The Flesh Eaters (1964)

Director:

Jack Curtis

Writer:

Arnold Drake (writer)

Release Date:

18 March 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Behind this Membrane...You Will Be Driven To a Point...Midway Between Life and Death!

Plot:

A group of young adults are trapped on a desert island only to find the water inhabited by a violent form of flesh eating organisms.

Plot Keywords:

Flesh Eating | Scientist | Pilot | Actress | Alcoholic

Cast

Martin Kosleck	...	Prof. Peter Bartell
Byron Sanders	...	Grant Murdoch
Barbara Wilkin	...	Jan Letterman
Rita Morley	...	Laura Winters
Ray Tudor	...	Omar
Christopher Drake	...	Matt
Darby Nelson	...	Jim
Rita Floyd	...	Radio Operator
Warren Houston	...	Cab Driver
Barbara Wilson	...	Ann
Ira Lewis	...	Freddy Miller

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Greece:K-13 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Long Island, New York, USA

Company:

Vulcan Productions Inc.

Trivia:

The Flesh Eaters used a very William Castle like exploitation gimmick; plastic packets of "instant blood" were given out to each patron as they entered the theatre in case they were attacked by flesh eaters.

Quotes:

Omar: Hey! Wonder what makes 'em do it? You think they want the world to hate 'em? They wanna be punished because of some guilt complex? Hey - you think maybe they just kooky?

Movie Connections:

References Gunga Din (1939)

Good old fashioned trash

This movie made a major impression on me when I was a kid and turned on the TV halfway though it on a Saturday afternoon. It was right in the middle of the scene where the archetypical cartoon beatnik character is babbling moronically about his diet...within seconds, I was watching a grown man scream like a little girl while being literally devoured from the inside out. That's all I remember from back then, that and how uncommonly UGLY those monsters turned out to be. I mean HIDEOUS (I'm still convinced that the brain-bug in "Starship Troopers" is just a watered down version of these things).

Later I watched it again, and again.

They start out really small, the monsters, so small that you can't see them except as a swarm. They are electrified somehow--electrified carnivorous blood cells, I think, the result of an evil Nazi experiment--and just sort of twinkle at first.

At the end, one gets really, really big. Once they're big enough to see, you realize just how UGLY these things are. These are old-school special effects, the kind that required some EFFORT, even when they were bad, and I miss that.

To add to this, you have a stranded island-load of the most ridiculous, archetypical, two-dimensional characters saying and doing the dumbest things imaginable. A mad Nazi scientist, a drunken has-been movie starlet, a once-successful pilot with a dark incident that ruined his life, and the aforementioned cartoon beatnik. It's like ten bad movies rolled into one. I'm not even convinced it's unintenionally funny. I imagine the people behind this debacle were made jaded and cynical by their hardships in Hollywood and amused themselves during the filming of this hack work by at least making it fun. My favorite part is when the square jawed pilot asks for something to bandage a wound with, and of course the attractive young women immediately rips her shirt off.

Bad special effects, bad writing, bad acting, and, I'm telling you, the ugliest monster I've ever seen. If this doesn't sound good to you, don't rent it, and stay away from my house.