Flesh Eaters...

Years ago, I saw a fascinating horror movie about people trapped on an island surrounded by flesh eating creatures in the water. I vaguely recall a scene in which one unfortunate victim appeared to have been eaten alive, but, in fact, this victim was already dead and a recording of the victim's screams was being played. I couldn't remember what the title of the movie was, but, after some poking around on the web, I came up with: The Flesh Eaters...

A hard-bitten, down-on-his-luck charter pilot (Byron Sanders) is hired by an alcoholic movie actress (Rita Morley) and her nubile personal assistant (Barbara Wilkin) to fly them to Provincetown. But mechanical problems and an impending storm force them to land on a deserted island habited by a German scientist (Martin Kosleck) harboring secret experiments and an even darker past. Featuring taut direction by Jack Curtis and punctuated by snappy dialogue from screenwriter Arnold brake. The Flesh Eaters has cemented its cult classic status as bring one of the first gore films. Released in various censored incarnations over the years it is presented here in the original cleavage-baring and gore-drenched theatrical version.

Charles, a contributor to the forums at Amazon, rambles on about the different versions...

As an avid fan of this movie, I have multiple versions of it ranging from the original Monterey VHS tape, various "boot" VHS tapes and DVDs, and finally both the MPI Dark Sky DVD (sold here) and a Retromedia review copy DVD direct from the source. Here are the findings based on independant research, viewing various versions, the Arnold Drake/Tom Weaver/Fred Olen Ray interview on the Retro disc, and from just flat out watching both DVDs side by side thanks to 2 DVD players, split screen, and lots of patience from my wife:

The MPI/Dark Sky DVD being sold here is Jack Curtis' original print/edit. This same version was sold to TV in a very slightly edited version that was later released by Monterey Home Video in the 80's. This is NOT the slightly edited TV print. It IS the whole (original) shootin' match.

The Retromedia copy is the theatrical print/edit that basically had about 4 minutes of "insert" shots added by theatrical distributor Michael Ripps because I suppose he didn't think the film was shocking enough! For "artistic" reasons (or more likely to accomdate the extra footage and keep the running time around 86 minutes), Ripps also re-edited some of the scenes to remove roughly 4 minutes of footage from Jack Curtis' cut. Although touted as the "uncut" version, it is not uncut...

After seeing The Flesh Eaters again after so many years, I'm pleasantly surprised at how well the movie has managed to hold up over the years.