The Flesh and Blood Show
1972 · Directed by Pete Walker · UK
More Pete Walker early-70s fare with The Flesh and Blood Show. Ray Brooks (House of Whipcord) and Robin Askwith (Cool It Carol!) are among a group of unemployed actors lured to an abandoned theatre in an out-of-season seaside town. Promised weeks of rehearsals before taking their improvised production to London, they begin rehearsing in earnest in fur bikinis and whatever they can find in the abandoned props department.
Bloody chaos ensues as actors disappear and are replaced to make up the numbers. One actor is decapitated by a prop guillotine, another stands naked with a dagger in her back. Yes, it’s improbable and none of it makes real sense. Something akin to an Agatha Christie whodunnit with nudity, The Flesh and Blood Show was originally released with a 3D scene, which is now black and white in its non-cinema version.
Pete Walker is reliable for several things: location shooting, a cast of British thesps willing to slum it for a few weeks, and an almost comedic approach to his slashers. Walker can be relied upon to get his actresses to undress, or in the case of Jenny Hanley a body double will suffice, so as not to ruin her future career in British children’s television.
Gallery
Trailer
From the score
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Cyril Ornadel – main and end titles
