Marcus P
DVD Review
"The Flesh Eaters"
By Marcus Pan
Another rescue mission by Dark Sky Films nets this 1964 classic and presses it to DVD. "The Flesh Eaters" began a new genre of "gore" horror, utilizing new shining-model special effects that haven't been seen before. Starring Byron Sanders, Rita Morley, Barbara Wilkin and with a superb evil scientist portrayal by Martin Kosleck, the film fuses the fear of the ocean deep with the fear of cold-war era biological experimentation.
When it's discovered that Germany attempted to waylay the oceans against America with flesh eating bacterial organisms, psychotic mastermind Kosleck attempts to re-engineer the organisms, and chooses an uninhabited island where he can run his experiments at will without prying eyes. With the advent of bad weather and engine trouble, a charter plane pilot, his drunken actress flyer and the actress' secretary land searching for shelter, throwing a wrench in the experimental plans.
Duping them into helping him with his experiment, applying electrical current through the organisms, the scientist creates more than he bargained for. Pseudo-science indeed, as the electricity gels the DNA of the creatures together into one...well you'll just have to watch the film, I can't give it all away.
Splatter punks will cherish this DVD, "The Flesh Eaters" being one of the first of its kind after all. Fans of modern movies who rail against the older quiche will not. It's sometimes fun however to see where movies were forty years ago and witness the glowing special effects, wacky creatures and more of lost days though. It's also interesting to see the feelings of the times echoed in movies, as they always will be, with Nazi scientists and drunken actresses being on people's minds with the still-recent end of World War II and the cold war fears of the times.
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Originally published in Legends #155. Minor edits since.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
11/28/23
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Blobbo X
Blobbo still might have packet of "Instant Blood" ("Your only protection against the Flesh Eaters!") handed out at box office in 1964, laying around somewhere.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
06/04/23
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Heime S
Taken for its timeframe, it's not that terrible as a B science fiction movie. I saw it as a kid in the 70s when these kind of shows were shown every Saturday and I freaked out.😂😂 that was the timeframe when they were showing Godzilla movies, but the scene where the beatnik Omar dies was very traumatic to an 11 year old!
Campy and goofy by modern standards, and the sci-fi special effects cannot compare obviously. If only they allowed nudity back, then…
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
11/11/22
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Audience Member
A small group of people get stuck on an island with flesh eating bacteria, and a mad scientist.
Beatnik era sci-fi, in musical score and linguistic delivery style. Especially after Omar (Ray Tudor) arrives on the scene. Boring Americana hero type (Byron Sanders) has all the answers as usual, and the stereotypical damsel in distress (Barbara Wilkin) and older worn out starlet's (Rita Morley) singular motivation is to have relations with said boring hero, more than saving their own lives. The Villain (Martin Kosleck) is heavily German accented, and can't be trusted right away, simply for being German, I guess. (turns out he's actually a WWII Nazi) At least Barbara Wilkin looks great in her bathing suit.
Summary: This 60s era flick is mainly a snoozefest.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/20/23
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Audience Member
Honestly, a good movie for the time period. The nazi scene (supposedly added after 1964, but from 1962) was pretty bad and the director was aweful -- just that. The acting isn't as stiff as people are making it out to be, just the recitation of lines, almost monotone half the time, otherwise reaction shots and deliberate action seems fairly ahead of its time. Yes, the monster was cheezy and the plot has a major hole (mainly, why did the marine biologist care about the three when they arrived? He didn't need them for what he claimed to later.) Whatever, after watching Under The Skin, I was sadly impressed by this early attempt at smart horror.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/30/23
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Audience Member
This was a very average low budget monster flick, but I was very interested to realize that it was written by Arnold Drake, who gave us the old Doom Patrol characters from DC Comics, which sort of felt appropriate, given the over the top action here.
Rental? Maybe?
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/07/23
Full Review
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