Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Podcast
      • Slice of SciFi 962: Escape Pod: The Science Fiction AnthologyFeaturing “Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology”
      • Slice of SciFi 961: BreachIndie SciFi Action: “Breach” takes on fleeing an alien invasion
      • Slice of SciFi 960: Hunter Hunter“Hunter Hunter”: When the lines between hunter and prey are blurred
      • Slice of SciFi: "Skylines" (2020)“Skylines”: Talking to Liam O’Donnell & Alexander Siddig
    • View all
  • Movie Reviews
      • Promising Young Woman (2020)“Promising Young Woman” and the harsh truths of trauma and justice
      • Review: Parallel (2020)“Parallel” takes on the mental and moral tolls of using parallel worlds
      • Review: I'm Your Woman (2020)“I’m Your Woman” shines with a different take on the mobster’s wife
      • Review: Archenemy (2020)“Archenemy”: Working with the Superhero You Find
    • View all
  • TV Reviews
      • "Project Blue Book"“Project Blue Book” explores the threads of UFO reports
      • Manifest Season 1: 5 Episodes In5 Episodes In: “Manifest”
      • 5 Episodes In: Reverie5 Episodes In: “Reverie”
      • 5 Episodes In: Marvel's Cloak and Dagger5 Episodes In: “Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger”
    • View all
  • DVD Reviews
      • The Dark and The Wicked (2020)“The Dark and The Wicked” and the Monstrous Weight of Grief
      • Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection“What’s Up Doc?”: A Look at 80 Years of Bugs Bunny
      • Batman: Death in the Family (2020, animated)“Batman: Death in the Family” makes alternate timelines fun
      • The Pale Door (2020)“The Pale Door”: A Weird Western Highlight
    • View all
  • Columns
  • News
      • TV News
      • Film News
      • DVD News
      • Interviews
      • Events
      • Geeky, Funny & Weird
      • Online Entertainment News
      • Music News
      • On Stage
      • Space News

Slice of SciFi

This is How We Geek Out: Interviews, Reviews & More

  • Writers, After Dark
  • Horror Happenings
  • The Babylon Podcast
  • SciFi Shop Talk
  • Slice of SciFi TV
  • Contact Us
“SOS: Save Our Skins” — A Slice of SciFi Review

“SOS: Save Our Skins” — A Slice of SciFi Review

May 23, 2014 By Noah Richman 1 Comment

SOS: Save Our Skins is a micro-budgeted fan film by British comedians Chris Haywood and Nate Saunders. It tells the story of Stephen (played by Haywood) and Ben (played by Saunders), two friends visiting New York from England to attend a science fiction convention. On the day that the convention is set to begin, they awake to find that the city is deserted. There is nothing on the television, nobody is answering their phone calls, and wherever they walk it seems that everyone has mysteriously disappeared. The only sign of life is a blue alien creature that chases them down the hallway in their hotel. As the tale progresses, the two find themselves on a quest to locate any life remaining on the planet. In the process they encounter a cannibal serial killer, a beautiful deranged psychopath, Canadian video game addicts, and an alien life form holding the secret to humanity’s disappearance.

SOS is similar in style and tone to something like Kevin Smith’s debut feature Clerks. It’s a couple guys with a video camera, seemingly having fun with their friends and coming up with skits to make themselves laugh. Since there is not much of a budget, most of the running time is spent on character interaction and jokes that pay homage to things the writers are obviously fans of. The film is light and playful and clearly reflects the influence of British comedy pieces such as Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Grant Naylor’s Red Dwarf.

SOS: Save Our Skins posterSOS is a fun movie that seems to have been made by a couple of “average Joes” looking to have a good time celebrating their sci-fi “geekdom.” I like the style and lighthearted nature of its presentation, and on the whole found it to be a more enjoyable film than I had feared from its description as yet another low budget “horror comedy.” I did have some fun with it, and wish I could give this movie a wholehearted recommendation. Unfortunately, for all the things this film does right, there is one key and completely necessary element that it gets wrong… it just isn’t funny. I watched the movie with my wife, who is normally a big fan of this style of humor. I think I mildly chuckled about three times through the course of the whole movie. My wife half laughed one time, and that may have been more at me chuckling than at the film itself.

For something like this really to work, it’s imperative that it be a laugh riot. It’s got to have lines and moments that crack its audience up, and that people will go around repeating and joking with their friends about for weeks afterward. This film gets the lighthearted, playful part right, but completely falls on its face when it comes to actually making you laugh. It’s a shame because you can tell it’s a sincere effort by a couple of guys looking to have a good time paying homage to the things that they love.

In the end it’s a reasonably enjoyable, but ultimately forgettable, foray into a style of video making that’s already been done better and more successfully by other productions.

TwitterFacebookEmail

Filed Under: Film Reviews Tagged With: Indie Films

About Noah Richman

Noah Richman is President of the Phoenix Fantasy Film Society, the longest running group dedicated to sci-fi/fantasy movie fandom in the Phoenix area. An avid board gamer, he has also amassed a library of immersive sci-fi/fantasy themed strategy games. A life-long film buff, Noah enjoys film commentary and criticism and has been having a blast writing film reviews for the Slice of SciFi website.

Related Posts

Slice of SciFi 925: After Midnight
Indie Spotlight: Horror-Comedy “After Midnight”
Slice of SciFi #468: Casper Van Dien, plus Big Brother: Mars House
Slice of SciFi 881: PKD Film Festival 2019
PKD Science Fiction Film Festival 2019

Comments

  1. papa says

    February 21, 2015 at 6:50 pm

    You found more amusement than I did in this film. As a lover of British made films I thought I would give this a go but was very disappointed by the badly delivered humour and bad acting. I know this was a tongue in cheek flick but the way it was presented made the whole thing feel cheap and badly scripted, poorly acted with a weak story and immature and mediocre humour.
    Shame

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in posts
Search in pages
Filter by Categories
Audio Productions
Awards News
Book News
Book Reviews
Columns
Comics News
DVD News
DVD Reviews
Entertainment Business News
Events
Fan Films
Fan Productions
Film News
Film Reviews
Gaming News
Geeky, Funny & Weird
Human Interest
Interviews
Music News
On Stage
Online Entertainment News
Science News
Slice of SciFi
Slice Video News
Space News
Specials
Technology News
TV News
TV Reviews

Subscribe to Podcast

Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsAndroidiHeartRadioStitcherTuneInRSS

Listen to Slice of SciFi

iTunes
iHeart Radio
Player.FM
RSS
 

Keep Up With Slice of SciFi

  • Movie & TV Reviews

Recent Comments

  • dutch on “Parallel”: Isaac Ezban, Martin Wallström and Mark O’Brien: “If you pass this film up by saying, “Ugh, another parallel universe flick.”, you did not ask the right question.…”
  • Summer Brooks on “Near Dark”: Stacey Abbott on teaching vampire lore: “I hadn’t remembered until I was making the graphic for this episode that I own a copy of READING ANGEL…”
  • Joyce Gravino on “Near Dark”: Stacey Abbott on teaching vampire lore: “Thank you for this episode. I now have to to look for the reading angel book and the x-files one…”
  • Daniel M on Giveaway: “2067” on DVD: “back to the future”
  • jason f on Giveaway: “2067” on DVD: “I love Back To The Future, but also agree with Miguel. I remember seeing Star Trek IV at the movie…”
Tweets by @sliceofscifi
death to humans 160x600
Save 10-50% on in-stock toys at TFAW.com.

Slice of SciFi
1121 Annapolis Rd PMB 238
Odenton MD 21113
602-635-6976

Artwork:
Slice of SciFi spiral logo designed by Tim Callender

Theme Music:
Slice of SciFi music and themes
courtesy of Sci-Fried

Sister Sites:
Writers, After Dark
Horror Happenings
SciFi Shop Talk
Slice of SciFi TV

Copyright © 2005–2021 · Magazine Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in