THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW
Director: Pete Walker
Writers: Alfred Shaughnessy
Stars: Ray Brooks, Jenny Hanley, Luan Peters
REVIEW – This slasher is about a theatrical group that is hired by some anonymous person and sent to this theater to rehearse while there is someone kills them off one by one. Pete Walker is very inspired in this film by Agatha Christie and mixes it with a little visceral horror to make a slow moving but at times very effective little film. This film really seems to revel in sexploitation and gives you some softcore goodies that most perverts like me will smile, but delivers some decent horror that also will keep that smile. This slasher is about a theatrical group that is hired by some anonymous person and sent to this theater to rehearse. While there someone is killing them off one by one. Pete Walker is very inspired in this film by Agatha Christie and mixes it with a little visceral horror to make a slow moving but at times very effective little film. This film really seems to revel in sexploitation and gives you some softcore goodies that most perverts like me will smile, but delivers some decent horror that also will keep the smile on our faces.
While I enjoyed Frightmare a lot more, this film was not as bad as it could have been. I enjoyed the actresses and thought for this era Jenny Hanley and Judy Matheson among a few others really captured the essence of what this film needed. The first half of the film is dominated by soft core exploitation and the second half is basically the elements that made Frightmare so fun, the gruesome violence and cheesy acting. The negatives is that this film is so slow at times, and the sexploitation seems to take over for storytelling, and that I felt was a mistake as the film started to go forward. I mean nothing wrong with women but you want something else to keep your interest beside cheap stabs at sexuality.
This film seemed to drown in the Hammer waters and tried so hard to mimic that genre of film making. As a whole this film was harmless and was good for a one time watch. I love the transfer and I know a lot of people got the Shriek Show Pete Walker collection which I will be honest; this transfer is so much more clear and crisp than the one they gave us a few years ago.
THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW | Official Trailer: