Wednesday, December 6, 2017

HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW (1974) **


Here’s another dull Pete Walker offering.  At least this one has a little bit of skin and a touch of atmosphere.  The opening title card says the end of the film was filmed in 3-D.  (Walker previously did The Four Dimensions of Greta using the same format.)  Unfortunately, I only saw it in 2-D.

A pair of horror actresses get roles in a play called The Flesh and Blood Show at a previously abandoned theater on a pier.  To save on lodging, the cast sleep inside the theater at night.  Predictably, someone starts bumping off the cast members.  

Walker gets some mileage out of the creepy setting.  The scenes of people walking through the corridors of the darkened theater are moderately suspenseful.  Most times though, there’s never really much of a payoff.  The pacing tends to dawdle and the tension sputters out towards the end, which is exactly when it should be heating up.  It also takes a while for the bodies to pile up and even then, it’s not much of a body count.

At least there’s plenty of skin to go around.  There’s definitely more flesh than blood on display here.  Some will be happy with that ratio while others may feel shortchanged.  

The killer gets the best line of the movie during his Shakespearean rant where he vents about his disdain for his victims and calls them, “EXCREMENT!” 

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