The Flesh Eaters (DVD)
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When you see that the screenwriter’s only feature credit prior to The Flesh Eaters was called “50,000 B.C. (Before Clothing)” you know you’re in for a stinking cheese fest.
The director of this 1964 black and white film, Dan Curtis, was equally inexperienced, but you might recognize some of the actors. Martin Kosleck (She-Wolf of London) plays a mad scientist; Byron Sanders (who was the model for the painting by Salvador Dalí, "Crucifixion") plays a charter pilot; and the cheesecake is provided by Barbara Wilkin and Rita Morley.
These four find themselves trapped on an isolated island that’s guarded by flesh-eating monsters who live at the water’s edge. Anyone who dips a toe trying to leave — or coming ashore — becomes the human equivalent of a melted popsicle. (The creatures glow, not unlike the ones in today’s hit TV series Invasion.)
There’s plenty of drama (one of the ladies is a famous actress/diva with a severe drinking problem), sexual tension (the actress’s Girl Friday shares fleeting glances with the handsome pilot), and nefarious goings-on (the professor skulks around and looks mighty suspicious). The slang-laden, oh-so-dated dialogue and a raft-riding beatnik who sails in long enough to get his flesh eaten are among the highlights in this so-bad-it’s-good B-flick.
Let me qualify that — good in places, bad in others. The Flesh Eaters is rather uneven. Parts of it are so boring my eyelids turned into anvils, yet other parts are so silly and over the top I was chuckling out loud.
I guess it all depends on if you like this sort of thing. Generally speaking I’m not a fan of old monster movies, but I’ve seen a lot worse than The Flesh Eaters. If you enjoy movies like The Creature From the Black Lagoon, The Creature from the
The DVD is in widescreen with optional captions (both very much appreciated), and it has two trailers and outtakes, plus a rather interesting deleted scene entitled Rare Nazi Experimentation Sequence.
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson