Creeping FleshRating:
Release Date: 19 March, 2004 Retail Price: $24.99 OUR Price: $22.49 You SAVE: $2.50! Cast: |
Creeping Flesh Reviews
The creeping plot
Many British horror films tended to dwell on very similiar themes. This one is somewhat different, but it could have been much better if they spent more time developing it. The film begins focusing on the skeleton of an ancient creature that could be the missing link. Peter Cushing begins studying it and we learn that water makes skin grow back on the skeleton in seconds. This is pretty interesting, but then they fly off on a sub-plot about Cushing daughter learning that her mo ther went insane and she begins to follow suit. This part tends to go on and on showing us the insides of a seedy pub (all British horror movies are required to show a pub, I think it's a rule over there) and a confrontation with an escaped criminal. Christopher Lee plays Cushing's half brother and rival and he wants the skeleton Cushing has. The middle of this film is slow, but when it starts to rain, the movie cuts loose. The last ten minutes of this film is great, both the story and the visuals. This is overall decent film, just don't give up on it in the middle because it will redeem itself.
Peter Cushing discovers the source of all the world's evil
"The Creeping Flesh" is certainly an interesting combination of horror and science fiction, which teams Hammer's two greatest starts, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, in thie 1972 film done for Tigon British/World Film Services. Set in the late Victorian period, Professor Emmanuel Hildern (Cushing) tells his tale of how he discovered that all the evil in the world has been caused by blood tainted from an Evil One known in New Guinenan lore as Shish Kang. Hildern uncovers what he believes to be the creature's skeleton and is amazed when water drops on a finger bone and grows new flesh. Hildern dedicates his life to making a vaccine that will free mankind from not only evil but insanity and sexual debauchery as well. Unfortunately, when he tests out his first batch on his daughter Penelope (Lorna Heilbron), she becomes, ah, rather uninhibited and probably insane. Meanwhile, the professor's brother, Dr. James Hildern (Lee), learns of this discovery and steal the skeleton for his research. Unfortunately, the doctor is caught in a rainstorm, which survives to revive the horrible Shish Kang.
On the one hand you have to admire any film that tries to deal with the true origin of all evil in the world, even if the answer is that evil is a contagious disease passed on from an extraterrestrial monster (the "Evil One" idea seems a nod of sorts to the writings of H. P. Lovecraft). Although Lee is billed above Cushing for one of the few times in their career, he has very little to do in "The Creeping Flesh." Cushing's role has considerably more depth, as is usually the case when they pair up. The film is certainly stylish and director Freddie Francis ("The Skull"), but the plot by Peter Spenceley and Jonathan Rumbold is as convoluted as any you will find in horror film history. The "ending" offers a couple of levels of ambiguity that allow you to reassess everything you think you have seen, if you are so inclined.
More Customer Reviews (7 total)
You like Creeping Flesh?
|
