An Appalling Amalgam of Carnage and Carnality ...
The Flesh and Blood Show is a 1972 British Slasher Movie distributed by Tigon British Film Productions starring Ray Brooks, Jenny Hanley, Luan Peters, Robin Askwith, Candace Glendenning, Tristan Rogers, Judy Matheson, David Howey, and Guest Star Jess Conrad. It concerns theatre actors being killed off at a secluded seaside theatre. Portions were shot in 3D and shown in theaters that way.
The film was released on DVD by Media Blasters under their Shriek Show imprint.
This film contains examples of:
- And I Must Scream: The killer's first victims, seen in flashback, are Bound and Gagged and sealed inside a wall to starve.
- Big Bad: Sir Arnold Gates, AKA Major Bell, is the killer.
- Closed Circle: Our victim pool is rehearsing a play at a closed-down theatre on the edge of a pier that's closed for the weekend.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The flashback sequence explaining the killer's motives is in black-and-white, to indicate that it takes place in The '40s.
- Fanservice: All the female characters get naked at least once in the film.
- Gory Deadly Overkill Title of Fatal Death
- Hand of Death: The killer is identified by a pair of thick red gloves.
- Knight Templar: The killer's motive is the fact that he considers actors and theatre as a whole to be promoters of filth and harlotry.
- Ms. Fanservice: Carol, whom the trailer calls an exhibitionist, gets the greatest amount of nudity in the film. She even answers the door naked.
- Off with Her Head!: Angela is killed with the guillotine.
- Police Are Useless: The cops are at first convinced that the deaths are a prank, then that the only death our heroes can prove happened is an accident.
- Shout-Out to Shakespeare: The killer reveals himself by quoting Othello.
- Show Within a Show: Our victim pool are rehearsing for a play called The Flesh and Blood Show, which doesn't seem to have much of a plot, since the director focuses on improvising. It's revealed two thirds of the way in that the play doesn't actually exist, and was a setup by the killer to get victims.
