The Flesh and Blood Show

1974 "An appalling amalgam of carnage and carnality..."
5.3| 1h33m| R| en| More Info
Released: 01 August 1974 Released
Producted By: Peter Walker (Heritage) Ltd.
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Actors rehearsing a show at a mysterious seaside theater are being killed off by an unknown maniac.

Genre

Horror, Thriller

Watch Online

The Flesh and Blood Show (1974) is currently not available on any services.

Director

Pete Walker

Production Companies

Peter Walker (Heritage) Ltd.

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime.
Watch Now
The Flesh and Blood Show Videos and Images
View All

The Flesh and Blood Show Audience Reviews

Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.
Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Paul Andrews The Flesh and Blood Show is set in England where a group of young & aspiring actor's are hired by a production company to rehearse & perform a play which they intend to open in London, the company send all the actor's to a small seaside town where an old abandoned theatre sits on the end of a pier. It's in this old theatre that the actor's will get to know each other & rehearse the play, Mike (Ray Brooks) is acting producer & it's his job to organise everything. Once all the cast have arrived they decide to live in the theatre will rehearsing, the first while while they are trying to sleep a loud screams wakes everyone up & they soon discover that that one of their number is missing & set out to look for her. Mike thinks he finds her decapitated head but after returning with local police it has vanished, puzzled Mike has to forget it but other member's of the cast also disappear as the theatre's terrible past comes back to haunt the present...This British & American co-production was produced & directed by Pete Walker & was his first attempt at horror, I have to say that The Flesh and Blood Show is a rather standard murder mystery horror with added nudity. While there's a fair bit of naked flesh on show there's not much blood on offer, at over 90 minutes The Flesh and Blood Show is a fairly dull film that hasn't aged well either. The murder mystery aspect is pretty poor, there's no great surprise as to who the killer is & there's meant to be a double twist at the end but the film just sort of finishes before the script has a chance to do anything with it. The kills are forgettable & I am not sure what that opening sequence of blood dripping down wooden supports & into the sea has to do with anything, the character's are all sex crazed teens who enjoy playing annoying jokes on each other which provide lots of those tiresome 'fake' scare scenes where something initially threatening turns out to be a practical joke. The revelation of the killer at the end is pretty dull & his motives for murder are weak, he goes a little bit crazy as well quoting all sorts of classic lines from various plays that sound out of place here & only slow things down even more. Overall The Flesh and Blood Show is an unsatisfying murder mystery that doesn't deliver on the mystery or the slasher aspects of the story, while not the worst example of it's kind I can't say I would ever want to see it again.The Flesh and Blood Show definitely has the 70's feel to it, lots of old looking buildings with lots of dark corridors for people to endlessly walk down although the fashions don't fare so well with some hideous outfits including tight fitting canary yellow trousers. There's a fair amount of nudity here with virtually every female member of the cast going topless at least once while the gore is tame with only a severed head & a bit of blood splatter on show. The film has a decent atmosphere & looks alright but I doubt I will remember anything about it in a week. Origianlly shot partially in 3-D, the flashback sequence at the end was originally shown in 3-D but was simply black and white for most home video releases.Filmed on location in Cromer in Norfolk here in England, written by Alfred Shaughnessy who went on to be script editor on British sitcom Upstairs, Downstairs (1971-1975). The acting is OK but nothing special here, Robin Askwith appeared in a number of British horror & sex films during the 70's while Ray Brooks narrated both Mr. Benn (1971) & King Rollo (1980) & was more recently in Eastenders.The Flesh and Blood Show is a pretty forgettable murder mystery horror film that looks alright & isn't terrible but just isn't great either. Not much of a mystery to solve, not much gore to get excited about & a rather slow pace at times means The Flesh and Blood Show is a minor entry in British horror.
Woodyanders Pete Walker's first foray into the fright film genre prefigures the slasher cycle by a good five years and manages to wring a good deal of tension and spooky atmosphere from its novel and inspired setting of a decrepit abandoned old stage theater located on a remote pier on the British coast. The story is rather familiar stuff, but still tight and involving: A bunch of eager and good-looking young thespians join a mysterious repertory company and get together to rehearse a play at the old theater. Naturally, there's also a creepy and vicious heavy-breathing maniac loose in the place. Walker and writer Alfred Shoughnessy relate the engrossing story at a steady pace, present a gaggle of well-drawn and likable main characters, and do an able job of creating and maintaining an eerie and enigmatic mood. The attractive and appealing cast rates as another substantial asset, with especially stand-out work by Ray Brooks as fair and easygoing stage director Mike, Jenny Hanley as lovely and ambitious rising starlet Julia Dawson, Luan Peters as the sultry Carol, Robin Askwith as the affable Simon, Tristan Rogers as dashing hunk Tony Weller, and David Howey as impish practical joker John. Veteran actor Patrick Barr has a field day with his juicy supporting part as dotty and charming local eccentric Major Bell. The killer's motive for committing the murders turns out to be unexpectedly poignant and tragic. While this picture skimps on the gore and has a minimal body count, this is more than compensated for by a pleasing plenitude of tasty bare female skin and the clever and surprising conclusion that comes complete with a cool protracted flashback sequence shot in stark black and white. Peter Jessop's bleak cinematography and Cyril Ornadel's ominous score add greatly to the overall macabre entertainment value of this enjoyable little shocker.
udar55 Hired by a mysterious backer, a small British theater troupe head to an old theater on a seaside pier to work out their improv show. They all decide to shack up in the theater and, on the very first night, encounter a killer determined to brutally off them one by one. Of course, when you realize Robin Askwith is one of the group, you might start siding with the killer. I am a sucker for horror films set in empty theaters and this one really does it right. There isn't much mystery here, but director Pete Walker stages some nice stalking scenes (with killer POV before BLACK Christmas) and the cast definitely delivers in the flesh department. One thing I loved is a supposed plot hole where the killer couldn't have possibly attacked one girl. You think it is inept film-making, but Walker has gotten the better of me and it serves for a nice final twist.This is my third Pete Walker film (FRIGHTMARE and SCHIZO being the other two) and I have to wonder if Walker hated old folks. Alongside FRIGHTMARE, this features an elderly person revealed to be the killer in the end. That's it, I officially declare Walker to be an ageist! Anyway, an enjoyable little British slasher. The cast is good and the film benefits greatly from an amazing location. Totally for abandoned theater film lovers!
BA_Harrison In Pete Walker's enjoyably trashy The Flesh and Blood Show, a group of young actors, preparing for a show in a ramshackle theatre at the end of a pier, become the target of a maniac with a hatred of decadent thespian types. With little in the way of gore, but loads of nudity by way of recompense, this kitschy take on the old 'Ten Little Indians' story (by Agatha Christie) is great fun for those who love 70s UK horror.The film opens with budding actresses Carol (busty Luan Peters) and Jane (sexy Judy Matheson) being awakened in the middle of the night by a knocking at their door. With Carol leaping starkers from her bed (which she shares with her flatmate!) to see who it is, it becomes clear that Walker hasn't completely forgotten his sex/comedy roots—after all, how many girls do you know that would be happy to open their front door in the nude?Anyway, the caller turns out to be a practical joker named Tony (he staggers through the door pretending that he has been stabbed), with whom Carol has recently worked on a horror film. No acceptable explanation is given for his unusual arrival at the girls' flat, but after some brief chit-chat, it transpires that both he and the two women have been given a job in a new show. They are to travel to the seaside town of Eastcliff where they will meet the rest of the cast (which includes 'Confessions' star Robin Askwith, and Jenny Hanley, presenter of kids' TV show Magpie) and the producer, Mike (Ray Brooks), to begin rehearsals.Of course, it's not long after their arrival at the spooky old theatre that the troupe's number starts to dwindle, as the mysterious killer sets to work.The Flesh and Blood Show might not be as shocking as some of Walker's later efforts, and is certainly not as gruesome, but with every pretty female in some state of undress during the film, a truly hilarious finalé featuring a Shakepeare quoting lunatic, and even a sequence shot in 3D, it is still a film worth seeking out.6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.