More often than not when Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing star in a film together, it is as adversaries and rarely as friends. Suffice it to say, The Creeping Flesh holds true to that formula and sees the pair on opposite sides of the fence once more. During this go round, Cushing is the protagonist while Lee is the villain and both are quite good in their roles as brothers vying for the same prize, simply going about it in a different manner. The conflict in the film comes from one brother’s jealousy over the other, which should be fairly obvious as to who it is, and as such, things go from a friendly rivalry to a deadly one.

In general, it is hard to say who excels in the role of villain or hero more between Lee and Cushing. Both men have had standout roles as good guy and bad guy and here you could almost exchange one man for the other in the leading roles. As it is, Lee is a great villain; sly, conniving and always thinking behind those devious eyes of his. Opposite him is Cushing’s character who is an almost frail type of man, yet one who possesses an inner strength though eventually, it gives out when faced with the horror of his own making. If he had only been stronger, things might have played out differently. Watching the two men upon the screen battle it out, one of wills and not one of physicality is refreshing when it comes to horror films, or really, any film. Here you have two men, masters of their craft, using it to the best of their ability and lifting this monster movie far above what it would have been without them.

Aside from the horror of Lee’s actions, this is in effect a monster movie as well. Said monster is incapacitated for most of the film as it has been dead for many hundreds of years and is just a simple skeleton and yet, when exposed to water, it displays amazing regenerative powers. That is where the title of the film comes into play. Upon further investigation and testing by Cushing, the creature is discovered to be one of pure evil and cunning intelligence and also the cause of consternation between the two brothers. As far as special effects go, they were atrocious, even by the standards of 1973 when this film was made, yet they were really not all that important as the monster was secondary to the plot. The two brothers are the actual focus of the film and if it was not this monster, it could have been anything else that the two would have argued over. If that were the case though, the picture would have also found itself in an entirely different genre.

Things are not so black and white in the film though as Lee is not the only source of villainy, nor is the monster for Cushing also shows a little bit of duplicity and devilry. In the film, the brothers face off against each other for a scientific award to which end, Cushing comes up with a formula made from the dead creature’s flesh. He tests it on a monkey but the moment when he decides that it may be safe for mankind, knowing also that it probably is not, he tests it on his daughter played by Lorna Heilbron. Accordingly, the results are not what he expected, or they are and that is when Cushing starts to lose his nerve and the whole sequence of events adds an extra level to the horror already present.

The Creeping Flesh is not the greatest vehicle that Cushing and Lee have ever starred in, whether as solo actors or together, but it was good and you found yourself engrossed in what was going on. Freddie Francis did a decent job in the director’s chair and in all, the film turned out pretty well. The movie is definitely worth watching simply for the fact that it stars two of horror’s greatest icons.

3.5 out of 5