In the Nineteenth Century, the renowned professor of anatomy Dr. Thomas Rock (Timothy Dalton) gives classes to neophyte medicine students in the local university. Dr. Rock uses his assistant Dr. Murray (Julian Sands) to buy corpses for his experiments from body snatchers paying a little fortune for the cadavers. When the alcoholic scum Robert Fallon (Jonathan Pryce) and Timothy Broom (Stephen Rea) overhear the conversation of grave-robbers about Dr. Rock, they decide to supply fresher corpses that worth more to the doctor, killing the poor inhabitants. Dr. Murray has unrequited feelings for the cockney whore Jennie Bailey (Twiggy) that usually hangs around with the also prostitute Alice (Nichola McAuliffe). When Dr. Murray discovers that Fallon has just sold the corpse of Alice, he seeks out the worthless Fallon and Broom to stop them from murdering Jennie. Will he arrive in time o save Jennie?

"The Doctor and the Devils" is a stylish drama, but not a horror movie. The costumes, sets and art direction are amazing, with a great reconstitution of the period with muddy streets and dirty people. The excellent cast has great performances, with great names of the British cinema and the story is also good. Unfortunately the screenplay is not good and does not offer the adequate pace for this film. My vote is seven.

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The Doctor and The Devils is, ostensibly, a remake of the The Flesh and The Fiends (1960),which told of the nefarious true-life activities of infamous bodysnatchers and murderers Burke and Hare in the year 1828. In this telling of the story, the names have been changed, but the crimes remain the same: realising that good money can be made from supplying fresh cadavers to anatomical lecturers at a local medical school, a pair of wretched low-lifes turn to murder.

The pair of villains in this instance are Robert Fallon (Jonathan Pryce) and Timothy Broom (Stephen Rea),and the doctor who asks no questions about the origin of his corpses is Thomas Rock (Timothy Dalton). Julian Sands plays Rock's loyal assistant Dr. Murray, who falls for local prostitute Jennie Bailey (Twiggy). When Fallon brings the body of Jennie's close friend Alice to the school, the young doctor fears that Jennie is to be Fallon's next victim and rushes to her rescue.

The penultimate film from horror director Freddie Francis, The Doctor and The Devils is very much like a Hammer movie in look and feel, and will definitely appeal to fans of the 'studio that dripped blood'. However, despite plenty of atmosphere, good production values, an impressive roster of actors (which also includes Beryl Reid and Patrick Stewart),and a screenplay by noted Welsh writer/poet Dylan Thomas, the film is no match for The Flesh and The Fiends.

The pacing is off, with much of the film feeling like padding until such time as Murray is ready to leap to the rescue of Jennie, and, despite a fine cast, no-one is able to rival the brilliance of Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence, whose memorable turns gave the earlier film such a wonderful, darkly humorous edge. Dalton and company are all fine actors, but even they have their off days, and there are some really dodgy accents on display in this film (Reid is particularly bad and I was glad when her character was finally silenced).

That said, the film is worth a shot for fans of historical horror and those particularly interested in the crimes of Burke and Hare, although I highly recommend seeing The Flesh and The Fiends first.

Back in 1985, Mel Brooks produced a Gothic horror film with a former 007 agent and a former Captain of the Starship Enterprise. That film was called 'The Doctor and the Devils', and is based on real events from a few 19th century murderers in England. And I'm not talking about the infamous Jack The Ripper, but rather 'Burke and Hare', who went on a big killing spree, where they took their deceased victims and sold them to a Dr. Knox, who would experiment on the cadavers to further the knowledge of science and the human anatomy.

That is more or less of what is going on with 'The Doctor and the Devils' here. You can add to that with the iconic poet Dylan Thomas writing the screenplay for the film, who was recently seen in the film 'Interstellar' with the 'Do not go gentle into that good night' piece of dialogue. The film centers mostly on one Dr. Thomas Rock (Timothy Dalton),who is a a professor and doctor who examines and studies the human body.

Dr. Rock wants to further the science and research of the human body, while others think that his methods aren't exactly kosher, including Professor Macklin (Patrick Stewart),who constantly tries to expose and stop Dr. Rock. Since Dr. Rock is needing more and more dead bodies to do his experiments on, he enlists the help of Robert Fallon and Timothy Broom (Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea),who hear about the "good" doctor's needs. Fallon and Broom both embark on a killing spree and deliver the newly dead to the doctor for a hefty fee and no questions.

It seems like a reasonable deal, but Broom and Fallon (Burke and Hare) start murdering innocent people wherever they are, instead of doing the deed more rationally. There is an unfleshed out side story with Dr. Rock's apprentice (Julian Sands) and his lover (Twiggy),but it doesn't go anywhere really. To add to the Gothic horror tones, Thomas focuses on the religious themes of what happens to people's souls and bodies after death. And Rock must struggle with whether to keep accepting these dead bodies when he finds out that they were innocent murders.

Everyone does a great job here with their roles, even if it seems a little too Gothic, but the dialogue is delivered perfectly. 'The Doctor and the Devils' is a great look with one hell of a cast and crew at some of the most horrific murders ever to grace the newspapers, and it still holds up thirty years later.