I first watched The Skin Horse (1983) with Jonnie Prey while in our Halloween makeup while filming a Cathode Halloween show, eating gumbo he made with hot sauce he stole from Popeyes, on the couch of my punk house. I fired up my projector and Jonnie hyped up this crazy ass documentary, but kept the details vague. The next ninety minutes of our lives were spent holding hands in disbelief as silent tears wet our face, drowned our gumbo, and this gorgeous made-for-tv film unfolded.
I’d originally found the film on Nabil Shaban’s YouTube channel, @2BenefitPeople, which is an absolute treasure trove of beautiful and radical films focused on disability awareness. Nabil is a disabled actor, activist, writer, and absolute force of nature. He co-founded the disability-led Graeae Theatre Company in 1980. He’s a brilliant actor who’s been in dozens of films over the past few decades, and stars as the host of The Skin Horse.
The documentary focuses on sex and disability, and it left me shooketh. It was directed by John Samson and produced by Nigel Randell Evans, both major figures in British underground film history. It’s now up on John Samson’s archive channel, as presented here. If you’re unfamiliar with John Sansom, I recommend heading over to this archive and checking out Dressing for Pleasure while you’re there, another brilliant and previously banned film. I’ll do a separate post soon on my favorite banned stuff, and I promise it’ll make you lose your shit.
Anytime a film gets banned in Britain, an angel gets their wings.
The Skin Horse is intimate and jarring. The scene with the woman eating the apple is carved into the depths of my soul. Here’s the description from Samson’s archive:
“A ground-breaking film about sex and disability that won Samson much acclaim. Though courting controversy with his subject matter, Samson was an extremely compassionate filmmaker who never sought to exploit his subjects. Instead he would immerse himself in their respective worlds, his keen eye teasing out motivations while never lacking a dry yet gentle good humour.”
Although this film was made for TV in 1983, it’s still wonderfully refreshing to watch a piece that treats disabled people as complex, sexual, and often contradictory. It’s heavy and beautiful, with bits of self-aware comedy, and I return to it often when I need to be reminded that being alive rules. Enjoy!
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