The water! It’s the goddamn water!
From the very beginning, there is something very forward-thinking about 1964’s The Flesh Eaters. It is as if the black-and-white creature feature absolutely predicted what teens and young adults would be wanting to see on the matinee silver screens as one young woman finds out the hard way why you should never go swimming without a top on.
There’s something in the water! Something is eating the skin off of all those who dip their toes into it.
Directed by Jack Curtis (who would go on to dub the voice of Pops for the classic Speed Racer cartoon) on a super low budget and opening on a boat where a young man teases a young woman by removing her bikini top before jumping in the water to join her, The Flesh Eaters isolates the young woman pretty damn quickly and then has her covered in blood as a dark object appears right below her nubile frame.
Written by Arnold Drake (of Guardians of the Galaxy and Doom Patrol comic book fame) and starring Martin Kosleck, Bryon Sanders, and Rita Morely as the aging actress Laura Winters, The Flesh Eaters is a certifiable B-grade romp as strange looking skeletons wash ashore on a small island where Professor Peter Bartell (Kosleck), a marine biologist, is currently residing. When pilot Grant Murdoch (Sanders) has to land his plane due to a storm on the same island, his passengers - actress Laura Winters (Morely) and Jan Letterman (Barbara Wilkin), her personal assistant - are not amused. 
Something strange is going on here and perhaps it begins with Bartell’s German accent! Suddenly, the alcohol is abused and the fear grows as the tension mounts between members of the group, who fear there is no escape from whatever it is that glows so disturbingly brightly in the ocean.
While the drama in this group grows a bit dull in areas, the living horror and the emotions it kicks up proves to be a dramatic anchor that keeps this horror film from drifting out to sea. Turns out what is living in the sea isn’t so small after all! Thanks to the use of deep focus, this budget creature feature absolutely comes to life on blu-ray, filling each frame with mutating microbes and intensity as even their plane finds its grave in the ocean!
Ghouls and Boils, let’s hear a round of applause for Scream Factory’s handling of The Flesh Eaters, the first ever gore film! Complete with hippies, solar batteries, and mutating microbes, add this forgotten cult flick to your collection NOW!
Shout Factory Exclusive / Limited Edition of 1,500
Home Video Distributor: Scream Factory
Available on Blu-ray - June 28, 2022
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A
Hungry for horror? Director Jack Curtis (the voice of Pops on Speed Racer in the USA!) offers you a feast to die for with The Flesh Eaters. A flight chartered by a petulant film actress and her secretary goes haywire when a storm and engine trouble force their down-on-his-luck pilot to land on a remote island. But this island is inhabited by Prof. Peter Bartell, a scientist with a disturbing past ... and an even more disturbing present. Experimenting on mysterious microbes existing in the waters surrounding the island, Bartell hopes to cultivate them into insatiable monstrosities capable of eating their prey's skin in the blink of an eye!
Video:
The brand new 2K restoration, handling the crisp B&W photography, is simply gorgeous. The newly minted 1080p transfer is a slice of deep focus heaven. Textures are full of life and the details are strong, ringing true in almost every scene. Black levels are deep and keep their edges in the shadows. Optical effect shots are clear, with some minor fuzziness, but the edges are usually quite sharp.
Audio:
The 16-bit DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack in two-channel mono is adequate for the at-home experience.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- See special features
Special Features:
The secret is out! Fans of forgotten cult films are going to love what this release offers!
- NEW 2K Scan Of The Film From The Best Available Film Elements
- Alternate Cut Of The Film (Standard Definition)
- Audio Commentary On The Alternate Cut With Writer/Producer Arnold Drake, Filmmaker Fred Olen Ray And Author/Film Historian Tom Weaver
- "Flesh Eater's Daughter" – Interview With Actress Liane Curtis
- Outtakes
- Storyboard Gallery
- Image Gallery
- Poster And Lobby Card Gallery
- Trailers
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Composite Blu-ray Grade
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MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 87 mins
Director: Jack Curtis
Writer: Arnold Drake
Cast: Martin Kosleck; Byron Sanders; Barbara Wilkin
Genre: Horror
Tagline: Behind this Membrane...You Will Be Driven To a Point...Midway Between Life and Death!.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Hey! Wonder what makes 'em do it? You think they want the world to hate 'em? They wanna be punished because of some guilt complex? Hey - you think maybe they just kooky?"
Theatrical Distributor: Cinema Distributors of America
Official Site:
Release Date: March 18, 1964
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: June 28, 2022.
Synopsis: A flight chartered by a petulant film actress and her secretary goes haywire when a storm and engine trouble force their down-on-his-luck pilot to land on a remote island. But this island is inhabited by Prof. Peter Bartell, a scientist with a disturbing past ... and an even more disturbing present. Experimenting on mysterious microbes existing in the waters surrounding the island, Bartell hopes to cultivate them into insatiable monstrosities capable of eating their prey's skin in the blink of an eye!
