The Creeping Flesh (Freddie Francis, 1973) screens on TCM later this week and it’s worth highlighting for several reasons. Oddly enough, for me anyway, the skeleton found in New Guinea by a Victorian scientist – one that can regenerate flesh and which is posited as some ancient embodiment of evil – is low on the priority list.
First up is Freddie Francis, an interesting director who’s worked with Hammer, AIP, and other production companies, but is mainly known for his camera work and cinematography on a long list of top shelf films such as The Tales of Hoffman, Moby Dick, The Innocents, The Elephant Man, Glory, and Cape Fear. Here Francis took over as director, on short notice, a job that was originally supposed to be done by Hammer co-hort Don Sharp, and Norman Warwick, whose camerawork has a range that veers from The Abominable Dr. Phibes to The Kids Are Alright, is the cinematographer. Long story short: we’ve got some interesting visuals here, people. The camera is as comfortable gliding behind a dollhouse for an unusual perspective as it is raucously dancing alongside Lorna Heilbron in a crowded bar.
Next: Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Nowadays, most remember the former for Star Wars (1977) and the latter for his work on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. But for any lover of all that is English Gothic, these two embody Hammer horror, and having them both at the table always feels like the perfect family reunion during the days leading up to Halloween. Both could also be seen dealing with ancient bogies in Horror Express (Eugenio Martin, 1972), the film that precedes The Creeping Flesh. If only they’d starred in Five Million Years to Earth (Roy Ward Baker, 1967) you’d have a perfect “evil ancient fossils” trilogy – but in 1967 both were being kept busy on four to five other film projects.
More shout-outs: Producer Michael Redbourn, a former dubbing editor for Amicus who was in his late 20s at the time, purchased the rights and spent a year assembling his dream team, using sets at Shepperton from The House that Dripped Blood (Peter Duffell, 1971), as well as a wide range of interesting locations, including London’s famous Tower Bridge and a village in Surrey (Thorpe now has one of England’s biggest theme parks). Lorna Heilbron tackles her role as Penelope, the unhinged daughter of Peter Cushing’s Victorian scientist, with relish. While her role has been dismissed by some critics as providing an unsatisfying sub-plot, I’m in the opposite camp. For me the psycho-sexual dynamics that pit the feminine against the masculine are far more interesting than the boiler-plate “creature on the loose during a lightning storm” stuff that comes at the end. For more on, I recommend Erich Kuersten’s piece below:
http://acidemic.blogspot.com/2015/07/sever-me-member-scarlet-cinder-ex.html
