#POLISH PREMIERE | fear and terror | Barbara Crampton |Re-animator | Lovecraft | horror | dead again | Cthulhu | primeval | as Full Moon | talking head | the Scream Queen | The Thing on the Doorstep | psychiatric office | patients | disorders | split personality | nightmare | tribute to B-grade horrors | gore | blood fountain | Schudder
SUITABLE FLESH
horror | USA | 2023
World premiere: Tribeca Film Festival 2023
Polish premiere: Splat!FilmFest
All fans of Full Moon Features, Roger Corman, H.P. Lovecraft and, above all, one and only Barbara Crampton, who has a tremendous time alluding to her iconic role in “Re-Animator” while playing in “Suitable Flesh”, will love this film.
The main character in this horror based on Lovecraft’s short story called “The Thing on the Doorstep”, is Dr Elizabeth Derby, a renowned psychiatrist who sees all of her dysfunctional patients in a fancy office. Every day, after work, she comes home to her boring husband, with whom she has equally boring sex. But one day a terrified young man, Asa, walks into her office. He claims that his father wants to take control of his body but at the same time he behaves as if he has a split personality, so Elizabeth – an expert in out-of-body experience – decides to help him. This is how not only her sexual liberation, but also her blood-curdling nightmare begins.
“Suitable Flesh” is a horror film that could just as well have been produced by Charles Band’s renowned film company Full Moon, which in the 80s and 90s specialised in adapting H.P. Lovecraft’s prose for the screen. One person who would also have been proud of Joe Lynch’s film (“Wrong Turn 2”, “ Mayhem”) would have been Roger Corman, as “Suitable Flesh” is a tribute to B-grade horrors in which each scene is somewhat predictable, but that is exactly what makes them special. Fans of gore will also be satisfied. Blood is pouring everywhere, sometimes gushing out as if from a fountain drenching the characters. Several scenes are clearly inspired not only by the aforementioned “Re-Animator”, but also by “Between Worlds” or “Castle Freak”. The only thing missing here is Jeffrey Combs, although one of the most iconic horror duos in horror film history is heroically represented on the screen by Crampton who remains terrifying as the Scream Queen.
However, in the role of Doctor Elizabeth, we can see Heather Graham, an actress known among others for the “Scream” series and “From Hell”. In the role of her shiftless husband, we get to see Johnathon Schaech, who is another actor that Lynch brought back from the ’90s. The troubled Asa is portrayed by Judah Lewis, known from “The Babysitter” franchise.
director: Joe Lynch
screenwriter: Dennis Paoli
cast: Heather Graham, Barbara Crampton, Judah Lewis
photography: David Matthews
editor: Jack N. Gracie
duration: 1h 40min
language: English
subtitles: Polish
recommended age: 16+
