In Victorian England, two grave robbers supply a wealthy doctor with bodies to research anatomy on, but greed causes them to look for a more simple way to get the job done. Based on the horr... Read allIn Victorian England, two grave robbers supply a wealthy doctor with bodies to research anatomy on, but greed causes them to look for a more simple way to get the job done. Based on the horrifying Burke and Hare case.In Victorian England, two grave robbers supply a wealthy doctor with bodies to research anatomy on, but greed causes them to look for a more simple way to get the job done. Based on the horrifying Burke and Hare case.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
- Billy Bedlam
- (as Philip Davis)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDylan Thomas' screenplay was written in the 1940s, but plans to film it fell through. His screenplay was published shortly after his death in 1953. The script attracted the attention of Director Nicholas Ray in the mid 1960s, although it was elaborately re-written to transfer the action from Scotland to Vienna. Ray announced that he would make the film in Belgrade, with Maximilian Schell and Susannah York, but the production was abandoned before shooting began. The project was inactive for another twenty years.
- GoofsThe song Jennie sings in the tavern ("Whisper and I Shall Hear") was not written until 1891, while the Burke and Hare murders on which the film is based took place in 1828.
- Quotes
Doctor Thomas Rock: I don't need any friends, I prefer enemies. They're better company and their feelings towards you are always genuine.
- Alternate versionsUK versions are cut by 9 secs to remove a cockfight.
- ConnectionsReferenced in The Children of Times Square (1986)
- SoundtracksTAINTED HANDS
Written and Performed by In Tua Nua
This is a fine, suspenseful and intriguing horror movie based on the actual characters of the nasty gravediggers Burke and Hare providing dead bodies for illegal medical research in charge of an ambitious Doctor, this true story has been adapted a number of times , in fact this interesting tale was recounted by prestigious writer Robert Louis Stevenson himself in the novel ¨The Body Snatcher¨. Here The Doctor and the Devils (1985) medical horror meets two rogue crooks who will stop at nothing to get their purports for some coins. Tension , horror, intrigue and thriller scenes appear lurking , menacing in graveyard, dark slums, homes, rooms and brothels. Main and secondary cast are frankly outstanding. All characters in the story are present and partially correct , though changing their names , with Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea actually doing very well as the villainous duo and both of whom share the successively eerie scenes of murders .This pair really convey the whole sleaziness/perversity of the subject, and do so in a fun way , too ; it's a good double-act . They give deliciously hammy portrayals, displaying a lively and engaging chemistry as our titular gruesome twosome, while the model Twiggy plays a sweet and gorgeous prostitute, lending fine support . And is on hand to ham it as the stubborn Doctor Thomas Rock/Timothy Dalton -who in real life was called Doctor Knox . Furthermore , Phyllis Logan and Julian Sands do equally compelling turns . Secondary cast is full of familiar faces, doing brief appearances , such as : Lewis Fiander , Beryl Reid , T. P. McKenna, Siân Phillips, Phil Davis , William Morgan Sheppard, David Bamber , Philip Jackson and pre-captain Pickard : Patrick Stewart.
Musical score is nicely composed by John Morris , delivering the necessary grim and suspenseful atmosphere . The film gets adequate and evocative environment , thanks to cameramen Gerry Turpin and Norman Warwick , designing a colorful but sinister scenario, though a perfect remastering being really necessary . This eerie and creepy motion picture was uneven but professionally directed by Freddie Francis , though it has some shortcomings and flaws . Francis was a craftsman , expert on horror genre , shooting a number of films of this sort , such as : ¨Nightmare¨, ¨Doctor Terror's House of Horrors¨ , ¨The Skull¨, ¨Torture Garden¨, ¨Dracula has risen from the Grave¨ , ¨The Creeping Flesh¨ , ¨Craze¨ , ¨The Ghoul¨, ¨The Doctor and the devils¨, among others . Rating : 6/10. An acceptable horror movie ; however, displaying a plot we have already seen several times .
This Buke and Hare story has been also rendered in the following films : ¨The Body Snatcher¨ by Robert Wise with Boris Karloff , Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniel ; ¨The Flesh and the Fiends¨ (1960) by John Gilling with Peter Cushing, June Laverick, Donald Pleasence , George Rose ; ¨Burke & Hare¨ (1972) by Vernon Sewell with Darren Nesbitt , Harry Andrews , James Hayter , Yutte Stensgaard , among others. And last version was ¨Burke and Hare¨ (2010) by John Landis with Simon Pegg , Andy Serkis, Tom Wilkinson , David Schofield , David Hayman , Hugh Bonneville, Pollyanna McIntosh .
- ma-cortes
- Aug 13, 2023
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Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $147,070
- Gross worldwide
- $147,070