Rating: 14/20
Plot: Based on a true story--albeit apparently very loosely based--of a series of murders in 19th Century Scotland. This is about a couple of buddies who go into business selling corpses to a doctor for his anatomy lectures. When they run out of corpses acquired by prosaic means, they're forced to adopt more drastic measures--murder. I hope you read the word "murder" in a deep-voiced English accent.
It almost seems too easy to make an Ealing-esque dark comedy using this story. And what do you know? This is Ealing studios. It lacks the grace and intelligence of their mid-20th Century films just like you'd expect it to. Gags seem cheap although I do like how casually a lot of the more gross-out imagery is thrown into this. Severed parts, innards, bodies in various stages of dissection, blub. There's plenty to see if you're into anatomy, and there's plenty of slapstick homicide if that's your bag. This movie's very consistent in tone and humor although it's consistently mildly humorous rather than ever being uproariously funny. I do like the performances, great character actors in these growly phlegmy sorts of roles. Tim Curry plays a doctor and makes that face that he likes to makes, and Tom Wilkinson's good as Dr. Knox. It was fun seeing Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis play off each other and take on these darkly comic roles. Isla Fisher nearly stole the show, however, not only for being a spot of beauty in an other wise bleak and greasily-beareded 19th Century world, but for being genuinely funny as the titular king in an all-female stage adaptation of Macbeth. Oh, and not only does Christopher Lee get a cameo in this, you also get Ray Harryhausen for a bit as a doctor. I didn't love this movie, but it was consistently entertaining and good for a few laughs, and you just have to love the colorful characters created by all these great character actors.
And any movie with the following line is ok in my book (or my blog): "You know, Willie, I had confidence in a fart once and I shat all over myself."
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