Sinister Flesh is a 1976 silent short film, which was made to emulate the silent films and styles of the 1920's. While in that aspect it works perfectly, the story is a bit lacking, and has (in my opinion) a bit too many comedic intertitles, which causes my opinion of the short to falter. All-in-all, though, I deem this a most worthy effort.
Source: YouTube
Length: 27 minutes
Number of Ratings from IMDb: 10
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Stanley Sheff [Sinister Flesh, Lobster Man from Mars]
Director: Stanley Sheff [Sinister Flesh, Lobster Man from Mars]
First, let's learn a bit about from film:
We begin with discussion of how throughout the ages, humanity has been searching for the key to immortality. Dr. Ogo Moto is the centerpiece of this film, and he's working on finding that often-searched for immortality, at the expense of his victims. He, of course, disregards them, as he's using them for science.
The latest experiment didn't fair too well. His hunchbacked assistant takes the woman out to the Garden of Ghouls, a living area for the various failed experiments, leaving them in a zombie-like state. He is then ordered by Moto to go get another subject, which he does (in broad daylight).
The woman he kidnapped, however, was the girlfriend of Beau, a well-to-do young man.
Before learning that his girlfriend, Prissy, has been kidnapped, a friend of his, Finchley, comes over, and delivers a memorable quote.
I've not heard the saying "bee's knees" since my grandmother last said it a few years back. It does help to give the impression of an older film, though, no doubt.
While Beau and Finchley are chatting, the hunchback brings Prissy back to the doctor's mansion. After warning another assistant, named Gargoyle, to not send the boyfriend a kidnap letter (which he's done in the past, as a sick sort of fun), he drags Prissy into the house, where she awaits her abductor.
She doesn't need to wait long - Dr. Moto soon arrives, and informs her that she is going to be used in an important experiment. Taking her around the house, and outside, he ensures her that she will not be able to escape, for even the moat around the mansion has creatures in it that will tear a human being to shreds. He even throws Gargoyle in to demonstrate this to her, and as he dies, the look of terror on her face is evident.
Gargoyle may get the last laugh, however, because before he was mercilessly thrown into the moat, he sent Prissy's boyfriend a note, leaving little to the imagination.
With his friend Finchley, they decide to go to Horror Hill to his plateau-based home and get Prissy, which is when the fun in this short really begins.
Sinister Flesh is sort of a 50/50 deal for me. I liked the silent-filming style - I thought it looked pretty authentic, from automobiles to vocabulary. In fact, only the clothes looked out of place and modern. The story was relatively interesting (though there's no doubting it's been touched on before), and I truly found the last ten minutes or so (with Beau and Finchley breaking into the Doctor's plateau home) pretty dang fun. With the mindless ghouls stumbling after the two men, and a vampire popping out of nowhere (which struck me by surprise), it was like a goofy combination of Dracula, Island of Lost Souls, and Frankenstein.
Why it's not getting that high of a rating from me (insofar as without this element, I'd be giving it somewhere around a 9/10) is duo to the heavy comedic moments. I do not object to comedy and horror being intertwined. Hell, Return of the Living Dead (1985) rates as one of my favorite 80's film. In this instance, though, it didn't feel right. If this film had cut out five intertitles of comedic nature, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more. As such, they choose not to, and while I disagree, I know it's not my place to say it was a poor choice.
According to this website (which is a fan-site dedicated to the history of this film - I'd recommend a peek), the original film was around 3 hours and 40 minutes. Unfortunately, over the years, most of the footage has disappeared, and only 27 minutes remain (the basis of this short).
This amazes me - from watching this film, I never once got the sense that something was missing, or that plot points were not fully touched up. I don't know what else the film could have added (and over three hours? this was not a short film), but it's deeply saddening that only the 27 minutes are still around. Even so, kudos to those who put the film back together - the story is perfectly coherent, and I am even having trouble picturing this story playing out over three hours (I'm guessing the vampire who pops up in the last six minutes is given far more background).
This film is not bad in any sense of the word. It doesn't even seem amateurish. What it is is a love letter to the silent film era, spoofing the horror conventions of the time. Seeing many silent films myself (albeit mostly of the horror genre), I have a deep respect for that period in cinema. True classics were born then, and all this film was trying to do was emulate that great, all-too disregarded, era of film. If you're a fan of the silent film genre, specifically horror, I'd recommend this highly - you won't be disappointed.
My rating: 7.5/10
- Michael
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