Watch The Flesh and the Fiends For Free

Too much of everything

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Dr. Robert Knox (Peter Cushing) is an arrogant professor who is in need of fresh corpses to dissect. He buys corpses from lowlifes William Hare and William Burke. They engineer a scheme of killing the poor who stays at Burke's house then selling the bodies to Knox. This gets out of hand and Knox must face judgment.This is an old black and white British horror. It's slow and not scary compared to more modern fare. The horror is more of the mind than of the gory variety. It is the horror of Dr Knox's ambition. Peter Cushing has nailed this character without making him a cartoon. He isn't evil but what he does has led to much evil. In the end, the system itself is shown to be complicit. It is horror with poetry.

This is a classic example of the way a small budget film can be much more enjoyable than big budget affairs, provided the right people work on it. This film has everything going for it in terms of creative personnel, at least in regard to the direction, writing and acting.The claustrophobic and minimalist sets, the seedy-looking costumes and the venal and petty motivations of various characters successfully evoke the bitter world of the impoverished citizens of the British Empire. Drama is provided at the nexus where an underclass harlot and ghouls meet the upper-class and the educated.There is no element of the supernatural in this film, yet the natural evil of men seeking profit is enough to provide sufficient horror. Fans of old school horror will find this film highly enjoyable and will appreciate how well-crafted it is.

In 1945, Val Lewton produced a wonderfully creepy film starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi (THE BODY SNATCHER). It was based on a Robert Louis Stevenson novel which was a fictional story based on real-life serial killers, William Burke and William Hare, who were WAAAY over-zealous in procuring corpses for the local medical school in Edinburgh. Apparently they didn't bother waiting until the people died in order to make a few pounds--often suffocating their hapless victims!! Years later, in 1960, another variation of the William Burke and William Hare story came to the theaters, but this one (starring Peter Cushing) was not based on the Stevenson novel but the actual crimes. While the Lewton movie was marvelous and horrifying, this one seems worth seeing as well because it is more realistic and unflinching (with some very brutal murders), plus it sticks much closer to the facts and mirrors the real decisions in the courts. Although whether or not Hare was blinded is a popular account that was never confirmed, this make for a cool inclusion in the film. Plus, I was really impressed by Peter Cushing's performance as a surgeon on a crusade--his speech before the graduating class and impassioned argument with old established "surgeons" was very impressive--some great oration indeed! Very, very interesting as well as well made--this British horror film is well worth seeing--especially since it's true!!

What a nice surprise this movie was. Director John Gilling surely knows how to make a well build up thriller with a slow pace but never a dull moment.The movie is extremely well written and has some at times incredibly good dialog. The fact that this movie is based on the true story of Burke and Hare-, two murderers who sold their victims to professor Knox, who uses them for his research, makes the movie even more interesting to watch.This movie is not really an horror movie, I would prefer to describe it as a dark-thriller. The movie doesn't have any scares but it has some well build up tension and a great thriller-story. I think it is more because of the fact that Cushing and Pleasance are in this, that people consider this a horror movie. But please, when watching this movie, don't expect a movie with walking death people or Cushing in a role of a 'Frankenstein' like professor.The movie is shot in atmospheric black & white. It was wonderful to see both Cushing and Pleasance in black & white for a change. My only complaint about the style is that it is a bit too dark at times, which makes the movie sometimes hard to follow.Peter Cushing is most certainly good in his role as Dr. Robert Knox but it really is Donald Pleasence who uplifts the movie with his performance. This might very well be the best performance of him I have ever seen in a movie. He plays a slimy-tramp who is the lead-murderer of the movie. His character is portrayed so powerful and believable without ever going over-the-top.It really is the way the movie is build up and the wonderful directing by John Gilling that makes this movie an absolutely great thriller that deserves to be better known.9/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/