Flesh & Blood (1985)
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Although shot in Spain, this was Verhoeven's first English-language movie and a stepping stone to Hollywood (Orion put up half the budget). Not that the Dutchman seems to have borne American sensibilities in mind: a medieval anti-romance about a virginal heiress (Leigh) who falls into the grip of a rapacious band of superstitious mercenaries led by the brutal Martin (Hauer), the film overflows with pestilence, plague and pillage. The girl's fondness for her rapist won't commend the film to feminists either. It's hamstrung by leaden dialogue and the motley international cast - Python and the Grail are never that far away - but it's admirably unsentimental and by no means stupid.Author: TCh
Cast & crew
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Producer: Gys Versluys
Cast: Rutger Hauer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Burlinson, Jack Thompson, Fernando Hillbeck, Susan Tyrrell, Ronald Lacey full cast
Genre(s): Horror
Duration: 127 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now