The Body Beneath

1970 "Sexually Rampant Ghouls, Depraved Souls... and Blood-Red Roses!"
4.2| 1h22m| R| en
Details

A family of vampires takes over an estate known as Carfax Abbey. Since inbreeding is destroying the family line, they need new blood to keep the family going, so they set out to find new sources.

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Cinemedia Films Inc.

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Reviews

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some
Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.
Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
Michael_Elliott The Body Beneath (1970)* 1/2 (out of 4)A family of vampires realize that their bloodline is coming to an end so they must try and get new people in so that their family tradition can continue.THE BODY BENEATH is one of five films that director Andy Milligan made in Britian and believe it or not this film has some fans out there. Sadly, I am not one of them as I found this to be yet another extremely boring period piece that just didn't have enough working in it to keep me interested. It's strange but the more Milligan films I see the more of them I don't like but at the same time I find myself becoming a fan. That might sound weird because how can you become a fan by watching bad movies? Perhaps it's the fact that no matter which Milligan movie you're watching you can tell that it's a Milligan picture. I must admit that I somewhat admire the fact that he was making these period looking films on such a small budget. There are all sorts of technical issues with this film and there really aren't any "good" performances. With that said, the film remains mildly entertaining just because of that weird factor that the director always managed to bring to his pictures.
Rainey Dawn A loosely threaded film - it's "stringy", cheesy and rather lame at best. It's a loosely knitted story and seems to be quickly thrown together to make a fast buck, yet it does get a little bit interesting once you get past the first 45 boring minutes of the film. I would have liked this film better if the first part of the film held my attention better - the last part of this one is pretty good though.Green vampresses - and not all of their hands are covered in green... sloppy make-up here. The rest of the characters are fine, I just did not like the three green vampresses, rather silly to me. The best character in the entire film is the blood sucking priest.Andy Milligan wrote and directed this - and for some weird reason I preferred his 'Guru, the Mad Monk' over 'The Body Beneath'. I guess "Guru" had enough cheesiness and strangeness to make me giggle harder.3/10
Woodyanders Prissy priest Algernon Ford (an effectively smug and sinister portrayal by Gavin Reed) is really a vampire who's organizing a gala annual feast for his fellow bloodsuckers. Assisted by pathetic hunchback Spool (the pitiable Berwick Kaler) and a trio of grotesque green-skinned vampire women, Ford has grisly plans for two of his luckless lady relatives: pregnant Susan (comely Jackie Skarvellis) gets chosen to be a breeder for vampire babies while lovely Candace (ravishing redhead Emma Jones) will be used as a blood donor. Writer/director Andy Milligan, whose movies are usually hopelessly cheap, static and inept, here shows a surprisingly substantial amount of flair and finesse. The rough, grainy, but still fairly polished cinematography in particular is occasionally impressive. The neatly varied score alternates between lush orchestral film library music and wonky, droning, atonal synthesizer noises. The gloomy British countryside adds considerably to the spooky and decadent Gothic atmosphere. The solid acting from the competent cast rates as another sterling asset: Reed truly excels in the lead, with sturdy support from Skarvellis, Kaler, Jones, Richmond Ross as Susan's brave, likable boyfriend Paul Donati, Susan Heard as Algernon's fetching, reticent wife Alicia, Felicity Sentence as brassy maid Jessie, and Judith Head as fiery vampiress Elizabeth. In addition, this film takes some interesting liberties with the standard vampire lore: These bloodsuckers don't have fangs, can walk around in the sunlight, and take regular blood transfusions to keep themselves strong. The climactic vampires' ball is both pleasingly lavish and appropriately gruesome. Nice dark surprise ending, too. A nifty vampire horror picture.
The_Void Andy Milligan has firmly established himself in my mind as probably the worst horror director of all time. Despite making decent sexploitation flick 'Seeds' in 1968, Milligan has succeeded only in boring me to death with the rest of his crappy oeuvre since then, and this film is certainly no exception. I really don't understand this director at all; it seems like he's trying to make some sort of point as his films all have a similar style, but somehow nothing comes out of them but boredom. Take the plot pace of this film as an example; it's painfully slow and the dialogues are delivered by actors who sound like they're close to death. Quite how Milligan made this film and didn't realise how dull it was is anyone's guess...my only thought on the matter is that perhaps it was the director's intention to torture his audience? The plot supposedly revolves around vampires but for all I care they could have been clowns, postmen, FBI agents or French maids...it doesn't really matter. No film made with as little enthusiasm as this is ever going to be interesting, and after seeing five Milligan films; I doubt I'll be seeing another.