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THE FLESH EATERS (1964)
Directed by Jack Curtis
Dark Sky Films DVD
Reviewed 10.13.05
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILM
The Flesh Eaters is a lot
like college. First, you're bored
and lost, an outsider with a bad
haircut and a lack of charm. Sexual
tension creeps in. You move out
of the dorms. The Freshman 15 makes
itself scarce; life is picking up.
The good times snowball until senior
year, where it all comes together
for a satisfying close. Oh wait.
Go back about four steps; I left
out the part about the skin-tearing
gore.
Out of all the bootlegged holy grails
in the universe, The Flesh Eaters
has topped the list for years as
a most wanted release on home video.
Aside from an extremely rare big
box VHS from Monterey Video in the
80s, it has remained elusive. What's
the fuss? The film's reputation
banks on the appearance of explicit
gore in a black and white setting.
While not the first to offer a little
goosh (Blood Feast tore
it open a year earlier), Flesh
Eaters delivers a gruesome
sheen that you wouldn't expect from
the grayscale world. Trash with
a tux? Sleaze with a cigarette holder?
Perhaps. Despite the esteemed status,
this sole directorial shot from
voice actor Jack Curtis has never
seen the light of day as a legit
release. The day has arrived. Where's
the beach?
After one of the coolest prologues
in recent memory, sexpot-with-a-drinking-problem
actress Laura Winters and her girl-with-a-heart-of-gold
assistant, Jan, hire a studly-pilot-with-a-tragic-past
named Grant to fly 'em to Provincetown,
USA. Whew. A tropical hurricane
forces the team to land on an uncharted
island. Once there, they meet up
with a little scientist named Petey
(it's actually Peter, but WHAT IF?!),
who may or may not be involved with
Nazi shenanigans. Before you know
it, an army of film-scratched organisms
called Flesh Eaters are keeping
everyone at bay, contaminating the
water with their lust for human
flesh. A hep cat beatnik arrives
on a wooden raft with a built in
turntable, just in time to annoy
everyone on the island (this includes
you). Prof Pete may know more about
the Flesh Eaters than he lets on.
The cardboard solar battery is leaking
and the monster problem is about
to get out of hand. In other words,
"Good luck, you big lug."
Cheescake, gore, and an atrocious
two-story monster. Decent acting.
Fresh cinematography. Creepy beach
isolation. That's some good stuff,
eh? Unfortunately, The Flesh
Eaters also piles on the cheese,
coming across as a 40s mind-sucker
stuck in an early 60s timewarp.
Basically, it's very uneven. Comic
relief trades punches with accomplished
special effects. Hours of background
story makes time with a few minutes
of thrills. Dated dialogue ("Where
in Hanna do think you're going?!")
rubs elbows with seething sexual
undertones. Although the film gets
heavy with the violence, I wanted
more. I wanted it to go all the
way, never letting up for the dorky
pandering. What's here is good,
and as each minute passes, the film's
effectiveness grows. With a little
consistency grease, it could have
been better. Especially when you've
got a final twenty minutes that'll
strip the tar off a parking lot
(it's HOT!).
AUDIO AND VIDEO
In keeping with their previous releases,
Dark Sky's presentation of The
Flesh Eaters is amazing. Appearing
in anamorphic widescreen, the print
is flawless: deep blacks, stark
whites, and nary a scratch to be
found (aside from the storm stock
inserts, of course). The mono sound
was perfect. In all sincerity, Criterion
would have a hard time topping this
one.
EXTRAS
Not too many supplements, but what's
here is nice. We've got two trailers
(the first one runs about a minute,
the second is a 20 second TV spot),
50 seconds of Nazi experiment outtakes
(featuring some brief nudity and
on-set goofing), and a four minute
sequence which was excised from
the film on director Curtis's request,
called "Rare Nazi Experimentation
Sequence." This footage is
particularly interesting, as it
adds a chilling essence that doesn't
pop up in the rest of the film.
The footage appears within context
bumpers and some of it looks to
be sourced from a video master.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you've been waiting for years,
I don't want to stop you; The
Flesh Eaters hits DVD in duds
that are fit for a king. Get it.
For those on the fence, this uneven
shocker will make for a solid night's
rental. Either way, it's a film
that's worth seeing at least once
in your life. |
And what of the little people?
Cold to the touch
Tums alert
Marvelous
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