THE CREEPING FLESH (1973)

Director: Freddie Francis

Writers: Peter Spenceley, Jonathan Rumbold

Producer: Michael P. Redbourn

Cast: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Lorna Heilbron, George Benson, Kenneth J. Warren, Jenny Runacre, Duncan Lamont, Robert Swann, Harry Locke, Hedger Wallace, Catherine Finn, David Bailie, Michael Ripper, Maurice Bush, Tony Wright, Marianne Stone, Alexandra Dane, Dan Meaden, Larry Taylor, Martin Carroll, (and uncredited cast) Sue Bond, Josie Grant, Lewis Alexander, Reg Thomason, Fred Wood 

In 1894, Professor Emmanuel Hildern (Peter Cushing) returns from his New Guinea expedition to his London, England estate. Hildern has brought back a giant, humanoid skeleton he has excavated that is much older and more advanced than any previously discovered remains of primitive man. As Hildern uses water to start cleaning his find, he notices that flesh begins to grow on one of the skeleton’s fingers. It is Hildern’s belief that the folklore of the New Guinea people describes a day in the future when the skeletons of these ancient beings would be unearthed by natural soil erosion and that their flesh would be regenerated by rain. He also speculates that these beings were the living source of the world’s evil and that a vaccine can be derived from the creeping flesh to inoculate mankind against evil itself. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review 

Tigon British Films Productions was the company that produced some quirky horror films to compete against the popular product from Britain’s venerable Hammer Films. At first glance, Tigon’s The Creeping Flesh appears to be creeping through the same Gothic horror territory that was Hammer’s usual domain. It is not only set in late 19th-century London, it has past Hammer director Freddie Francis, it stars Hammer legends Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee along with a bit part for Hammer’s ubiquitous character actor Michael Ripper, and it even employs Hammer’s renowned makeup artist Roy Ashton. 

Tigon’s distinction from the Hammer standard was their attitude. Their films seemed to be channeling some of the modern pessimism that was becoming the norm in horror films. While Hammer films would typically end with evil defeated and order being restored, Tigon’s horror stories would often finish up by annihilating the main characters or leaving them probably permanently traumatized. Tigon’s terrors usually did not end with a note of triumph and relief but with a sense of ongoing dread and despair. That is certainly the case with The Creeping Flesh, which also concludes ambiguously to leave us pondering two interpretations of the eerie tale that we have been told. 

One reason I enjoy some Victorian era horror films so much is that they demonstrate the seamy side of the human condition despite the repressive mores of those times. While the lower class is shown to be rife with illicit behavior, we often see the affluent slumming among them to indulge in their own vices. Members of the refined upper crust are often hypocritical, selfish, and unethical. Their status and ambitions may be more important than honesty and humanity. 

No one can better portray the opposing sides of that British, upper class dynamic than Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Their characters are dealing with madness in different ways. Cushing’s Emmanuel Hildern is an altruistic scientist trying to expand man’s knowledge and, as a result of his latest find, trying to cure the human race of evil. Lee’s cold-blooded James Hildern is trying to research and treat insanity using the inmates of his asylum as human guinea pigs. 

Their characters’ flaws are responsible for the rash actions that trigger a potential pandemic of evil and insanity. As half-brothers, Cushing’s Prof. Emmanuel Hildern and Lee’s Dr. James Hildern have a very strained relationship. James has always resented the status Emmanuel had and the kudos he has received for his research. Now, James has established his own more stable success as an asylum director and seeks to further show up his older sibling by claiming an award for his own line of research. Emmanuel is not only stressed by the financial strain of his estate having been neglected during his expeditions, he also has been concealing the shame of his unfaithful wife (Jenny Runacre) going mad and being committed to his half-brother’s asylum. It is James’ jealous, amoral ambition and Emmanuel’s emotional trauma that drive each man to act rashly, which causes horrific consequences. 

While unscrupulous James Hildern’s only concern is his selfish ego, kindly Emmanuel Hildern has his dutiful daughter Penelope (Lorna Heilbron) to worry about. He fears that there is a chance that his recently deceased wife’s madness could be hereditary. This spurs the good Professor on to administer his anti-evil vaccine too hastily and only results in more madness and violence. Fright flick fans should consider this a happy accident. It gives us a chance to hang out for a while in an East End pub full of buxom wenches ready for fun upstairs when the price is right. This really turns out to be a bloody good time. 

The creepy catalyst for all of the threat in the film is Emmanuel Hildern’s discovery of the remains of a strange being that predates man. As others have pointed out, this is a somewhat Lovecraftian concept that is quite humbling; something else was running the show here on Earth before humans started civilization. Those ancient beings may be restless and awaiting their chance to return and take over again. They may also have played a role in the development of the human species. 

Director Freddie Francis manages to make things appropriately uncanny. He imbues the inhuman skeleton with an actual presence that makes us wary of it. That apprehension is fulfilled as the story builds to another “happy accident” late in the film. Then we are treated to a skull’s-eye-view shot reminiscent of Francis’ work back in 1965 with the Amicus Productions film The Skull. Throughout The Creeping Flesh, Francis uses unusual shot choices, lighting, and film processing effects to portray madness and approaching menace. 

Composer Paul Ferris contributes an unusual score that is perfect for the awe, dread, despair, and madness running rampant in this story. He had also done a very fine score for perhaps Tigon’s most celebrated horror film, Witchfinder General (1968). 

The Creeping Flesh challenges us about whom we should invest with our trust and sympathy. The evil that threatens to infect all of mankind is madness, and that is shown to manifest itself in many different ways in many different characters. We are left to wonder if the madness threatening to destroy mankind is of inhuman origin or has always been living within all of us. Ultimately, we are also left with the unsettling notion that the truly inspired and benevolent minds may just be coping with their own obsessions and, as a result, may not offer us any real solutions. Unfortunately, it also seems that mankind is usually not ready for solutions if they can keep getting short-term gains by making the same mistakes. That seems to be a madness without any cure.