The Flesh and Blood Show (1972)

Made well before Black Christmas and Halloween, The Flesh and Blood Show contains many conventions that would become part of the slasher film template. Featuring Robin Askwith, lots of British boobs and a special 3-D ending.

Definitely not deserving of an "X" rating by today's standards - or even just a few years later.  There's boobs aplenty, but not much else to warrant such a rating.

 Interestingly, the film used a gimmick where the last bit was filmed in 3-D.

The film starts out with a bang, with two flatmates, Jane (Judy Matheson) and Carol (Luane Peters) awaken by a banging at the front door.

Carol, not bothering to put a stitch of clothing on, answers the door.  There, she finds her friend John (David Howey) stabbed.

Actress Luane Peters was in a lot of British television in the seventies including Dr. Who, Coronation St. and Fawlty Towers.

We find that John is just playing a prank.  Wasn't it hilarious?  

Jane fetches some tea and the three have a talk in the living room, setting up the plot of the film.  They've all three been hired to act in a theater production called "The Flesh and Blood Show" to be filmed at an abandoned theater on a pier.

A successful actress, Julia (Jenny Hanley), has also been requested to act in "The Flesh and Blood Show".  Sure, she's a famous movie star, but she could use some practice - and what better way than an obscure stage production?

John, Carol, Jane and a guy named Tony (Tristan Rogers) are the first to arrive at the dark and foreboding theater.

They find what appears to be a couple dead bodies laying in the theater seats.

They turn out to be alive and well - just asleep.  They're both actors also hired to take part in "The Flesh and Blood Show" - the topless Angela (Penny Meredith) and VZ1 regular, Robin Askwith as Simon.  We've run into Penny Meredith before in The Ups and Downs of a Handyman.

The actors meet their director, Mike (Ray Brooks). What's this whole production about?  It's pretty much a mystery.

 Jane gets groped by Angela backstage, and seems to like the attention.

 Meanwhile, Carol gets to know Tony better.

They hear a scream, and find that Angela has gone missing. 

So, who's the killer?  Slutty Carol, socially awkward Jane, hippy slacker Simon, goofy prankster John, or studly Tony?

 Julia joins the acting troupe.

Jane and Tony hear another scream, and find Carol being attacked by a homeless guy.  They presume he also got poor Angela.  (Clearly a red herring.)

To replace Angela, a mysterious woman named Sarah (Candace Glendenning) shows up.  She says her agent notified her of the opportunity to fill-in, but it's more than a little suspicious.

Julia goes to the local library to investigate - something's weird about this theater.  She finds numerous newspaper articles about actors at this theater going missing.

We get to watch as Carol in miniskirt wanders through the darkened halls of the theater.  This is the somewhat infamous scene where Carol swats frantically at cobwebs, getting them out of her way as she walks through the hall... but there are no cobwebs.  So, it looks like she's fucking insane.  Did someone tell the actress to pretend to swat cobwebs, they'll be added in later?  WTF?

Poor Carol turns up floating in waves beneath the pier.

Weird Sarah is getting changed, providing some gratuitous nudity, when someone abruptly enters the room.

 It's Inspector Walsh (Raymond Young), looking into the various disappearances.  Now John has turned up dead.

With the actors dropping like flies, you'd think they'd cancel the show.  They press on. Suddenly a spotlight shines upon the balcony...

 It's Sarah, nude, standing silent and motionless.

Sarah slumps over, revealing a knife in her back.  PUT ON YOUR 3-D GLASSES....

The movie switches to black and white, and we are in the midst of a flashback.  It's the inspector, from long ago, when he was an actor.  He wields a 3-D knife as he has caught his wife in bed with another man.

The woman is actress Jane Cardew who actually provides the most graphic nudity of the film.  Cardew made a brief appearance in Commuter Husbands, with no nudity. She was also in an episode of "Jason King".

Anyway, Inspector Walsh kills the guy and then grabs the girl. Unfortunately, we get a bit of peen here - perhaps this is the reason for the "X" rating.

We get some 3-D action with the knife, but it hardly seems worth providing a pair of glasses; I suppose it was all in the gimmick (and probably more effective than those Star Wars movies released in 3-D).

This whole thing reminds me of Scooby Doo. The mask is pulled off - It's old man Caruthers!  In this case it's Inspector Walsh - and he would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids! THE END

Well, this started out with lots of promise, but kind of loses itself toward the middle.  It goes in ten different directions, none of them interesting.  I appreciate the constant British babe boobs, but the story itself runs out of steam and confuses itself.  Plus, Robin Askwith is utterly wasted.  It's interesting for it's proto-slasher template, but otherwise rather dull.

★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆