Suitable Flesh review.
H.P. Lovecraft’s horniest demon is unleashed on Heather Graham and Barbara Crampton. You knew this was going to be good.
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Suitable Flesh
Directed by Joe Lynch
Screenplay by Dennis Paoli
Starring Heather Graham, Judah Lewis, Bruce Davison, Jonathan Schaech, Graham Skipper, Jonah Ray and Barbara Crampton
Suitable Flesh Review
Suitable Flesh is dedicated to Stuart Gordon. Gordon directed three of the most notable H.P. Lovecraft adaptation…all starring Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton. Crampton features here too…as both actor and producer. Loosely based on Lovecraft’s The Thing on the Doorstep, Suitable Flesh certainly feels like a throwback. Perhaps, however, not a throwback to the movies you’d expect. Gordon and Crampton delivered Re-Animator and From Beyond in the 80s. Castle Freak followed in the 90s. This movie doesn’t really evoke any of those…but it does have a distinct feel to it. Mostly…a movie you’d happen across late night on a premium cable channel.
This is one horny movie. We might as well get to that straight away. The plot involves a body swapping entity. Once it changes places…it has one thing on its mind. It makes sense. An unformed ancient evil getting itself a skin suit and wanting to feel. The movie doesn’t dive into the psychology of that as much as you’d expect. Especially given its lead characters are psychiatrists.
Dr. Elizabeth Derby (Heather Graham) becomes embroiled in the Lovecraftian nightmare when she finds herself attracted to potential patient Asa (Judah Lewis). It’s only Asa some of the time, of course. The rest of the time he’s being possessed by the horny spirit. When the entity briefly inhabits her…Elizabeth must find a way to destroy the demon before it takes her over permanently.
The story begins with Elizabeth locked in a padded cell. The movie mostly plays out in flashback. Elizabeth relays the story to her friend and fellow doctor Daniella Upton (Barbara Crampton). It’s quite a tale. One that Daniella couldn’t possibly believe if she hadn’t seen some unexplainable things herself.
Suitable Flesh benefits greatly from its cast. Graham is excellent in the lead. Crampton is always great. Lewis has fun with a role that alternates between terrified and menacing. Bruce Davison and Johnathan Schaech deliver in their supporting roles. Most of them get to spend time playing two parts. Their characters…and the entity. It’s a lot of fun to see each person inhabited by the same thing…they do a wonderful job collectively bringing it to life. Horny, horny life.
The movie isn’t afraid to get gory when it wants to. Some of the best scenes in the film are bloody affairs. Director Joe Lynch wisely doesn’t overdo the gore effects until it’s time to feature them…and then he lets them run wild. It creates memorable and effective imagery.
The nature of the entity allows for some fun gross out horror. Destroying the brain is the only way to stop it. Bad news for whatever body is hosting it. Which means no matter what violence is heaped upon it…it’s going to walk around and try to transfer bodies until the brain is destroyed. Suitable Flesh creates some great scenes featuring what’s left of characters continuing after certain death.
While Suitable Flesh is often a fun movie…it is rarely a funny movie. That’s the one aspect that could have used some fleshing out…if you’ll pardon the pun. I’m a big proponent of ridiculous situations being ridiculed. Elizabeth finds herself in a completely preposterous scenario. Even with its life and death stakes…at some point you’ve gotta laugh at it. It doesn’t undercut the overall tone to acknowledge that your life has taken a wildly unexpected turn. There is some humor mined from sudden character swaps…but nothing with the purpose of lightening the mood.
Gallows humor aside, Suitable Flesh largely succeeds at what it intends to do. It lacks the color palette and of Gordon’s 80s classics…but it’s more entertaining than Castle Freak. I’d like to think it’s the kind of movie he would have made were he here to make it in 2023. Or…in 1998 for Showtime after hours. This is Lovecraft by way of erotic thriller. A body swapping movie that aims for cruelty. And horniness.
Scare Value
Heather Graham, Barabara Crampton and company are in fine form in Suitable Flesh. It feels more 90s Showtime than 80s Stuart Gordon…but there is fun to be had here. A body swapping ancient evil with an oversized libido? A winning formula if there ever was one. Actors have the chance to play two characters. Their own and the demon. Everyone nails it. Tonally…it could have used a bit more comedy. A fine effort, nonetheless.
3.5/5
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