A decent horror movie packing thrills , chills , suspense, eerie events and grisly killings. Terror romp about two men go into business supplying Edinburgh medical college with cadavers by robbing graves or killing. Containing terrific acting from Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea as the sinister graverobbers , they create authentic set pieces of evilness, as well as displaying frightening and panic . It is set in Edinburgh , Scotland , Dr. Rock (Timothy Dalton) uses his young assistant Dr. Murray (Julian Sands) to provide him corpses by buying them. They're utilized for medical research, without questioning the unethical procurement methods. When the drunk scum Robert Fallon (Jonathan Pryce) and Timothy Broom (Stephen Rea) -playing Burke and Hare under fictitous names- aware the lucrative business, they replace Murray and delivering a lot of cadavers. The peculiar couple of no-count grave robbers and murderers are supplying fresh anatomical specimens to the esteemed college professor Dr. Rock of the Edinburgh Medical College in 19th century Scotland by embarking on a beneficial killing spree. Meanwhile , officials begin suspecting the grisly origin of the numerous corpses. Murder was their business!.Coffins Looted! Cadavers Dissected! No Job Too Small !. No Body Too Big !. No Questions Asked !. They're making a killing !. True love costs an arm and a leg !. The pimps and the prostitutes and the body-snatchers !. The brothels and dens of iniquity !. A man of medicine...A pair of murderers...An unholy alliance !. It's murder shopping for Dr. Rock !. Murder was just the beginning !.
This is a fine, suspenseful and intriguing horror movie based on the actual characters of the nasty gravediggers Burke and Hare providing dead bodies for illegal medical research in charge of an ambitious Doctor, this true story has been adapted a number of times , in fact this interesting tale was recounted by prestigious writer Robert Louis Stevenson himself in the novel ¨The Body Snatcher¨. Here The Doctor and the Devils (1985) medical horror meets two rogue crooks who will stop at nothing to get their purports for some coins. Tension , horror, intrigue and thriller scenes appear lurking , menacing in graveyard, dark slums, homes, rooms and brothels. Main and secondary cast are frankly outstanding. All characters in the story are present and partially correct , though changing their names , with Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea actually doing very well as the villainous duo and both of whom share the successively eerie scenes of murders .This pair really convey the whole sleaziness/perversity of the subject, and do so in a fun way , too ; it's a good double-act . They give deliciously hammy portrayals, displaying a lively and engaging chemistry as our titular gruesome twosome, while the model Twiggy plays a sweet and gorgeous prostitute, lending fine support . And is on hand to ham it as the stubborn Doctor Thomas Rock/Timothy Dalton -who in real life was called Doctor Knox . Furthermore , Phyllis Logan and Julian Sands do equally compelling turns . Secondary cast is full of familiar faces, doing brief appearances , such as : Lewis Fiander , Beryl Reid , T. P. McKenna, Siân Phillips, Phil Davis , William Morgan Sheppard, David Bamber , Philip Jackson and pre-captain Pickard : Patrick Stewart.
Musical score is nicely composed by John Morris , delivering the necessary grim and suspenseful atmosphere . The film gets adequate and evocative environment , thanks to cameramen Gerry Turpin and Norman Warwick , designing a colorful but sinister scenario, though a perfect remastering being really necessary . This eerie and creepy motion picture was uneven but professionally directed by Freddie Francis , though it has some shortcomings and flaws . Francis was a craftsman , expert on horror genre , shooting a number of films of this sort , such as : ¨Nightmare¨, ¨Doctor Terror's House of Horrors¨ , ¨The Skull¨, ¨Torture Garden¨, ¨Dracula has risen from the Grave¨ , ¨The Creeping Flesh¨ , ¨Craze¨ , ¨The Ghoul¨, ¨The Doctor and the devils¨, among others . Rating : 6/10. An acceptable horror movie ; however, displaying a plot we have already seen several times .
This Buke and Hare story has been also rendered in the following films : ¨The Body Snatcher¨ by Robert Wise with Boris Karloff , Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniel ; ¨The Flesh and the Fiends¨ (1960) by John Gilling with Peter Cushing, June Laverick, Donald Pleasence , George Rose ; ¨Burke & Hare¨ (1972) by Vernon Sewell with Darren Nesbitt , Harry Andrews , James Hayter , Yutte Stensgaard , among others. And last version was ¨Burke and Hare¨ (2010) by John Landis with Simon Pegg , Andy Serkis, Tom Wilkinson , David Schofield , David Hayman , Hugh Bonneville, Pollyanna McIntosh .
This is a fine, suspenseful and intriguing horror movie based on the actual characters of the nasty gravediggers Burke and Hare providing dead bodies for illegal medical research in charge of an ambitious Doctor, this true story has been adapted a number of times , in fact this interesting tale was recounted by prestigious writer Robert Louis Stevenson himself in the novel ¨The Body Snatcher¨. Here The Doctor and the Devils (1985) medical horror meets two rogue crooks who will stop at nothing to get their purports for some coins. Tension , horror, intrigue and thriller scenes appear lurking , menacing in graveyard, dark slums, homes, rooms and brothels. Main and secondary cast are frankly outstanding. All characters in the story are present and partially correct , though changing their names , with Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea actually doing very well as the villainous duo and both of whom share the successively eerie scenes of murders .This pair really convey the whole sleaziness/perversity of the subject, and do so in a fun way , too ; it's a good double-act . They give deliciously hammy portrayals, displaying a lively and engaging chemistry as our titular gruesome twosome, while the model Twiggy plays a sweet and gorgeous prostitute, lending fine support . And is on hand to ham it as the stubborn Doctor Thomas Rock/Timothy Dalton -who in real life was called Doctor Knox . Furthermore , Phyllis Logan and Julian Sands do equally compelling turns . Secondary cast is full of familiar faces, doing brief appearances , such as : Lewis Fiander , Beryl Reid , T. P. McKenna, Siân Phillips, Phil Davis , William Morgan Sheppard, David Bamber , Philip Jackson and pre-captain Pickard : Patrick Stewart.
Musical score is nicely composed by John Morris , delivering the necessary grim and suspenseful atmosphere . The film gets adequate and evocative environment , thanks to cameramen Gerry Turpin and Norman Warwick , designing a colorful but sinister scenario, though a perfect remastering being really necessary . This eerie and creepy motion picture was uneven but professionally directed by Freddie Francis , though it has some shortcomings and flaws . Francis was a craftsman , expert on horror genre , shooting a number of films of this sort , such as : ¨Nightmare¨, ¨Doctor Terror's House of Horrors¨ , ¨The Skull¨, ¨Torture Garden¨, ¨Dracula has risen from the Grave¨ , ¨The Creeping Flesh¨ , ¨Craze¨ , ¨The Ghoul¨, ¨The Doctor and the devils¨, among others . Rating : 6/10. An acceptable horror movie ; however, displaying a plot we have already seen several times .
This Buke and Hare story has been also rendered in the following films : ¨The Body Snatcher¨ by Robert Wise with Boris Karloff , Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniel ; ¨The Flesh and the Fiends¨ (1960) by John Gilling with Peter Cushing, June Laverick, Donald Pleasence , George Rose ; ¨Burke & Hare¨ (1972) by Vernon Sewell with Darren Nesbitt , Harry Andrews , James Hayter , Yutte Stensgaard , among others. And last version was ¨Burke and Hare¨ (2010) by John Landis with Simon Pegg , Andy Serkis, Tom Wilkinson , David Schofield , David Hayman , Hugh Bonneville, Pollyanna McIntosh .