The Flesh and the Fiends (1961)

Fantastic!

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

An excellently made and acted British film that retells the true story of the Burke and Hare horrors of the 19th century. An atmosphere of old Edinburgh is effectively evoked to enhance the brutal tale. And brutal it is, as was the actual true story.This is certainly one of Peter Cushing's finest performances. He is totally focused, energetic and delivers a fascinating characterization of his aristocratic, hypocrite-defying, unintentionally cruel and very determined Doctor Knox. He is not at all Doctor Frankenstein in this film- he is Doctor Knox.Donald Pleasance is chilling as the sociopath Burke. This is one of the performances that made him almost a cult actor way back in the 1960's, which is when I began to notice and seek out his film work. There is almost no way to describe British stage and film actress Billie Whitelaw's work in this film except to say that it is so powerful that she bursts from the screen. One of the most impactful actors ever to appear in film, she performs with a high level of skill and force, almost going over the top as necessary to portray her loud low-class character trapped in a downtrodden life. A violent film depicting a brutal era and the unsavory days when medicine began to stumble ahead toward modernity, this film is the real deal, solidly and seriously produced with ability and skill by everyone involved.

A fantastic little chiller, recounting the events leading up to the trial of Burke and Hare – two infamous grave-robbers from the 19th century who eventually turned to murder when the stiffs stopped turning up fast enough. This black and white chiller-thriller, directed by the reliable John Gilling, has a great atmosphere to it, which really conveys the sleazy side of Edinburgh during the period. The sets are almost exclusively grotty, from flea-pit hovels to sleazy pubs and taverns which have all the look and appeal of a particularly nasty brothel. Such grotesque surroundings are contrasted by the life of Dr. Knox, who lives in stately homes, throws expensive parties for the upper-crust, and who teaches and works in stark, spotless laboratories and lecture theatres.The literate script throws in plenty of murky humour and what is essentially black comedy from the Burke and Hare characters, as well as drawing out the morals of the situation and giving some deep characterisation to the leads. Not only are Knox and the grave-robbers fleshed out, we also get three-dimensional medical students, their respective lovers (including a standout turn from Billie Whitelaw as a drunken young girl) and some bizarre characters thrown into the mix too – from blind street beggars to Daft Jamie, an affectionate village idiot played excellently by Melvyn Hayes.The film has a relatively slow pace to it, but builds up throughout, leading to a climax which also features some of the best acting work of Peter Cushing (as Doctor Knox), who is somewhat relegated to the sidelines midway through the film only to emerge at the finale with some stupendous acting work. Cushing's harsh, cold, proud, vain but ultimately good-hearted Doctor Knox turns a blind eye (both metaphorically and physically, thanks to his atrophied left eyeball) to the sinister grave-robbers he employs to procure fresh corpses. Cushing is outstanding in the part, just as good here as he was as Baron Frankenstein or Van Helsing.Also excellent are George Rose and Donald Pleasence as the twin pairing of Burke and Hare. Rose is the thuggish, brutish side of the partnership, whilst Pleasence excels as the snivelling-but-smart Irish ruffian Hare. Add to this some nice work from George Woodbridge, Esma Cannon, and John Cairney, some explicit grave-robbery and horror involving corpses and brutal murder, and you have a film which is surprisingly adult – and explicit – in its themes for the 1950s. Whatever way you look at it, this is a genre classic and a must for fans of such fare.

Dr. Robert Knox (Peter Cushing) is an arrogant professor who is in need of fresh corpses to dissect. He buys corpses from lowlifes William Hare and William Burke. They engineer a scheme of killing the poor who stays at Burke's house then selling the bodies to Knox. This gets out of hand and Knox must face judgment.This is an old black and white British horror. It's slow and not scary compared to more modern fare. The horror is more of the mind than of the gory variety. It is the horror of Dr Knox's ambition. Peter Cushing has nailed this character without making him a cartoon. He isn't evil but what he does has led to much evil. In the end, the system itself is shown to be complicit. It is horror with poetry.

Peter Cushing plays a lecturing doctor in 19th century Edinburgh who must buy fresh corpses to teach his students about the mysteries of anatomy. While the emphasis is on the doctor and the moral dilemmas he faces, Pleasance and Rose steal the show as Burke & Hare, no-goods who hit on the idea of providing their own, surprisingly fresh corpses ...This is an unbelievably vivid horror tale, gruesome and perverse, years ahead of its time. It has some weaknesses, and a most peculiar ending, but Cushing and Pleasance give two of their best ever performances, Rose matches them, and a young Billie Whitelaw is memorable also. Despite being a film from the 50s, this is absolutely NOT for the squeamish! An overlooked minor masterpiece, every bit as important to its genre as PSYCHO or NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.Trivia: Although "Psycho" is widely credited with being the first film to feature the actual sound of a stabbing taking place, if memory serves me right, this one might have beaten it to the punch by a year ... I'd be grateful if anyone else could confirm this.