This murky offering from infamous British horror director Pete Walker isn't really a bad film, it's just not great. The first half of the movie is by far the weakest of the two, a slow-paced bit of to-ing and fro-ing which is so poorly-lit that you actually have to sit about two inches away from your television screen with the brightness turned up to full to make out anything that's going on. The straightforward plot is that of a slasher movie, although bear in mind that this film was released about six years before the slasher film boom so any similarities are purely coincidental. Walker livens up the fairly dismal proceedings with lashings of gratuitous nudity from most of the well-proportioned female cast members as one would expect from a director who previously made THE FOUR DIMENSIONS OF GRETA; indeed the film's opening sequence sees an appealing blonde-haired girl answering the door to her house in the nude! Quite why she would do this is anyone's guess...
For a while it's fun to play spot the familiar face, the cast being full of fresh-faced young actors and actresses mainly notable for their television roles in the '70s. Ray Brooks (the voice of Mr Benn) is the would-be producer of the group. Jenny Hanley (SCARS OF Dracula) is a "proper" actress who comes looking for a bit of stage work and finds only death and mystery, whilst Luan Peters, Candace Glendenning, Judy Matheson, and Penny Meredith fill out the rest of the performers who seemingly spend more time in bed with male cast members and technicians than actually rehearsing. Finally, there's David Howey as John, the bleedingly obvious red herring, and cheeky chappie Robin Askwith who gets some ripe dialogue in what amounts to a rather minor part. Patrick Barr is simply excellent in his part as Major Bell, a retired war veteran who lives alone with his dog and gets excited about the prospect of a theatre group inhabiting the long-abandoned pier.
Although Walker is heavy on the nudity, gore fans should seek their dirty thrills elsewhere as what (very) minor gore there is on offer here is almost completely obscured by darkness. Not that the film needs it, mind you: weird characters, bizarre actions, and a mildly creepy atmosphere propel this one along nicely until a fairly major plot revelation about an hour in. Then, surprisingly, things pick up towards the end, incorporating an excellent black-and-white flashback sequence (originally 3D) which plays as a nice little mini-film in itself, and a clever, well-acted finale which shares more than a few similarities with the following year's THEATRE OF BLOOD.
My only complaint with THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW is that Walker should have worked harder to make the final revelation a little bit more surprising as some of it is easy to guess. The film isn't really scary (but then, not many British horror films are, to be honest) and is far from the disturbing, graphic masterpieces like FRIGHTMARE that Walker became famous for later on in his career. But as a somewhat enjoyable, mildly effective proto-slasher yarn with an appealing cast, it deserves a look.
For a while it's fun to play spot the familiar face, the cast being full of fresh-faced young actors and actresses mainly notable for their television roles in the '70s. Ray Brooks (the voice of Mr Benn) is the would-be producer of the group. Jenny Hanley (SCARS OF Dracula) is a "proper" actress who comes looking for a bit of stage work and finds only death and mystery, whilst Luan Peters, Candace Glendenning, Judy Matheson, and Penny Meredith fill out the rest of the performers who seemingly spend more time in bed with male cast members and technicians than actually rehearsing. Finally, there's David Howey as John, the bleedingly obvious red herring, and cheeky chappie Robin Askwith who gets some ripe dialogue in what amounts to a rather minor part. Patrick Barr is simply excellent in his part as Major Bell, a retired war veteran who lives alone with his dog and gets excited about the prospect of a theatre group inhabiting the long-abandoned pier.
Although Walker is heavy on the nudity, gore fans should seek their dirty thrills elsewhere as what (very) minor gore there is on offer here is almost completely obscured by darkness. Not that the film needs it, mind you: weird characters, bizarre actions, and a mildly creepy atmosphere propel this one along nicely until a fairly major plot revelation about an hour in. Then, surprisingly, things pick up towards the end, incorporating an excellent black-and-white flashback sequence (originally 3D) which plays as a nice little mini-film in itself, and a clever, well-acted finale which shares more than a few similarities with the following year's THEATRE OF BLOOD.
My only complaint with THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW is that Walker should have worked harder to make the final revelation a little bit more surprising as some of it is easy to guess. The film isn't really scary (but then, not many British horror films are, to be honest) and is far from the disturbing, graphic masterpieces like FRIGHTMARE that Walker became famous for later on in his career. But as a somewhat enjoyable, mildly effective proto-slasher yarn with an appealing cast, it deserves a look.