Essência da Maldade

"The Creeping Flesh" is a neat idea for a movie: a doctor brings home a skeleton that grows flesh when exposed to water. That probably could have been the plot of a 1950s B movie. Unfortunately, this movie meanders way too much. A large portion of it focuses on the daughter's descent into madness, and we have to wait a really long time before the skeleton does its stuff. Maybe one has to see it more than once to appreciate the movie as a whole sufficiently.

Other than that, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are great in their roles (as can be expected). Even so, I prefer Freddie Francis's movies that stick entirely to their plots. As it was, the end of this one reminded me of the end of Philip Kaufman's "Quills".

This film's idea of a reviving ancient flesh when in contact with water is truly original, its sordid atmosphere is very well achieved and Peter Cushing and Cristopher Lee's presence give it a sort of category in the genre. In fact, when Cushing arrives back in England with a strange scary huge skeleton from New Guinea and you learn that water could bring it back to life you have the feeling you'll watch a most interesting horror picture focused mainly in that strange fact.

But then other story appears about Cushing's insane wife's death and their daughter's obsession with her mother that turns into a parallel plot. And that's when "The Creeping Flesh" looses quality and sense -in its genre of course- and things start to mix up badly; there is also a mad killer at large (not frightening at all). What I mean is that so many different topics -unrelated between them- is too much for just one film, and the final outcome is not a good product. Besides, the special effects of the Papuan monster came to life are poor, even for 1973.

Perhaps a better product would have come out if the film had stayed with just the archaelogical evil creature, but it seems the writers couldn't find a way to develop the subject and make a full script out of it.

The picture has some good moments, but in my opinion it is just for Cushing and Lee's fans and no more than that.

A scientific, Peter Cushing, decides he can cure evil by injecting with a serum derived from the blood of an ancient corpse that he got from a discovery in Papua New Guinea . As Cushing has at his lab the remains of a giant prehistoric to administer an anti-evil serum with perhaps incredible results . As when the body is exposed to water, flesh returns to the bones with horrible consequences. Meanwhile, Cushing has a skeleton in the cupboard, as his insane wife is interned at a mental institute run by the stiff mad doctor Christopher Lee.

Some truly eerie and chilling moments will get you flesh creeping. As a palentologist bag of bones from a Papua New Guinea giant, which develops new flesh when water drops on him , unleashing a string of distresses and terror when he is brought to life, adding an inevitable and surprising final denouement. Well paced film including a complicated storyline , never flashy , its true secret lies in the peculiar style, knitting together with considerable skill . It has enough flair play to keep us pondering its latent inconveniences and absurdities. Stars two great myths of terror cinema, Peter Cushing who gives his customary cultured acting looks even better in an interesting screenplay and, of course, Christopher Lee , though the latter has a secondary performance as an Asylum director. And Lona Heilbron is nice as the repressive daughter to whom Cushing administers an anti-evil serum with amazing consequences . Support cast is acceptable such as the regular Duncan Lamont as a Police Inspector, George Benson, Kenneth J Warren and brief cameo by Michael Ripper, as usual .

Well financed by Michael Redbourn and Tigon production that very much attempts to return in style and class to the early Hammer movies .The motion picture was professionally directed by Freddie Francis. He was a Horror expert making a lot of titles, such as The doctor and the devils, The ghoul, Legend of the werewolf, Dark Tower, Craze, Tales that witness madness, Tales from the crypt, The vampire happening, Dracula has rising from the grave, They came from beyond space, Torture garden, Dr Terror's house of horrors, The skull, The evil of Frankenstein , Hysteria, Day of the Triffids, The brain, and Paranoic. Besides, he was a prestigious cameraman , such as The straight story , Princess Caraboo, Cape fear, Glory, Her alibi, Dune, The elephant man, The innocents , The French lieutenant's woman , Brenda Starr , Saturday night and Sunday morning, Room at the top, The battle of the sexes, Time without pity, among others. Rating : acceptable and passable 6/10.

I want to start off by saying that I thoroughly enjoy most of Freddie Francis' films, especially those he made with Hammer. But...I was expecting so much more from THE CREEPING FLESH. With the recent passing of Christopher Lee (RIP), I wanted to go back and re-watch his films that I loved and also to find some that I hadn't previously viewed. So I stumbled upon THE CREEPING FLESH and immediately sought it out. Maybe my expectations were too high going in, but I was a bit let down. As I said, I really like Freddie Francis. I also love Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. So it was a no-brainer that I would like this film. And I did like it...just not as much as I thought I would going in to it.

The Victorian age set pieces were fantastic. The subject matter of the story (though not scientifically accurate) was interesting. The acting was great. The atmosphere was pretty good. It was the lack of the horror element that I was expecting and it just didn't seem to show up until the final 15 minutes or so of the film. When it did show up it was great. I just wish the movie would have used it sooner.

I also disagree with the many people who feel THE CREEPING FLESH is Freddie Francis' best film. TORTURE GARDEN, TALES FROM THE CRYPT, LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF and maybe even THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS and THE SKULL were all better in my opinion. I especially loved LEGEND OF THE WEREWOLF...but I am partial to werewolves.

All in all, THE CREEPING FLESH is a good movie worth watching, especially if you are a Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing fan (or a fan of Hammer films even though this is not a Hammer production). It's a good, solid 6 out of 10.

Although "The Creeping Flesh" (1973) is not technically a Hammer film, it was made by a rival British company with Hammer alumni Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and director Freddie Francis.

Lee and Cushing play two rival half-brothers; Lee runs a mental asylum and Cushing is a scientist trying to cure humanity of evil and insanity. Lee, it turns out, is also trying to find the same cure by experimenting on the lunatics in his asylum.

Cushing is driven by the insanity and recent death of his wife. He is so paranoid about the "infection" of evil and madness that he overprotects his daughter.

He discovers an 8-foot tall diabolical skeleton on one of his expeditions in New Guinea and becomes convinced that evil itself is somehow linked to this figure. He discovers that the skeleton strangely acquires flesh/blood when it gets wet. He subsequently develops a "vaccination" from the blood to supposedly give people immunization from evil and insanity, which he then administers to his daughter (!).

As you can see, the plot is highly creative, if nothing else. Numerous issues are touched on in the storyline, including:

The origin of evil and insanity. Sibling rivalry. The consequences of overprotection. Is evil and madness a disease for which a person can be vaccinated? The (lack of) ethics of "scientists." An escaped lunatic running amok. Having a carnal celebration after years of repression. The 19th century English pub scene (alcohol, whores and brawls). An 8-foot creeping horror.

Some would contend that "The Creeping Flesh" bites off more than it can chew (especially at only 95 minutes). Yet, I would say that it addresses all of these items very well. I should also point out that it's not hard to follow, as another reviewer argues.

Two parts of the film are very well done: First, when Cushing's daughter, Lorna Hailbron, finally escapes her father's overprotective clutches and attempts to "paint the town red" (naturally). Lorna does an exquisite job portraying the daughter in both her initial naive, modest state and, later, in her wild first-time-party-girl condition.

Second, when the skeleton finally comes to life after acquiring all its flesh. You can see it lurking in the moonlight with a hood and cowl. This creepy image brought to memory artist depictions of the Flatwoods monster that supposedly appeared near that West Virginia village in September 1952.

Interestingly, "The Creeping Flesh" has many similarities to "Horror Express," another Hammeresque film made the very same year. Each film stars Lee and Cushing; each features an ancient recently-discovered artifact that emanates evil (a skeleton and a frozen neanderthal respectively); each features numerous shots of people analyzing "evil" blood samples through a microscope. I like both films about equally, but give the slight edge to "The Creeping Flesh."

Don't hesitate to check out "The Creeping Flesh" if this sounds like your cup of java.

GRADE: B+