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.