The Creeping Flesh (1973)

Director:

Freddie Francis

Writers:

Peter Spenceley (original screenplay) &
Jonathan Rumbold (original screenplay)

Release Date:

1973 (UK)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

A terrifying journey through the nightmare worlds of evil, insanity and terrible revenge.

Plot:

A Victorian-age scientist returns to London with his paleontological bag-of-bones discovery from Papua New Guinea...

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | Skeleton | Blood | Discovery | Reincarnation

Cast

Christopher Lee	...	James Hildern
Peter Cushing	...	Emmanuel Hildern
Lorna Heilbron	...	Penelope
George Benson	...	Waterlow
Kenneth J. Warren	...	Lenny
Duncan Lamont	...	Inspector
Harry Locke	...	Barman
Hedger Wallace	...	Doctor Perry
Michael Ripper	...	Carter
Catherine Finn	...	Emily
Robert Swann	...	Young Aristocrat
David Bailie	...	Young Doctor
Maurice Bush	...	Karl
Tony Wright	...	Sailor
Marianne Stone	...	Female Assistant
Alexandra Dane	...	Whore
Jenny Runacre	...	Emmanuel's Wife
Larry Taylor	...	1st Warder
Martin Carroll	...	2nd Warder
Dan Meaden	...	Lunatic
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sue Bond	...	Girl in Tavern (uncredited)

Directed by
Freddie Francis

Writing credits
Peter Spenceley		(original screenplay) &
Jonathan Rumbold		(original screenplay)

Produced by
Norman Priggen	....	executive producer
Michael P. Redbourn	....	producer (as Michael Redbourn)
Tony Tenser	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Paul Ferris

Cinematography by
Norman Warwick		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Oswald Hafenrichter

Casting by
Anne Donne

Art Direction by
George Provis

Makeup Department
Roy Ashton	....	makeup artist
Barbara Ritchie	....	hairdresser

Production Management
Geoffrey Haine	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Peter Saunders	....	assistant director
Mike Higgins	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Peter James	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Norman Bolland	....	sound recordist
Colin Miller	....	dubbing editor
Nolan Roberts	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
John Harris	....	camera operator
David Wynn-Jones	....	focus puller (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Bridget Sellers	....	wardrobe supervisor

Music Department
Paul Ferris	....	conductor

Other crew
Pamela Davies	....	continuity

Production Companies

• Tigon Pictures
• World Film Services

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1973) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1973) (USA) (TV)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (1983) (USA) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (laserdisc)
• Media Home Entertainment (video)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• G.S.E.  titles

Also Known As:

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | West Germany:16 | Norway:16 | Australia:R | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Tigon Pictures

Trivia:

Larry Taylor is dubbed by Michael Ripper.

Quotes:

James Hildern:Unfortunately, in the state of society as it exists today, we are not permitted to experiment on human beings. Normal human beings.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Nightmare Theatre's Late Night Chill-o-Rama Horror Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)

Fair hokum, toplined by Cushing and Lee

THE CREEPING FLESH

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Mono

A Victorian scientist (Peter Cushing) returns home to England from the jungles of Borneo with a grotesque skeleton which Cushing believes is the Missing Link. However, his experiments are quickly sidelined when his daughter (Lorna Heilbron) falls prey to the same mental illness which destroyed her mother, bringing her into contact with a dangerous lunatic (Kenneth J. Warren) who's escaped from an asylum run by Cushing's contemptuous half-brother (Christopher Lee). Then, an accident with a bowl of water has an extraordinary regenerative effect on the skeleton in Cushing's laboratory, with devastating consequences...

Always a better cinematographer than director, Freddie Francis arranges the material in his usual flat-but-efficient manner, though the film is bolstered by a terrific script (co-written by Peter Spenceley and Jonathan Rumbold) in which several disparate story lines dovetail nicely during the course of the narrative. At a time when Brit Gothic was forced to ring the changes on a tired formula, THE CREEPING FLESH is a little too quaint and genteel to be entirely successful, but the film provides another welcome pairing of Cushing and Lee, and is further distinguished by Heilbron's eye-opening performance as a strait-laced waif who doesn't so much inherit her mother's insanity as have it foisted upon her by Cushing's thoughtless (but well-meaning) actions; her descent into nymphomania and homicide is all the more potent since most UK horror movies of the period weren't noted for their complex female characters. Production values are cheap but stylish, and Norman Warwick's elegant cinematography makes the most of the sparse production design and well-chosen locations.