The Flesh and the Fiends Movie Review

Trailer here.

The Flesh and the Fiends is a 1960 horror movie directed by John Gilling and starring Peter Cushing, Donald Pleasence and June Laverick.

The film takes place in 1928, in Edinburgh at a medical school. A woman called Martha(Laverick) comes to the school. Her uncle is Dr. Knox(Cushing). She meets Knox's assistant, Dr. Mitchell(Dermot Walsh). A body arrives for Dr. Knox. The body has been dug up. One of Dr. Knox's students, Jackson(John Cairney) knows about the bodies being delivered by unlawful means. Jackson meets a local prostitute called Mary(Billie Whitelaw) and he likes her. Two grave robbers called Burke(George Rose) and Hare(Pleasence) are responsible for getting the corpses for Dr. Knox. He doesn't care where they come from as long as they are delivered to the school.

Martha and Dr. Mitchell become romantically involved. Mary and Jackson meet them and Mary thinks that Jackson is ashamed of her because of her profession. Burke and Hare take an old drunk lady back to Burke's boarding house and they kill her. She is the next body to be delivered to Knox. Jackson asks Mary to marry him but she says no. An old man is looking for a room in the boarding house. Burke and Hare decide he will be the next corpse. Dr. Mitchell spots the two bringing in the body. He realises that the man did not die of natural causes. He was murdered. He questions them. Knox comes along and he gives them their money. Mitchell doesn't approve. He thinks that the man was murdered. Knox doesn't care.

Mary and Jackson fall out. She meets Burke and Hare and they kill her. Jackson sees her body at the school. He realises what happened to her. He goes out looking for Burke and Hare. Hare stabs him in the back. They get rid of his body. The police find him. There is a witness to the crime. Burke and Hare kill him. A friend of Mary's goes to the police and she tells them about Burke and Hare and Knox. The locals are not happy about what has been going on and they want to catch the two murderers. They are caught. Dr. Mitchell tells Knox that they have been caught. Burke is found guilty. Hare testified against him and he got off, but the locals catch him and punish him. Burke is hanged. Knox has to meet with his peers and they aren't happy about his behaviour. He feels remorse for his part in it. He knew that some of the people were murdered. Knox seems to redeem himself and he goes back to teaching. 

This is a good film. It is an interesting take on the Burke and Hare story. The cast is impressive. Cushing plays his part well. The character is not really that likeable but Cushing is great in the role. Donald Pleasence plays Hare and he is suitably evil. It is good to see these two horror legends in a film together and an early film for both. I like these old films and John Gilling directs this one. He did some fun films for Hammer. All in all, this is a good film and the cast are very watchable. I will give it a 5/10.

These are the Damned Movie Review

Trailer here.

These are the Damned is a 1962 Sci-Fi/horror film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field, Oliver Reed and Alexander Knox.

A man called Simon Wells(Carey) meets a young girl called Joan(Field). She leads him to a motorcycle gang, led by her brother, King(Reed). They beat him up. He is brought to a restaurant to recover. A man called Bernard(Knox) is working on experiments in the area. He has a lover called Freya(Viveca Lindfors) who wants to know what is working on. He won't tell her anything. Joan visits Simon and she tells him that her brother beats up anyone who shows interest in her. She jumps onto his boat. The gang are watching. Bernard meets with scientists and army personnel. There are children being kept in a secret facility. Bernard speaks to them. They want to leave.

Simon takes Joan ashore and they end up at Bernard's house. There is nobody there. They kiss. Freya also shows up at the house. King follows. He destroys a sculpture she has made. She is upset. The gang find Simon and Joan and they are after them. They end up at the facility and end up meeting the children. They tell Simon about their teachers. These children are not normal. They are fascinated by the warmth of Simon and Joan. The two talk to the children.  King is there too. He is scared by the children. A man in a radioactive suit arrives to see the children. King isn't feeling well. Bernard knows that the children have three people with them. He tells them that they will get sick if they stay. They decide to leave.

King, Joan and Simon decide to help the children escape. Bernard sends men to get them.

King knocks one out and shoots one. Simon gets the other one. Simon realises that the children are radioactive. He is disgusted by the experiment. Bernard and a military man called Captain Gregory try to stop them from leaving. Freya sees something happening and so does a local man called Sid(Kenneth Cope). Some of the children get recaptured. One of them goes with King, while Joan and Simon are caught but allowed to leave. Bernard tells Freya about the kids. Their parents were exposed to radiation and that is why the children are affected. He thinks that they will be able to survive a nuclear disaster. Bernard thinks Simon and Joan will die before long. King is killed as he tries to escape with the kid. Joan and Simon try to escape on the boat but a helicopter follows them and waits for them to die. Bernard kills Freya after she refuses to be a part of his plan. The film ends with the children back in captivity, shouting for help as the people on the beach enjoy their holidays. 

This was a good film. I liked the cast and the story was interesting too. It kind of reminds me of Village of the Damned, but the kids aren't evil in his one. I liked Oliver Reed in this. He plays a good villain. This is actually a Hammer film and it does have a good cast. I definitely recommend it and I will give it a 6/10.