The Creeping Flesh (1973)

Best movie of this year hands down!

the audience applauded

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Horror superstars Sir Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing play half brothers in this Victorian era shocker. Cushing is an eminent scientist, Emmanuel Hildern, who has put forth the idea that insanity is a disease that *can* possibly be cured. His discovery of a most unusual pile of bones in Papua New Guinea would seem to lend credence to his theories of evolution. Lorna Heilbron is Emmanuels' troubled daughter Penelope, who's distraught over not knowing very much about her late mother. And Lee is James Hildern, operator of a lunatic asylum who also has a daffy idea that he aims to prove.All the ingredients are here for what turns out to be a pretty solid, if imperfect, feature. Cushing and Lee are simply wonderful, especially in their scenes together. And they're directed by renowned cinematographer / filmmaker Freddie Francis, who also guided the two of them in "The Skull" from 1965. The amusing, interesting screenplay is by Peter Spenceley and Jonathan Rumbold, who create a few subplots and mix them together with decent results. One of the through lines is Emmanuels' accidental discovery that his newly acquired skeleton can be restored to life!A company named Tigon made this one, and it's good enough to compare favorably with a lot of the period horrors cranked out by the more famous Hammer Studios and Amicus productions. The period detail is respectable, the lighting by Norman Warwick is just right, and the music by Paul Ferris is excellent. Makeup artist Roy Ashton does typically fine work. The film is also somewhat gory, but it won't be too hard to take for more squeamish viewers.Gorgeous Heilbron delivers a transfixing performance as the daughter. The exemplary supporting cast also includes George Benson, Kenneth J. Warren, Duncan Lamont, Harry Locke, Michael Ripper (whose role is much too brief), Catherine Finn, and Jenny Runacre.It's all worth it just for the delicious twist ending, which does help to smooth over any holes there might be in the story.Seven out of 10.

Tigon films never made a secret of being inspired by the larger Hammer horror company: this film is perhaps most indebted to their rival. It stars Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and briefly Michael Ripper, and the story's Victorian setting is familiar to Hammer fans. I don't know how successful this was upon release. It was actually Tigon's final horror outing, the company having all but ceased by the time of the film's release, having been rebranded as the very different The Laurie Marsh Group. I have a feeling it would have been more lucrative had it been released ten years earlier, when such a style of story-telling was in its prime.Cushing plays Professor Emmanuel Hildern, first seen (minus toupee) alongside elegant actor David Bailie in an almost psychedelic, featureless laboratory set relaying the story we are about to see. Lee is typically and masterfully cold and officious as brother James, whose ambition far outweighs any loyalty to his sibling. The charming Lorna Hailbron is Emmanuel's daughter Penelope, stoically attempting to keep the family home alive despite debilitating finances brought about by her father's experimentation into the dawn of creation. Emmanuel is fiercely over-protective of his daughter following his wife's descent into madness; he fears the condition may be hereditary. As it is, his deception is the instigator of Penelope's rapid decline. Too rapid, in my view – for years she has been the most sensible family member; suddenly she is certifiable.Such experiments regurgitate the skeleton of a previously unknown, outsized monolithic humanoid creature. The interesting thing is, unlikely as it may seem, any contact with water puts flesh back on the bones and brings the old boy to life! Energised by this revelation, Emmanuel removes one of the creature's fingers in order to investigate further (some suggest a certain phallic similarity with the outsized digit, which in the hands of lesser an actor than Cushing, could result in chortles from the audience during his examination of the prop). We are treated to many close-ups of the dormant monster, as if he is observing throughout.This is lovingly, sedately directed by Freddie Francis and seems to be well budgeted. James' asylum setting is impressive, as is the lively plight of escaped inmate Lennie (Kenneth J Warren), although this entertaining side-step has little to do with the plot.A word for Cushing's performance. It's a given really, that he always puts in a fine performance, but this fragile, broken soul is amongst his best. The ending, and the lead-up to it, is true classic horror with the creature finally animated and seen in restrained long-shots. Cushing sobbing and defeated after the creature has come to claim its revenge, is heart-breaking.

Peter Cushing plays a scientist returning from New Guinea with a huge humanoid skeleton he had found. He has formed a theory that it was evil, and when it is splashed with water, starts to regrow flesh, then eventually comes to life to wreck havoc. Meanwhile, he injects his daughter Penelope with its blood, mixed with blood he considers good, on the theory that it will destroy the evil: he is proved to be wrong, as Penelope goes on the same road to ruin that led to his own wife being put in an insane asylum, run by his brother(played by Christopher Lee).Contrived and cynical film about the battle between good and evil never amounts to much, even with two horror legends in the leads. Subtext about whether or not the scientist is really crazy(and the whole film a figment of his imagination) is not enough to redeem this film, though the direction by Freddie Francis is adequate.

"The Creeping Flesh" is a neat idea for a movie: a doctor brings home a skeleton that grows flesh when exposed to water. That probably could have been the plot of a 1950s B movie. Unfortunately, this movie meanders way too much. A large portion of it focuses on the daughter's descent into madness, and we have to wait a really long time before the skeleton does its stuff. Maybe one has to see it more than once to appreciate the movie as a whole sufficiently.Other than that, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are great in their roles (as can be expected). Even so, I prefer Freddie Francis's movies that stick entirely to their plots. As it was, the end of this one reminded me of the end of Philip Kaufman's "Quills".