Brazilian director José Mojica Marins is renowned by cult movie fans for his surreal, gory, bizarre and frequently incomprehensible Coffin Joe movies in which he plays sadistic undertaker Zé do Caixão. Hellish Flesh doesn't feature Zé and is one of the film-maker's more conventional efforts, but I don't mind: it's nice to be able to understand what the hell is going on for a change!
Marins plays Dr. Jorge Medeiros, a scientist so caught up in his experiments (or 'experience' if you have the poorly subtitled Anchor Bay DVD) that he neglects his beautiful wife Raquel. A little too trusting, he is happy for Raquel to go to dinner with his friend Oliver while he tends to his test tubes; unsurprisingly, the pair are at it like rabbits behind his back.
Fed up with keeping their affair a secret, the deceitful couple plan to rid themselves of Jorge and claim his fortune. While working one night, Raquel goes into his laboratory and throws acid into her husband's face; Oliver goes one step further and starts a fire, leaving Jorge to burn to death. Miraculously, Jorge survives his ordeal and spends months in hospital receiving reconstructive surgery (cue some nauseating real-life eye surgery footage); meanwhile, Oliver and Raquel are quickly working their way through what cash they have, unable to lay their hands on Jorge's money.
Strangely, when Jorge leaves hospital, he doesn't go to the police; on the contrary, he regularly gives Raquel money, most of which is squandered by Oliver on gambling and, unbeknown to Raquel, on numerous skanky hookers (fat women, women with bad teeth, women with five o'clock shadows: he's not fussy!). When Raquel learns of Oliver's dalliance's with these women, she rushes to confront him, but is hit by a car (she needn't have bothered: his last hooker had stabbed him to death).
Once again, Jorge comes to his wife's rescue, paying for the surgery necessary to help her walk again. Indebted and wracked by guilt, Raquel returns to her husband, and, on seeing his scarred visage, declares her love and throws acid into her own face, wanting to be disfigured just like Jorge. After unsuccessful plastic surgery, Raquel returns home and once again declares her love for Jorge, at which point her husband
well, that would be telling, suffice to say that as acts of revenge go, this one is pretty sweet!
6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.
