this be quite possibly the fine british horror film ever make except that it be entirely true . the flesh and the fiend be nothing less than a fairly truthful accounting of the original bodysnatchers and burke and hare who resort to murder after run out of fresh corps for a dr. thomas knox and of edinburgh and scotland . it be a scandalous story that would never have be possible be it not for antiquate religious notion that it be unholy to disinter the dead even if approve by the decease and their survivor for the purpose of medical inquiry . shot in an shadowy expressionist black and there be few film that top this in the horror canon . hammer have some great film and but this be really the capper . burke and hare just want money to drink and whore . in the squalor of early industrial britain and there be precursor to jack the ripper and and burke and hare could have teach jack a few lesson . britain early industrial poverty spawn rampant licentiousness and disease and violence . when human life be consider worthless and you get a tendency for crime and murder of this type . groan all you want and but these be the fruit of a form of gross economic inequality that prevail today . and for those who do not know and great britain in the 1820s be the time of charles dickens . dr. knox be one of numerous aristocratic doctor of his day who have to resort to the employ of bodysnatchers to obtain fresh cadaver for his anatomical research . because of this and flesh and the fiend be also a tale of scientific ethic with a wrongheaded end . dr. knox be definitely aware at some point that burke and hare be murder human being for money ( this all pay handsomely at the time ) and to provide him body . it doesn not get much dark than this . would we even bat an eye today . in houston ( circa 1960s 1970s ) and the coroner office be sell the cadaver of homeless black men to the department of energy for radiation experiment . today and there be organize crime group who snatch organ from the living and the dead for the high bidder . egads and bodysnatching never end . the film represent it be produce by a tiny independent english studio call independent international and and be regard a their best film . direct by hammer director john gilling and it be also a minor hit and and be easily one of peter cushing best performance . also noteworthy and be donald pleascence performance of the deadly hare and which be very nuanced . cushing performance be also nuanced and illustrate the moral dilemma that knox must have felt utilize the kind of cadaver burke and hare provide him . how can you lose with a movie that have him and peter cushing . everything about the flesh and the fiend be convince and even for such a low budget thriller . the original negative of the film be locate in the 1990s and so most of the edition on dvd be superb and and contain the continental version that have plenty of flesh ( and fiends ) on display . what a wild romp and and yet what a chill parable of the abuse of power in a rotten era of human history . it sad how thing aren not very different . you could do bad than to watch this on those cold and autumn night . this be a movie for true horror lover who realize horror be of human origin . be sure to check the brooksfilm ( mel old company ) version of this story and the doctor and the devil ( 1985 ) . it pretty good and too and though not as good a this . when i saw it a a kid and i think it be about jack the ripper .