Sins of the Fleshapoids (1965)

Lack of good storyline.

A Disappointing Continuation

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

I truly am at a loss as to why this movie has such a high rating. Campy is one thing. Bad is totally another. I thought I had seen all the horrible movies. I thought I had seen all the really bad ones. I was wrong. This film easily takes the spot in my worst movie category. The plot, the acting, the set...who am I kidding? There wasn't any! The soundtrack was horrible. The best way to watch this movie is with the director's commentary on. By far, it is funnier than the movie. He even says that the people in the film can't act. And that there was no script; the lines were all made up on the spot. Don't waste your money renting this one, but if you do, definitely turn on the commentary.

Underground film from the 1960's that plays better in the context of history rather than in present. The story has something to do with fleshapoids, robots in the future that go berserk and develop feelings. Made about the same time as Andy Warhol was turning out his early films and Andy Milligan was abandoning off Broadway for cinema screens this is an odd film that has been compared to the works of Kenneth Anger. I think the connection is tenuous at best since Anger had a little bit more going on then whats on screen here. (Frankly I think people who make the connection simply because Anger is a name people know.) Campy, I'm not sure intentionally so, the film isn't bad, but its not really good with the stupid motions of the fleshapoids making this the sort of film that will have you asking if they were serious. I'm guessing that the film played better in the basement cinemas where it was first shown. I decided to pick the film up because I had read about it over the years as being an "important" work in the history of underground film. Watching it some 45 years after it was filmed I was struck by how of the time it was, unfortunately its time has passed. Worth a look for people interested in the underground films of the 1960's. All others are advised to look elsewhere

The theme that recurs throughout "Fleshapoids" is Howard Hanson's Second Symphony ("Romantic"). And yes, it's the same music used in "Alien." This film is a brilliant amalgamation of cinema rhetoric, fairy tale, pop art and cartoon. The typical Hollywood "love" scene, for example, is distorted way beyond familiarity. I can't think of any film that has such wonderful art direction on such a modest budget (Kuchar used his own crayon drawings, plastic fruit from Woolworth's, murals made with interior paint, etc.). As with many films from the Kuchar brothers, it's the original blend of music, voice-over and image that stuns you, leaving you either in tears of laughter.

If anyone knows what the melodramatic piece of music is that keeps being repeated throughout the movie, please let me know.It sounds like the closing theme to Alien, but this film is 15 years older than that.By the way, ignore the negative comments that others have recorded about this film. This is a campy underground movie, not some mass-market film. Judge it on what it is, not what you think it should be! I wouldn't criticize Scorpio Rising because it's not Easy Rider!And who keeps going on about Plan 9 From Outer Space in this day and age anyway?