spirit. Skinwalkers was the first presentation of the venerable PBS Mystery series to be set on United States soil. For Hillerman fans, and those new to his intimately observed world, this is good medicine. --Donald Liebenson

Description

Navajo Tribal Police Officer Jim Chee and Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn investigate murders that lead them into spine-tingling and mystical world of Navajo witchcraft. Three unsolved homicides and an attempt on Chee's life have left the Navajo Tribal Police baffled. Are the murders somehow connected, although they occurred 120 miles apart? Or are they random acts of violence? Chee and Leaphorn's efforts to solve the seemingly unrelated individual crimes leave them with clues that point toward one suspect, in this suspenseful mystery.

Customer Reviews:

Misinformed Writer.......2006-03-05

Hillerman does not know Navajo life and culture, and the plot is totally alein to Navajo people and culture. Those actors and actresses in the movie are not Navajos, do not act or look like Navajos, and the scenecry is not like Navajo land. This is a story about a fictive tribe and culture that exists in the minds of Hillerman and Redford. The Navajo Nation totally rejected this movie when it was shown to them, and that is why it was not filmed in Navajoland and does not use Navajo actors.

Typical Hollywood mangling .......2006-01-31

Typical Hollywood mangling of a great book. Read the book instead. But the book is tougher on the reader than some other Hillerman books.

Skinwalkers.......2005-10-09

Skinwalkers is the first film featuring Native American police officers Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, who are responsible for officiating crime on a Navajo Reservation.

A Skinwalker is a sorcerer or witch that takes animal form, and commits terrible crimes, including murder. Traditionally, Navajos never say the word Skinwalker, for fear that a Skinwalker will take their life. Skinwalkers practice "bad medicine".

In Skinwalkers, a Native American Medicine Man (Healer) is found dead, his body surrounded by animal-like footprints, and his hand lacerated by a human-bone arrow, a traditional weapon of a Skinwalker.

Chee, struggling between his professionalism and traditional beliefs, feels the killer is a Skinwalker. Leaphorn, a city-reared Native American who's beginning to understand his Native roots, has no doubt the killer is a man who is hunting down Healers.

Together, Leaphorn and Chee seek to protect another Healer from the mysterious killer, and they slowly decrypt Navajo evidence that could lead to a ghostkiller or mankiller.

Skinwalkers weaves together thrilling Navajo folklore and art, mesmerizing copper-hued glowing landscapes, meditative musical lines, and harsh Native American reality - poverty, violence, anger, hurt, and an excruciatingly painful elimination of Native American tradition.

Not Skinwalkers.......2005-08-12

Never have I seen such a good book turned into such a bad movie. Simply put, when compared to the book the movie was horrid. Leaphorn as a bumbling, ignorant around the fort Indian? Chee (Adam Beach was a good choice here) losing control of his emotions and pulling out his service pistol? Save your money on this one.

What were they thinking?.......2005-02-23

I'm not a purist, but I object to this movie. Like other reviewers in this list, I was really appalled by two things:

(1) The assassination of Joe Leaphorn's character. What were they thinking?

(2) The wholesale elimination of the original plot. In this movie the wrong people get murdered by the wrong person for the wrong reasons. In the book the deadly shotgun-toting witch-killer is a deranged young female with a dying baby. You will look for her in vain in the movie. How can an adaptation of a murder mystery casually write the murderer out of the plot?

The book has one of the most righteous endings you'll ever see. The movie? Jeez. Let's all stand in the middle of a stream and shoot at each other!

Is it a good movie? If you never read the book, the movie is OK. If you are looking for "Skinwalkers," it isn't here.

("Coyote Waits," however, was pretty well done. Don't give up the ship.)

Average customer rating:

Amazon needs a negative star rating for this...
B-movie at its worst. Huge waste of money. Zero star out five.
Beware...........................................

Skinwalker: Curse of the Shaman
Starring: Skin Walker-Curst of the Shaman
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000H1RFUU
Release Date: 2006-10-24

Customer Reviews:

Amazon needs a negative star rating for this..........2007-07-20

Say what you will about whatever you consider the worst film ever made...mutiply it by about 7 and you come pretty close to this garbage. I actually bought this (used at a video store) because it was the last film appearance by James Doohan (Star Trek's Scotty). Not only was it sad to see him so far gone but for it to be in this swill is just gut-wrenching.
I won't even attempt to actually review this...just stay very far away. Even the Mystery Science Theater 3000 guys wouldn't touch this one.

B-movie at its worst. Huge waste of money. Zero star out five........2007-03-05

I regret I rented it. I will never rent these B-movies again. There's no special effects. The acting is just like the one performed by high school students. The beast? It looks obviously like a man wearing a mask. What a waste of time and money.

Beware..................................................2006-10-04

Worst movie ever the creture on the front cover is not even in the movie you do not see the monster which is a beast until the last 15 minutes...Do not waste your money on this home made movie Please take my word for it it is that Bad...............The majority of the movie is talking........

Average customer rating:

Skinwalker: Curse of the Shaman

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Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000CIPSTI

Product Description

In 1973, a group of kids cause the accidental death of a Medicine Man, which brings about a curse on their unborn children. Now, in present day, the cursed kids have disappeared, and college student Brooke Carter and friend AJ Green come to town to uncover the horrifying truth of what happened to the kids the night they disappeared. Along the way, Brooke learns her own chilling connection to the curse...

Average customer rating:

Skinwalkers

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000V2IOXC

Average customer rating:

its an ok movie
Skinwalkers....an unknown treasure...
A Wolf in Human's Clothing

Skinwalkers
Starring: Jason Behr , Elias Koteas , Rhona Mitra , Natassia Malthe , and Kim Coates
Director: James Isaac
ProductGroup: Theatrical Release
Binding: Theatrical Release

Customer Reviews:

its an ok movie.......2007-09-02

well, first of all, ignore the first reviewer. obviously that guy gets entirely to deep into his movies. that being said, i thought this movie was ok, i mean ive seen better but ive also seen far worse. The reason i saw it was because jason behr was in it, and he freakin gorgeous! If youre just looking to watch something a little entertaining, go for it. This is not a movie, however, for those of you who need to constantly overthink everything in the film, lol, its just pure cheesy entertainment really. i give it 3 stars because as ive said, ive seen better but also seen far worse. want to see a really good werewolf movie? check out The Howling. a little old school but still pretty good.

Skinwalkers....an unknown treasure..........2007-08-22

What started as just an action movie turned out even better. I have to admit I don't like horror movies but this one was great. The special effects were wonderful. The acting was much better than I expected. I have to say I watched it because of Jason Behr. He did not disappoint me. The young boy in the movie was also a terrific actor.

A Wolf in Human's Clothing.......2007-08-14

I could describe "Skinwalkers" if only I knew what it was about. Rarely has a supernatural thriller worked so hard at making absolutely no sense; every scene was crafted so superficially, with the filmmakers focusing on the look as opposed to the story. Not that it was all that good looking. If anything, the digital and makeup effects amount to nothing more than a direct to video horror film. What exactly are we being asked to watch here? If it's something with more depth than werewolves fighting amongst themselves, I'm afraid something was seriously lacking. The beginning of the year saw the release of "Blood and Chocolate," a werewolf fable that many thought I was crazy for recommending. I admit that it's not a masterpiece, but good grief, at least it actually has a story. "Skinwalkers," at best, only has an idea.

The film operates under the premise that werewolves--or skinwalkers, according to old Native American beliefs--have divided themselves into two categories: those that think their condition is a blessing, and those that think it's a curse. The former can't resist the urge to feed on human blood, and they'll do anything to make sure that urge remains. The latter, on the other hand, purposely deny themselves blood by being strapped up whenever the full moon arises. They want to lead a normal human life, a life that isn't bogged down by the instinct to hunt. The only way this can happen is through a prophecy; apparently, when a half-blooded boy reaches his thirteenth year, werewolves will lose their natural urges.

Okay, then. Now all we need is a plot to go with this, and we'll be in business. If only "Skinwalkers" had one. Every scene, every character, and every event is so haphazardly constructed that they almost seemed to belong in a different film. I distinctly remember two scenes in which shootouts take place, scenes that could have been entertaining had they not been so ridiculously out of place. The first one happens in the middle of a small town street; the filmmakers actually expected us to believe that everyone who lives there carries some type of gun, even the mailman. The second one happens in a hospital, a place where no one seems to care that people wander the halls with their guns ready.

Just as baffling are the major characters, all of which seem so lost in the material that they don't know how the scenes should be played. The most important character is twelve-year-old Timothy (Matthew Knight), who's about ready to turn thirteen. He, of course, is the special child mentioned in the prophecy, and he's fiercely guarded by a band of werewolves, most notably his uncle, Jonas (Elias Koteas). His mother, Rachel (Rhona Mitra), is also protective, but she's also in the dark about werewolves, having been protected from the truth for years. They want Timothy to live because, come his birthday, he'll bring their days of uncontrollable hunting and feeding to an end. Naturally, the leader of the opposing werewolf faction--Varek (Jason Behr)--wants Timothy dead.

As the characters stumble through the film, they find themselves in one mess after another, all of which end with silly escape scenes and the obligatory deaths of meaningless side characters. Varek and his band of motorcycle-riding baddies pursue Timothy and his protectors relentlessly, stopping only when necessary. Take, for example, a moment in a middle-of-nowhere bar--they attack and eat two men that tried to rape a waitress on a pool table. After that, they eat the waitress. What exactly was the point of this scene? To show that werewolves need to feed periodically? Oh, please. This idea did not have to be conveyed, and especially not through a scene like this. We already know that werewolves attack and eat people; it wouldn't matter whether or not the victims deserved it.

How any of this came to be is anyone's guess. How did this werewolf cycle start? Why are so few at war with each other? Why only a handful of renegades after Timothy when it should be thousands? I ask these questions, but I suppose it doesn't matter whether or not I get the answers. I cared so little for this film that at a certain point, I could only think about leaving the theater and going home. I simply can't imagine how anyone could find this film entertaining. It's virtually impossible to get into, having absolutely no engaging qualities or even the tiniest hint of potential. It's about as unwelcome as the sight of a blood red moon, a prominent feature in this film. I don't presume to wonder why the rest of the world ignored this lunar phenomenon; it's a supernatural oddity included for spectacle, not for sense or reason.

Pretty much the same thing can be said for "Skinwalkers" as a whole. This is one of the weakest monster movies I've ever seen, lacking in everything from story to cohesion to a general sense of direction. The only thing about it that works is its consistency in being a bad movie, which, believe me, is not saying very much.

Average customer rating:

its an ok movie
Skinwalkers....an unknown treasure...
A Wolf in Human's Clothing

Skinwalkers
Starring: Jason Behr , Elias Koteas , Rhona Mitra , Kim Coates , and Natassia Malthe
Director: James Isaac
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00005JPDF

Customer Reviews:

its an ok movie.......2007-09-02

Skinwalkers....an unknown treasure..........2007-08-22

A Wolf in Human's Clothing.......2007-08-14

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