Customer Reviews

The Creeping Flesh

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Several reviewers have erroneously identified this as a film from the great Hammer Films. It's not--"The Creeping Flesh" is an Amicus production, from one of Hammer's British rivals. However, this has the great gothic horror atmosphere that was one of Hammer's trademarks. And it has Lee and Cushing, perennial Hammer stars, in wonderful performances. The plot is surprisingly complex, with some neat twists, and the creature, when it appears, is memorable. Recommended for all fans of horror who believe that plot, not f/x, matter.

The Creeping Flesh (1973), originally produced by Tigon Pictures and directed by Freddie Francis, a man fairly well known to fans of films from Hammer Studios and Amicus Productions (The Studio That Dripped Blood), brings together two screen legends in Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (they appeared in a total of 22 films together over the years) in a slightly fantastic tale of things evil and nasty.

Peter Cushing stars as Emmanuel Hilden, a 19th century scientist, involved in the study of human evolution, recently returning from an expedition to New Guinea with what he believes to be a find of epic proportions in that of a rather grotesque looking skeleton, humanoid in appearance, but much larger than any man. Emmanuel sees innumerable opportunities associated with this find, and believes it's his ticket to recognition and lucrative scientific grant monies. On arriving home to England with his boney buddy, we meet Emmanuel's comely daughter, Penelope, played by Lorna Heilbron. Seems she's been holding down the fort, and things have been pretty tight, money-wise, as she's had to let go of two of the three or four servants employed at the house (talk about being in dire straits). Oh yes, Emmanuel's wife and Penelope's mother, Marguerite, has long since passed, or, at least that's what we're lead to believe.

Emmanuel's half-brother, James Hilden (Christopher Lee), who runs a mental asylum, sends word that Emmanuel's wife, who was an inmate, has just died, to which Emmanuel goes to the asylum to collect her personal papers and such, and we learn that James, who has been financing his half-brother's expeditions, is cutting Emmanuel off, and that James is on the verge of a scientific breakthrough dealing with curing insanity or some such thing. One can't help notice there seems to be a bit of jealously in the relationship, coming from James towards Emmanuel.

Anyway, Emmanuel returns home, and begins studying his find. In cleaning part of the skeleton with water (its' finger bone), he notices the part he cleaned with water begins growing flesh...ew...in examining a blood sample (it differs slightly from humans) and reading some dusty tomes, Emmanuel concludes he's found the source of evil, and that evil is not so much a concept but a disease, a plague, and something that one can be inoculated against. He seems to prove this by testing his newly developed serum on a monkey, and fearing that his daughter may suffer the same fate as her mother, possibly madness passed in the genes, he gives the serum to his daughter. Well, we see that the initial success with the monkey didn't last long, and Emmanuel's assistant comments that thankfully they didn't test the serum out on a human test subject (he didn't know about Emmanuel's injecting Penelope). So what happens? The madness overtakes Penelope, brought on by the effects of the injection from her father, and she runs away, only to end up in James' asylum after she commits various crimes involving murder. Obviously James recognizes her, and brings her back to Emmanuel's home, discovers Emmanuel's notes on his recent experiments, and sees the possibilities of incorporating Emmanuel's work into his own, which Emmanuel strongly declines, so James decides to make arrangements to steal his half-brother's work. Unsure of how the skeleton comes into play, but knowing it's a crucial element, he steals it, riding away with it in his carriage. Emmanuel realizes what happens, and begins pursuit. Oh yeah, it also starts raining. Do you think the skeleton, the one that reacted to the water when Emmanuel tried to clean it, will get wet? Count on it...what happens next? You'll just have to watch...

I thought the concept of evil being a disease, something which may be curable, to be a pretty original notion within the film. Cushing was great as the scientist swept up with visions of ridding society of evil, allowing for a, in his words, a new paradise on Earth. His character certainly falls into the category of the scientist with the best intentions, not foreseeing the dangers until it's too late. Lee was also wonderful as the greedy, resentful half-brother, living in the shadow of Emmanuel's achievements, capitalizing on an opportunity when it presents itself, not fully realizing the implications but seeing only the chance for personal gain. Some of the elements of the story seemed a bit slipshod, kind of like they were assembled of ill-fitting pieces, specifically designed to move the plot along. And I was hoping to see more of the creature, but, from what little we do see, it was probably for the best as it was kind of funky, probably due to budgetary constraints. The scenes with the creature's flesh covered severed finger were suitably disgusting, but I'll be darned if that appendage didn't look like some sort of battery-powered martial aid. (Keep in mind the creature was like seven or eight feet tall, and had proportionally sized fingers.) While the movie wasn't particularly scary, it was definitely creepy, and kept my interest all the way through the end. One thing that annoyed me a little was habit of hearing spoken dialog played again later on as a character would recall it within their mind. Seeing as how we were there the first time the dialog was spoken aloud, I didn't see the need to remind us of the pertinent information relayed through a character's inner dialog, as if to aid us, the viewer, in following along. It seemed a bit patronizing, and unnecessary. I did love the ending, despite the huge loose plot thread left dangling with regards to the creature. Maybe it was meant to be that way, left to our speculation.

Columbia Tristar Home Video provides a very nice looking wide screen print here. The audio seemed a bit soft at times, but there are English subtitles, which I made use of...the only thing in regards to extras available is an original theatrical trailer.

Cookieman108

This horror movie is so good, that is hard not to give it 5 stars!!!! Perfect to watch on a Halloween night!!!!

This is, quite simply, one of the masterpieces of the British cinema. Not only does it bulge with ideas and plots about science, madness, prison, sex, family, Victorian culture, patriarchy, surveillance, gender; not only does it evoke a period atmosphere that has an eerie, Surreal dislocation; not only does it have Cushing and Lee's finest, most complex performances; not only does it offer elegant proof of Freddie Francis's largely stifled directorial skill; not only does it pull off a daring 'Cabinet of dr. Caligari' framing that forces you to utterly rethink what you've just watched. It contains one extraordinary, hallucinatory sequence, about a third of the film, where all these elements cohere, where a timid girl is injected with supposedly madness-defying serum, her overpowering, overflowing desire provoking her father to incest, society to mob violence, and the film's muted colour scheme and style with flaming colour and hysterical pacing. A startling, major achievement.

Long before the existence of turgid costume dramas like HOWARD'S END and THE REMAINS OF THE DAY there was a British cinematic movement that believed in entertaining the viewer. THE CREEPING FLESH was one of last triumphs of this great tradition.
All the best elements of hammer horror appear in this classic: beautiful photography, atmospheric direction, the study of evil, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (only the great Andre Morell is absent). This classic contains horror, philosophy, comedy and typically great performances from lee and Cushing. It's not my favourite Hammer film (there are about 10 others I love as much and even more) but it's still a great film.
Alas, we British no longer want to make films like this, we seem to want to make boring costume dramas and tired "realistic" dramas about how limited modern life is. I say TO HELL WITH REALITY, WATCH HAMMER HORROR!

in response to the reviewer from Canada, yes this is not a hammer film, but neither is it an Amicus production... it is, along with the Ghoul, in fact a Tyburn production, which is what hammer turned into. I can't remember amicus making many decent films (beast must die and the skull are a hoot though)

Although "The Creeping Flesh" (1973) is not technically a Hammer film, it was made by a rival British company with Hammer alumni Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and director Freddie Francis.

Lee and Cushing play two rival half-brothers; Lee runs a mental asylum and Cushing is a scientist trying to cure humanity of evil and insanity. Lee, it turns out, is also trying to find the same cure by experimenting on the lunatics in his asylum.

Cushing is driven by the insanity and recent death of his wife. He is so paranoid about the "infection" of evil and madness that he overprotects his daughter.

He discovers an 8-foot tall diabolical skeleton on one of his expeditions in New Guinea and becomes convinced that evil itself is somehow linked to this figure. He discovers that the skeleton strangely acquires flesh/blood when it gets wet. He subsequently develops a "vaccination" from the blood to supposedly give people immunization from evil and insanity, which he then administers to his daughter (!).

As you can see, the plot is highly creative, if nothing else. Numerous issues are touched on in the storyline, including:

The origin of evil and insanity.
Sibling rivalry.
The consequences of overprotection.
Is evil and madness a disease for which a person can be vaccinated?
The (lack of) ethics of "scientists."
An escaped lunatic running amok.
Having a carnal celebration after years of repression.
The 19th century English pub scene (alcohol, whores and brawls).
An 8-foot creeping horror.

Some would contend that "The Creeping Flesh" bites off more than it can chew (especially at only 95 minutes). Yet, I would say that it addresses all of these items very well. I should also point out that it's not hard to follow, as another reviewer argues.

Two parts of the film are very well done: First, when Cushing's daughter, Lorna Hailbron, finally escapes her father's overprotective clutches and attempts to "paint the town red" (naturally). Lorna does an exquisite job portraying the daughter in both her initial naive, modest state and, later, in her wild first-time-party-girl condition.

Second, when the skeleton finally comes to life after acquiring all its flesh. You can see it lurking in the moonlight with a hood and cowl. This creepy image brought to memory artist depictions of the Flatwoods monster that supposedly appeared near that West Virginia village in September 1952.

Interestingly, "The Creeping Flesh" has many similarities to "Horror Express," another Hammeresque film made the very same year. Each film stars Lee and Cushing; each features an ancient recently-discovered artifact that emanates evil (a skeleton and a frozen neanderthal respectively); each features numerous shots of people analyzing "evil" blood samples through a microscope. I like both films about equally, but give the slight edge to "The Creeping Flesh."

Don't hesitate to check out "The Creeping Flesh" if this sounds like your cup of java. Depending on your tastes, this is definitely a 4 or 5 Star film. I liked it so much I watched it a again a couple of days later -- something I rarely do. My official rating is 4.5 Stars.

I agree with another reviewer that they could have explored the main theme of this movie more which is this ancient skeleton that is the embodiment of evil I guess.

Cushing believes that evil is a disease so he takes a blood sample from the skeleton to create a vaccine that he thinks will cure people from being evil.

I guess he feels there's something wrong with his daughter so he injects her with his new formula. But perhaps the only thing wrong with her was he kept her locked up in the house for her entire adult life.

That's when things get sad.

Somehow she inexplicably becomes possessed with the spirit of her dead mother who went insane.

She goes to a brothel and gets taken advantage of and finally slashes this guy's throat with a broken bottle.

Maybe I just took the whole thing too seriously.

Another reviewer also mentioned the strange painting that Cushing is working on at the beginning of the movie. I guess the painting sort of encapsulates the entire movie.

One good thing is apparently back then most of the women in London had gigantic breasts and they kept falling out of their dresses in the pubs.

I would recommend this movie to horror fans because it's got horror legends Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

Jeff Marzano

Recommended further viewing:

Brides Of Blood / Beast Of Blood
Horror Hotel
IT ! (The Terror From Beyond Space)
Invasion Of The Saucer Men
Not Of This Earth (original)
Phantasm
The Blob (with Steve McQueen)
The Brain That Wouldn't Die
The Flesh Eaters
The Fly / The Return Of The Fly / The Curse Of The Fly
The Four Skulls Of Jonathan Drake
The Hideous Sun Demon
The Hypnotic Eye
The Incredible Shrinking Man
The Indestructible Man
The Manster
The Thing (from another world)
The Thing That Couldn't Die
The Twilight Zone Collections

"The Creeping Flesh" is a very stilish horror movie, creepy, with
a very good atmosphere, an original plot, wonderful settings and
with Peter Cushing and Cristopher Lee at their very best!!!!!
I highly recommend this movie to everyone! As another reviewer wrote, worth owning, not only watching!!!!

Many British horror films tended to dwell on very similiar themes. This one is somewhat different, but it could have been much better if they spent more time developing it. The film begins focusing on the skeleton of an ancient creature that could be the missing link. Peter Cushing begins studying it and we learn that water makes skin grow back on the skeleton in seconds. This is pretty interesting, but then they fly off on a sub-plot about Cushing daughter learning that her mo ther went insane and she begins to follow suit. This part tends to go on and on showing us the insides of a seedy pub (all British horror movies are required to show a pub, I think it's a rule over there) and a confrontation with an escaped criminal. Christopher Lee plays Cushing's half brother and rival and he wants the skeleton Cushing has. The middle of this film is slow, but when it starts to rain, the movie cuts loose. The last ten minutes of this film is great, both the story and the visuals. This is overall decent film, just don't give up on it in the middle because it will redeem itself.

This is one of the best British horror flicks ever released. It is sad however that everyone who has a copy of this out-of-print video wants so much for it. I think I will write the publisher and see if we can't get a re-release and ruin some of these unfortunately greedy people's business.