The Creeping Flesh

PG

Released Feb 12, 1973

1 hr. 34 min.

Horror

List

83%

6 Reviews

Tomatometer

52%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

A Victorian scientist (Peter Cushing) injects his daughter (Lorna Heilbron) with the just-add-water essence of evil.

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Bill T

A somewjat boring gothic tale that sometimes intertwines 4 stories at once to basically tell of two mad scientists, Peter Cushing is trying to find out how to bottle evil, and he mistakenly stumbles on skin regeneration. Christopher Lee is working on insanity questions. Lee has a patient who is insane, and Cushing has a daughter he injects with his "evil" potion. Anyways, etc etc. The whole thing is somewhat confusing, but it somewhat gets resolved in the end (with some glaring unanswered questions). Not worh your time.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Liam D

An underrated Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing duo movie

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/03/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Directed by Freddie Francis* for Tigon, this film pairs Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing yet is made at the end of the era of British gothic horror. Yet despite how silly it gets, with Cushing holding a gigantic prehistoric finger that appears as sexualized as it gets, I love every single moment of this film. Cushing is Prof. Emmanuel Hildern,a scientist who discovers an incredibly large skeleton — Anunnaki alert — that is older than other skeletons in the area, yet much more advanced. He hopes that this finding will win him the Richter Prize, but that award looks like its going to be won by his brother John (Lee), who has been looking over Emmanuel's institutionalized wife for years. He plans on using his study of his brother's wife to win that award and he also refuses to pay for the professor's skeleton-finding trips. Whatever this skeleton is, legend says that it was a monster that feared rain — maybe because the Great Flood wiped out the other Nephilim — and that it can grow skin when it comes into contact with water. Hildern has a theory that if evil itself — the skeleton — can be a living being, then it can be biologically contained and treated like a disease. Using cells from the skeleton's fleshy finger, he created a serum that can stop evil. After testing the drug on a monkey with good results, Emmanuel also immunizes his daughter Penelope, who may have inherited her mother's mental illness. Of course, the next day, the monkey has gone wild and now we have Penelope dancing on tables and slashing sailors. Soon, James finds out about the srum and kidnaps his niece and steals the skeleton, which gets exposed to the rain and becomes, well, a pretty goofy looking monster that I can't help but completely be head over heels for. I also love the ending of this movie, which is so open ended that you can see it as Lee's character denying that his brother is related to him to sve his reputation or that Emmanuel was never a doctor at all, but just another patient. If that's true, then who really took his finger in revenge? Does the monster exist? *Don Sharp, who also made Psychomania, was the original director before Francis was hired to replace him.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is a Gothic horror gem. Peter Cushing and Sir Christopher Lee are both as wonderful as ever, and the rich atmosphere and top-notch sets make up for a somewhat lame monster.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/21/20

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Audience Member

Loved the ambiguity of the ending! This is a solid old school chiller. Mad scientists and all.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/28/19

Full Review

Audience Member

Some times these scripts just don't age well. This one has aged like milk that was rancid on arrival to the market. If you can get through it, more power to you.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

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Fred Francis

Director

Christopher Lee

James Hildern

Peter Cushing

Emmanuel Hildern

Lorna Heilbron

Penelope Hildern

George Benson

Waterlow

Kenneth J. Warren

Charles Lenny

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Blends haunted house techniques with home invasion and unholy revenge, culminating in a spectacularly grim conclusion.

Rated: 7/10

Aug 29, 2020

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Keith H. Brown

Eye for Film

Rated: 3.5/5

Dec 7, 2007

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Steve Crum

Kansas City Kansan

This 'Flesh' has little a-peel.

Rated: 2/5

Oct 30, 2004

Full Review

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Tepid horror with two British icons as its only draw.

Rated: 3/5

May 12, 2003

Full Review

Nicolas Lacroix

Showbizz.net

Rated: 3/5

Jan 18, 2003

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Peter Cushing in a hand-wringing performance is Professor Emmanuel Hildern.

Rated: B-

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

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Synopsis

A Victorian scientist (Peter Cushing) injects his daughter (Lorna Heilbron) with the just-add-water essence of evil.

Director: Fred Francis
Executive Producer: Norman Priggen, Tony Tenser
Screenwriter: Peter Spenceley, Jonathan Rumbold
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Tigon Pictures
Rating: PG
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 12, 1973, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 11, 2018
Sound Mix: Mono

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