"Oh dear. Oh dear...", I can imagine Peter Cushing utter those words that while watching Corruption for the first time, the without a doubt the nastiest and oddest production in his filmography. How he ended up in this film is a mystery. I mean, just to see him mingle in “Swinging London”-scene is almost more bizarre than seeing him brutally killing naked women to the sound of frantic jazz music.
I first saw this on downloaded version, probably ripped from the Spanish DVD, which actually completely deletes one murder scene and also removes - what I can remember - some more violence and nudity. So I’ve eagerly been awaiting a proper release, a release I could support - and Grindhouse Releasing finally gives us a stellar blu-ray with both the UK/US version and the sleazier and gorier international version.
Peter Cushing plays a stiff but slightly obsessed surgeon who have a beautiful, ex-model, girlfriend. During a wild, tobacco-oozing party where a David Hemmings-wannabe photographer wants to take photos of Cushings girlfriend in the nude, they get into a fight and the hot lamp falls directly on her face… burning her slightly on the cheek. In an old movie like this it means her whole life is destroyed and she can never, never, never show herself in public again… and good old Cushing wants a beautiful wife and needs to kill women to get new and fresh skin.. or whatever… to make his own woman look good.
Yeah, it’s basically a sleazier version of Eyes Without a Face or any film by Jess Franco dealing with a crazed doctor wanting to sex up his wifey. But is it good? Of course it’s good, it’s just so damn strange seeing Peter Cushing wrestling a naked hooker in a seedy hotel room, all shot with the widest lens possible - a trick also used later in the film where Cushing once again brutally (of course) kills a girl in a cramped train cabin, but there the lens is so wide the bodies of the two actors gets even more distorted making it more psychedelic that it was probably first meant to be.
The acting is quite uneven, especially from the supporting cast; it ranges from completely zero interest to over-acting of the worst kind. So we should be grateful the two leads, a restrained Cushing, and Sue Lloyd, who plays his unlucky wife, totally owns the movie. Lloyd is an interesting character for many reasons, and the real controversial thing is her way of emotionally manipulating her husband into killing more and more girls. She’s not the apathetic and comatose woman seen in many other similar movies, she’s in full rage here - using Cushing for her own good. This makes Corruption even more misogynic, and I wonder… is the title meant to the about the corruption of Cushing from his shallow wife? The script almost blames her own condition on herself, for being a “slut” in front of the still camera!
Cushing was a true gentleman and it’s easy to understand his dislike of Corruption - but it’s also strange he didn’t see it when he was reading the script or was shooting the movie? I mean, he actually smears a woman’s naked breast with his bloody hands! It’s hard to be subtle during a moment like that!
Corruption is trash, but it's also bloody, sleazy trasha and it's never boring. The finale is one of a kind and also gives the alternative title "Laser Killer" some back-up. If Cushing had been alive today I seriously doubt he would have wanted to participated in Grindhouse Releasing's new blu-ray edition, but I, for one, is very happy this movie finally has given the treatment it - kinda - deserves.
(and remember to listen the latest episode of The Human Centipod!)
Yes the finale surprised me!It really is “one a of a kind”.
Posted by: Toscana | February 22, 2014 at 19:35
"Oh dear. Oh dear...", I can imagine Peter Cushing utter those words that while watching Corruption for the first time, the without a doubt the nastiest and oddest production in his filmography."
Cushing probably said that about a lot of his films......I would be surprised if he didn´t.
"and Grindhouse Releasing finally gives us a stellar blu-ray with both the UK/US version and the sleazier and gorier international version."
Good news with other words.
"Yeah, it’s basically a sleazier version of Eyes Without a Face"
Must have served as an inspiration.....
"but there the lens is so wide the bodies of the two actors gets even more distorted making it more psychedelic that it was probably first meant to be."
Do you remember the orgy scenes in The Dunwich Horror (1970)?
Is it something like that?
"Corruption is trash, but it's also bloody, sleazy trasha and it's never boring."
Sleazy thrash is never boring.....good review and thanks, never seen this one.
Posted by: Megatron | February 23, 2014 at 16:23