Review: The Creeping Flesh

In the late 1800s, anthropologist Peter Cushing is still somewhat grieving for his wife, who eventually went insane, and has recently died in an asylum. Cushing has brought back an interesting find from his latest expedition in Papua New Guinea. He has uncovered the skeleton of a primitive man which he claims predates the Neanderthal by millions of years. Attempting to clean the skeleton up with a bit of water, he notices that the skeleton is starting to regenerate flesh and blood. Cushing, who is interested in the idea of evil as a virus or force, believes he can extract blood from this creature to essentially create an immunity from this evil. He also thinks it can stop daughter Lorna Helbron from inheriting her mother’s ‘curse’. Needless to say Cushing encounters unforeseen problems that result in a killer creature on the loose. Christopher Lee turns up as Cushing’s jealous half-brother, a scientist in his own right who runs an asylum for the insane…one that soon sees a patient (character actor Kenneth J. Warren) escape.

 

Cheap-ish studio Tigon British managed to nab both Hammer stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee for this one, after previously using Cushing in “Blood Beast Terror” and Lee in “Curse of the Crimson Altar” and the underrated western “Hannie Caulder”. This 1973 film from director Freddie Francis (“Dracula Has Risen From the Grave”, “Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors”, “Tales From the Crypt”) is certainly one of the better Tigon British films, even if Cushing probably gets a better showing here than Lee.

 

Although the credited cinematographer was Norman Warwick (Francis’ “Tales From the Crypt”, the Vincent Price vehicle “The Abominable Dr. Phibes”), it’s worth noting that director Francis was himself a cinematographer too. It’s a typically good-looking effort from Francis, particularly when it gets all dark and shadowy towards the end. At times it’s a wonderfully atmospheric film, with one really magnificent bit of shadow work in particular (though I believe it might actually be a bit of crude animation) with the creature now hooded like The Grim Reaper. I will say though, that Monty Python fans might have a bit of a giggle at that bit. Outside of that, the best thing here is the stunning, rather cruel ending. No matter which way you interpret it, it’s sad and cruel.

 

Peter Cushing is pitch-perfect casting and obliges with a very fine performance here. It may be one of his best-ever, and it wouldn’t be surprising to me if he was using the real-life tragedy of his beloved wife as some sort of motivation. Lee is also perfect casting as the estranged, jealous half-brother who doesn’t suffer fools, though he sure does behave like one at times. Meanwhile, if you’ve ever been unconvinced or undecided before, Lee’s hairpiece is absurdly obvious here. Lorna Helbron is particularly good as Cushing’s daughter. The idea of evil as a disease or force to be eradicated is an interesting bit of science fiction. I think the script by debutants Jonathan Rumbold (a few other minor credits) and Peter Spenceley (normally an editor or assistant editor) deals with it in slightly lumpy fashion, however. I’m not sure I fully buy into the idea that Cushing’s dead wife (his character’s wife that is) was evil and passing the evil on to the daughter. However, if you look at it as insanity rather than pure evil it sits a little bit less absurdly (though rain water awakening the evil is a bit silly at a moment’s pause). I mean, it kinda stands to reason that in a less enlightened time things that we would now term mental illness were once seen as ‘evil’ or ‘witchcraft’ or something I guess. The bigger problem is that there’s too much going on for one 90 minute film. Lee’s character takes far too long to really serve out his purpose. In fact, the film could’ve worked just fine without his character’s intrusion anyway. Still, I’d much rather an ambitious film with too much going on than an empty-headed exercise. It’s certainly very interesting stuff, and the creature skeleton is creepy as hell even before Cushing tries to clean it up and it starts regaining flesh.

 

Overstuffed but mostly pretty enjoyable sci-fi/horror film with some interesting ideas, two top stars, a good supporting cast and damn fine cinematography. It’s not great, but it’s better than other Cushing-Lee pairings like “Nothing But the Night”, “The House of Long Shadows” and possibly even “Horror Express”. It’s also got a damn good and rather affecting Peter Cushing performance at the centre.

 

Rating: B-