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.

The Screaming Skull Movie Review

Trailer here.

The Screaming Skull is a 1958 horror movie directed by Alex Nicol and starring John Hudson and Peggy Webber.

Jenni(Webber) and Eric(Hudson) are newlyweds. They are moving into a new house which belongs to Eric. There is a gardener there called Mickey(Alex Nicol). Eric had a previous marriage. His wife died in an accident where she hit her head. Jenni and Eric meet Reverend Snow(Russ Conway) and his wife. Jenni talks to Mickey and discovers that he was close with the first wife. It is revealed that Jenni lost her parents in a drowning accident years ago. Jenni begins hearing noises in the house at night. Eric thinks that it was Mickey and he tells her that it's nothing. Jenni finds the gardener and she asks him to show her where the first wife is buried. He tells her that he heard the wife, Marion, crying in the night. Jenni begins to have bad dreams. She hears screams and goes to look. She finds a skull. She also hears knocking. 

Jenni was in an asylum after the death of her parents. She wonders if she is losing her mind and she asks Eric to call in the doctor. He tells her that it must be Mickey who is behind it. Reverend Snow comes to see her and she tells him that she was in a sanitarium and about her parents.She saw them die and it affected her. Snow tells Eric that he should take Jenni away to help her. Eric will not do it. He has an argument with Mickey and tells him to get out. Eric decides to burn a portrait of his first wife. He tells Jenni to set it alight. They hear screaming and a skull emerges from the ashes. Jenni faints. Eric puts the skull into the pond. Mickey sees him. Eric is going to take Jenni back to the sanitarium. Eric goes to the pond to get the skull out, but it isn't there. He chases after Mickey, thinking that he took it.

Eric hits Mickey and he threatens him. Mickey has the skull and he brings to Reverend Snow. He wonders what is going on. Jenni sees a figure in the garden and it follows her. She runs into the house screaming. Eric tries to kill her. Eric sees what he thinks is Marion's ghost ad he panics. The skull seems to be coming after him. He falls into the pond and drowns. Jenni wakes up and she finds the Snows have come. They help her. Reverend Snow finds Eric's body in the pond. It turns out that he was after her fortune and he wanted to kill her and make it look like suicide so he could inherit everything. The Snows take Jenni away as Mickey goes to the pond and talks to someone or something. It seems like there is a woman in there, suggesting that it is the ghost of Marion.

This is a fun film. It is pretty short and there isn't much in it that will shock or creep you out, but the story is good and the ending is decent. I liked it and I definitely recommend it for an old style horror treat. I will give it 5/10.