Review of The Flesh Eaters

This is problematic, the movie frequently suffers from good writing by Arnold Drake, and good acting by the ensemble cast. Mark my word, It's a bad exploitation movie that came out of the early sixties. One forgotten by the books, one that surprises and exceeds expectations that are not set too high, anyway; ( Spoiler alert, I will be talking plot details). It is watchable. and seemed serious in intent, in spite of the rampant cliche's' a no name cast that works earnestly to overcome the cardboard characters they represent. and a low, low budget. Surprisingly it works, Barbra Wilkin and Rita Morley start the ball rolling, as "The star of stage and screen" Alcoholic actress, Laura Winters, played by Morley, and her smart personal assistant played by Wilkin, They decided to take a flight to their next destination through a storm, they enlist the "tough as nails" all American pilot Grant Murdock, played by Byron Sanders. The plane is grounded on a small island, due to the tropical storm. There they meet the shifty eye'd marine biologist Peter Bartell, played by Martin Kosleck. All is not as it appears, and Bartell has a nasty history behind him. He turns out to be a Nazi in hiding, still doing research on a deadly organism, the Flesh Eaters of the title. Enter into the scene, the obligatory fall guy, A Gilligan like hippy "Omar" played by Ray Tudor. creating a "Maynard Krebbs" type figure, in the middle of a grim horror show. On occasion Ray gives his character a flash of insight, one wishes the writer had made more of it. The Acting all around is decent. Even good. Rita Morley steals the show. Sander's, plays the pilot with a rock jaw, and a nose for suspicion. Also an anger streak, but still somewhat slow in catching on. But here, the Villein is a real monster. He not only knows about the monsters, he is responsible for them. No big surprise. The cinematography is clean, lots of outdoor shooting. and the film is well directed by Jack Curtis, this was his first and only directed movie. A decent effort. Now then, something that I noticed that confused me. Here is the big spoiler alert. In the big fight at the end. The bad guy is finally fighting it out with the good guy, the good guy is winning and has the bad guy, in a black divers suit, pinned. then the bad guy flips the good guy, into the tide of the killer flesh eaters. I think to myself, "Wow, that was an unexpected twist", now the only two survivors are the bad guy, and the smart girl. But wait. The good guy wasn't killed. What ? I went back and viewed it twice.same conclusion, The good guy and the smart girl kill the monster. This was the cosmic goof of all time. Even showing the good guy in a light diving suit, after his "death scene", one that he was not wearing before, does not save the skewed continuity. Too bad the writers could not come up with a good reason to explain it. I can only assume leaving it as an enigma was the directors choice. A much better then expected little movie, I would give it Seven out of Ten "Clean to the bone" Stars.