The Flesh Eaters is a 1964 American horror/science fiction thriller, directed on a low budget by Jack Curtis and edited by future filmmaker Radley Metzger. The film contains moments of violence much more graphic and extreme than many other movies of its time, making it one of the first ever gore films. Plot Jan Letterman, the personal assistant to wealthy, over-the-hill actress Laura Winters, hires pilot Grant Murdoch to fly her from New York to Provincetown, Massachusetts, but a storm forces them to land on a small island. They meet Prof. Peter Bartell, a marine biologist with a German accent who is living in seclusion on the isle. A series of strange skeletons wash ashore (human, then fish), since the water is inhabited by some sort of glowing microbe which devours flesh rapaciously. Bartell is a former US Government agent who was sent to Nazi Germany to recover as much of their scientific data as possible. He was chosen for the job for his scientific skills and knowledge of the German language. Using the methods learned there he hopes to cultivate a group of monstrous "flesh eaters" that can devour the skin off a victim in mere seconds. A beatnik named Omar joins the group after becoming shipwrecked on their shore. Tensions mount after the plane drifts off into the ocean, leaving the castaways and Bartell as potential meals for the ravenous monsters. High-voltage electrification (from a battery system devised by Bartell) is utilized in an attempt to slay the monsters. Bartell explains that he has been tracking these creatures and attempting to cultivate them to sell as biological weapons. An electrical shock does not kill the creatures, but instead causes the numerous smaller microbes to merge into a larger organism. By accident, the survivors stumble upon the solution to killing them: the creatures devour flesh but not blood, as in each case where remains have been found blood has been present. Bartell surmises that the creatures have a negative reaction to hemoglobin and, when directly injected with it, are slain. By applying a large electrical shock to the waters surrounding the island, the survivors force the numerous dispersed microbes into forming a giant single organism. Following a struggle, Bartell is killed just before Murdoch destroys the last of the creatures. Murdoch and Letterman leave the island together. Cast Production The film has developed a cult following due to its