The Doctor and the Devils Year: 1985 Director: Freddie Francis Written by: Ronald Harwood Threat: Murderers Weapon of Choice: Pillow Based upon: screenplay - Dylan Thomas Color/B&W/3D: Colour Language: English Country of Origin: UK IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
None

The tyranist's thoughts
I'm afraid that I am the one that picked this one. In my defense it looked like a variation on all the Frankenstein movies I've seen over the years, plus it had a future Bond and Bond villain.
A Doctor at a teaching hospital in England in the 19th century (I think) is working very hard to advance the cause of science by having more bodies brought to him than is strictly legal. Upon discovering that someone will pay for fresh bodies, the local rabble come up with a plan to cash in. You can probably work out the rest for yourself.
This was dull and really pointless in the end. It is supposed to be based on true events, but in this day and age, it is really sort of difficult to look on the characters with any kind of sympathy whether they are on the correct side of the law of the time or not. It also seemed to be worth only about an hour in story length even though it was much longer than that.
Timothy Dalton plays the crooked Doctor and is, I think, supposed to garner our sympathy by being the one that is advancing the cause. Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea are the evil peasants that decide to cash in and their characters are almost completely intolerable even though they are on screen longer than anybody else. It is unfortunate that they seemed to think they needed to completely over-act the parts. Patrick Stewart makes and apppearance, but if you weren't looking for him, you won't notice him.
I think a lot of this kind of movie got made, and some are better than others. Most of them, I find intolerably boring, and this one does not set itself apart. How could I possibly care that the advance of science was being held up due to the lack of valid corpses that could be taken apart to see how things worked? And furthermore, how could I care that these people who aren't portrayed as even decent people, are being killed just to further that science? How could I care even a little about any of it?
Sorry. Got of track a bit. Just don't see it, okay? It isn't worht it.
Posted: February 19, 2007

Rish's Reviews
The day after tyranist and I saw this one, I had lunch with my mother. She asked me what I had done the night before. I told her she ought to check the Violent Crime section in the local newspaper, but she didn't have a paper handy. So, I told her I saw a movie called The Doctor and the Devils at tyr's house. "Scary title," she said, "What was it about?"
I said it was about a late 19th Century English doctor played by Timothy Dalton who is only allowed to use the cadavers of hanged criminals when teaching anatomy, so he goes about procuring his dead bodies through a different means. Then it gets a little out of hand.
"Well, that sounds really good," my mother said. And it does. But the movie really wasn't. In fact, it was a chore to sit through. Because tyranist had provided the free food and drink (and movie), I couldn't very well complain.
But now is another matter entirely.
Zzzzzzzz.
There was some things of interest going on in the film, but they were rarely focused on. The idea of procuring cadavers through legal and illegal means was distasteful, but not enough to be entertaining.
In the film's defence, it was made in 1985, but you'd never know it (except for the age of the actors, and the copyright, of course). It could have been made in 1972 or 2002, and that's a remarkable feat. Also, quite a few of the performers went on to great things (the two main characters went on to be a James Bond and a James Bond villain, respectively). But the film itself has little to recommend it, ESPECIALLY as a horror film.
And it isn't really Horror, more of a Period Drama, but tyranist and I felt we had to review it, or we would've wasted our time in watching it. And that's really what this is, a waste of time. The performances are good enough, and I'll watch Patrick Stewart in anything (once), but the film was unsatisfying and really long (though something tells me that it was initially longer and was cut down for the version we saw).
Posted: May 21, 2007

Total Skulls: 16

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears		Timothy Dalton, Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Pryce, Stephen Rea
Former celebrity appears		Twiggy
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?