The Flesh and the Fiends

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Gilling directs. Monty Berman behind the camera. Stanley Black scores. Jack Slade cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 166 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 2Directed by John Gilling, shot by Monty Berman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 3Original score by Stanley Black. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 4Editor Jack Slade shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence and George Rose carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "Coffins Looted! Cadavers Dissected!".
• 7IMDB entry: tt0052811 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Only 60 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
• 9Released under 14 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Monty Berman

Original score

Stanley Black

Editing

Jack Slade

Makeup / hair

Jimmy Evans

Runtime

94 min · 1h 34m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

The Flesh and the Fiends (1960) ↗

Also by

John Gilling

• 
  The Bandit Of Zhobe

  1959 · ★ 10.0
• 
  The Saint

  1962 · ★ 7.4
• 
  The Embezzler

  1954 · ★ 7.3
• 
  No Trace

  1950 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Idol on Parade

  1959 · ★ 7.0
• 
  Odongo

  1956 · ★ 7.0

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Joe Dante on THE FIENDISH GHOULS

  Featurette
• 

  ▶
  Fiendish Ghouls Trailer

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Wuchak2025-02-27
  ★ 6/10

  Peter Cushing’s missing Frankenstein flick, sort of In 1828 Edinburgh, an ambitious doctor of anatomy (Peter Cushing) needs corpses for his work, which are dubiously supplied by two base men (Donald Pleasence and George Rose). This can’t end well. Shot in B&W (unfortunately), "The Flesh and the Fiends" (1960) is based on the infamous Burke and Hare murders and has been released under various other titles, like “Psycho Killers” and “Mania.” It was the first horror flick to feature Cushing not produced by Hammer Films, but it was shot at one of the studios that Hammer used in the greater London area and involved some of the same talent (at the time or in the near future), such as director John Gilling. So, naturally, it’s similar to a Hammer film. It's most comparable to Cushing’s Frankenstein movies since Dr. Robert Knox comes across as a real-life version of Baron Victor Frankenstein, not to mention the events take place just a decade after the publication of Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel. For those not in the know, Cushing starred as Dr. Frankenstein in six Hammer films between 1957-1974. Being based on a true story, this lacks the sensationalism of Hammer horror; it’s unsurprisingly more dramatic and mundane. Yet I liked how Dr. Knox is fleshed out (similar to Cushing’s Victor Frankenstein), as well as the side story involving one of Knox’s Med students (John Cairney) falling for a wild lower-class lass of the taverns (Billie Whitelaw). There are two versions of the film with the “continental version” featuring nudity that was surprising for a flick shot in 1959, which mostly consists of female top nudity; but there are also a few shots of a couple women totally nude, like one walking around the tavern in the background. Of course, such (tame) nudity was nothing new in cinema if you’ve seen 1934’s “Tarzan and His Mate,” but the Hays Code put the kibosh on it in America until the late 60s and the BBFC did the same in the UK. It runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot at Shepperton Studios, just southwest of London. (The censored version runs a minute shorter while the version called “The Fiendish Ghouls” cuts out some 23 minutes). GRADE: B-

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• TR

  Triad Productions

Key crew

• Original StoryJohn Gilling
• EditorJack Slade
• Art DirectionJohn Elphick
• ProducerRobert S. Baker
• ProducerMonty Berman
• Makeup ArtistJimmy Evans
• HairdresserBetty Sherriff
• Production ManagerJack Swinburne
• Camera OperatorChic Waterson
• Sound RecordistBob Jones
• Sound RecordistGeorge Stephenson

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• experiment
• surgeon
• black and white
• body snatchers
• dylascope

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1961-01-24NR

Also known as

International titles

• ManiaUS
• The Fiendish GhoulsUS
• La carne y el demonioES
• Orgía de SangreAR
• O Monstro da Morgue SinistraBR
• Parantava veitsiFI
• KalmankauppiaatFI
• L'impasse aux violencesFR
• Le jene di EdimburgoIT
• A Carne e os DemóniosPT
• Carnea si demoniiRO
• Плоть и демоныSU
• La carn i el dimoniES
• Der Arzt und die TeufelDE