The Flesh Eaters

Reviewers have not mentioned the gorgeous cinematography of THE FLESH EATERS, which is the work of the director, Jack Curtis, working under a pseudonym, Carson Davidson. Virtually every scene was shot outdoors in the merciless sun of summertime Long Island, but Curtis's lighting banishes unsightly shadows from the actors' faces; indeed, in many moments the exteriors are shimmering, almost silvery in their beauty. Deep focus and shallow focus are utilized with particular effectiveness. The women in the film are very good-looking, and as captured on film, they appear warm and absolutely delicious.

Another useful note is that THE FLESH EATERS was scripted by comic book writer Arnold Drake (The Doom Patrol, Marvel's Captain Marvel, et al). Arnold storyboarded the film, so every shot has the careful, formalized composition of a well-drawn comic strip. One shot, a sterling example of deep focus, sticks with me: the right profile of the hero dominates the left-side foreground of the frame. In a moment, two or three tiny figures at the far-removed shoreline move left to right, from behind the hero's head, and in perfect focus. Self-conscious? Yes. Striking? Absolutely.

Finally, Curtis & Co. shot THE FLESH EATERS silent, which is NOT apparent.The post-production looping matches flawlessly to the performances, and the voices have weight and presence. (Curtis had experience in the dubbing of foreign films for the American market.)

The gratuitous but not uninteresting Nazi-lab sequence was not shot by Curtis, and has none of the visual beauty of the rest of the film. Its shock value, though, is strong.

I rate THE FLESH EATERS AN "8" not against all films, but against other films of its type. As B exploitation, it is ingenious, nastily amusing, and immensely satisfying.

This film is an updated for the 1960s version of the traditional late 30s-40s mad scientist tale but one with the surprising addition of gore, used very effectively for the time. Martin Kosleck here provides the mad scientist, a Nazi stereotype not uncommon to earlier eras. The Flesh Eaters themselves make for a memorable menace and the early scene with the two swimmers is an excellent bit of film making. The gigantic ones and their showdown with the hero at the end requires much suspension of disbelief but the monsters are also quite nasty-looking which makes for fun viewing if you're into seeing giant monsters. The final showdown actually reminds me a little of the film KRONOS.

Shucks, if you're looking for credibility and good acting, of =course= this is the wrong kind of movie! Myself, I watch a film like "The Flesh Eaters" precisely because it is implausible, even cruddy, and chock-full of overripe performances ... and further, of those delicious moments that "a serious film" or "a Hollywood moom pitcher" would never dare attempt.

And Martin Kosleck is always fun to watch. Check out his mini-bio and see if he doesn't deserve your immediate respect, even if he spent most of his U.S. career acting in junk.

A pilot, a drunken actress and her female assistant, and a groovy beatnik all get stranded on an island where a German scientist (Martin Kosleck) is conducting experiments involving a strange silvery substance in the water that starts eating the flesh off fish and people. This is a cheaply made film that was shot in Montauk, New York, and saves a lot of money by taking place entirely on the beach (their "island"). But it's still fun and manages to overcome its limitations, and Kosleck makes for a good sneaky villain. The hero pilot (Grant Murdock) is pretty poor as an actor, and provides some laughs and funny lines. The beatnik character is a show in himself, man. Can you feel the love? **1/2 out of ****

First and foremost, I simply must start with the blunt but unmistakably clear statement that "The Flesh Eaters" is an awesome, awesome film! I read quite of harshly negative and even downright nasty reviews around here, and although I do respect everyone's opinion, I honestly think you don't have a heart for horror in case you dislike this!

Certain horror films from the sixties, even those NOT directed by Hershell Gordon-Lewis, can be surprisingly raw and explicit in terms of depicting gore, feminism, and taboo subjects. For a 1961 film (although only released in 1964) "The Flesh Eaters" features surprisingly many moments with shocking gore, strong & independent female characters not afraid to show a bit of bare flesh, and the first ever - at least to my knowledge - "Nazisploitation" footage.

An unlucky pilot, together with an alcoholic actress and her secretary, is forced to make an emergency landing on a small island due to a storm. It's not entirely uninhabited, though, as they meet up with the mysterious marine biologist Peter Bartell, with a thick German accent. Bartell is clearly working on unfinished Nazi business, as we already witnessed during the delicious opening sequence how a young couple got "dissolved" following an attack by oddly glowing sea-creatures.

Many things don't make a lick of sense, like someone arriving on a raft out of nowhere or tropical hurricanes being unable to even blow away a tent, but what does it matter - seriously - when in exchange you get to see people disintegrate into skeletons before your eyes, or a stunning unknown actress like Rita Morley spontaneously rip her blouse open to bandage her wounded friend? And the enormous monster emerging from the sea at the end, well, that one earns a spot in the list of craziest horror creations ever!