Skinheads Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Skinheads Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 12, 2026

Claudio Fragasso's "Skinheads" (1993) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films. The supplemental features on the release include a massive documentary about the conception, production, and reception of the film, produced by Federico Caddeo, as well as an original trailer. In Italian, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The initiation

Hatred alone is not enough to breed vicious animals like the one Gianmarco Tognazzi plays. Someone must attach it to potent ideas, which then need to be packaged into an ideology that could successfully corrupt the weak minds and initiate the breeding process. That someone must be an enigmatic figure, a great orator with a dominant presence, a brilliant manipulator capable of relentlessly redefining an imaginary great enemy for the ideology to target. This way, the hatred becomes a unifying strength that weak minds are enticed to pursue and defend. Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Mao Zedong, and Fidel Castro all used this exact blueprint to breed millions of loyal followers.

In Rome, Marco (Tognazzi) spends most of his time despising the pointlessness of his existence. Even though he is old enough to be a husband and father, he shares a comfy apartment with his aging mother, who still has a full-time job and willingly supports him. Marco has a few friends, all his age, but spends time with them only to drink cheap espresso and rehash silly stories.

An ugly incident pushes Marco away from his friends and initiates his transformation into a vicious animal. On a packed bus, a vulgar, heavily inebriated gypsy begins harassing and hurting women of different ages. A man wearing a trench coat (Stefano Molinari) is the only one brave enough to confront the gypsy and, after he pulls out a knife, kicks him out. Impressed by the event, and especially its final act, Marco begins searching for the man with the trench coat and quickly learns that he frequents a large nearby basement that skinheads have reshaped into a nightclub. For a proper fee, Marco then becomes a ‘comrade’ and gains access to the man with the trench coat a.k.a. Big Brother, who turns out to be the highly influential leader of the skinheads.

But despite showing genuine enthusiasm for the movement his ‘comrades’ have created, Marco is dragged through a humiliating initiation process, and then forced by Big Brother to prove that he is worthy of his attention. Marco quickly makes progress, surprising even Big Brother, but finds himself stuck in an unpredictable romantic relationship with Zaira (Fabienne Gueye), a Somali immigrant.

Several segments of Claudio Fragasso’s film Teste Rasate a.k.a. Skinheads hammer the obvious point that Big Brother uses the classic blueprint detailed earlier. However, the crucial point is that he does not think of himself as an upcoming Mussolini or Hitler, which is why he is effective. He only preaches hatred as a unifying strength, which in his environment is more than enough. It is precisely why Marco, a miserable loner, quickly becomes hooked on it.

Soon after Marco is granted full access to the movement, he and his ‘comrades’ are attacked by ‘anti-fascists’ in their basement-nightclub. During the violent melee, the two groups are indistinguishable, which, of course, is hardly surprising because they are comprised of individuals with equally weak, brainwashed minds.

The finale is not surprising either. The brainwashing that creates vicious animals like Marco ends up claiming their lives as well. It always does.

*Another very good Italian film to see with Skinheads is Stefano Sollima's A.C.A.B. In it, the two groups that clash in Skinheads are again indistinguishable. However, this time they are united and repeatedly clash with the police.

Skinheads Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 10890p transfer, Skinheads arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films.

The release introduces an exclusive new 4K restoration of Skinheads, sourced from its original camera negative. I think that the 4K restoration is great, so I would mention the one area where some minor additional work could have been done. During the opening credits and immediately after, I noticed a few tiny blotches that could have been eliminated with digital tools. However, this would have been a cosmetic adjustment that would not have affected the overall excellent quality of the visuals. Indeed, delineation, clarity, and depth range from excellent to outstanding, and image stability is terrific. A few areas reveal small density fluctuations, but all are introduced by the original cinematography, not problematic digital corrections. (One such area features footage from the the basement-nightclub where the skinheads gather and are attacked by the 'anti-fascists'). Color reproduction and balance are great. All primaries are properly set and convincingly balanced with all supporting nuances. I liked the saturation levels a lot, too. There are no traces of any degraining or sharpening adjustments. All in all, Skinheads looks great now, and I am convinced that this release will remain its definitive home video release. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Skinheads Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this release: Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Even though Skinheads utilizes plenty of music to enhance its drama, all the dynamic contrasts that emerge throughout it are pretty average. It is primarily because a lot of material has a pseudo-documentary appearance and incorporates plenty of organic sounds and noises. All exchanges are very clear, sharp, and easy to follow. The English translation is outstanding. Also, I liked the size of the optional English subtitles.

Skinheads Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• In the Name of Hate - this massive documentary explores the conception, production, and reception of Skinheads, and examines the period in which the film emerged from. Included in it are new and archival interviews with director Claudio Fragasso, co-writer Rossella Drudi, actors Gianmarco Tognazzi, Stefano Molinari and Giulio Base, composer Sergio Cammariere, and editor Ugo De Rossi, amongst others. Also included is raw footage from the shooting of various sequences. The documentary was produced by Federico Caddeo for Freak-O-Rama in 2025. In Italian, with English subtitles. (92 min).

• Trailer -presented here is a recent trailer for the new 4K restoration of Skinheads. In Italian, with English subtitles. (2 min).

Skinheads Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sometime in the early 1970s, skilled British puppeteers began breeding and manipulating thousands of skinheads that quickly infiltrated the most loyal fan bases of numerous soccer clubs, big and small. It was easy. Virtually all the skinheads and soccer fans came from struggling working-class families and viewed themselves as oppressed social outcasts, so their hatred for the status quo made it easy for them to unite. In the 1980s, this phenomenon could be observed in other European countries as well. In Italy, the best puppeteers were in Rome, where Lazio's ultras became notorious for uniting with the most dangerous skinheads. The mainstream media called the worst of them neo-Nazis. However, they were exactly like their British counterparts -- a mix of low-income social outcasts, random criminal elements, delusional anarchists, and the occasional brainwashed believers. In Claudio Fragasso's film, the skinheads again come from Rome's poor suburbs, and they are again bred and manipulated by a good puppeteer. It is the same old story. The great irony is that this very familiar story is relevant again because a new generation of skilled puppeteers replaced the skinheads with 'anti-fascists' and are once again fashionable. Severin Films' release introduces an exclusive new 4K restoration of Skinheads, sourced from its original camera negative. If you reside on the other side of the Atlantic and wish to acquire it for your library, please keep in mind that it is Region-A "locked". HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.