A mute puppeteer brings corpses to life in William Castle's final film experiment.
SHANKS
Malcolm the deaf-mute Shanks lives with his cruel sister and her husband, who like every possible way to spoil his already bad life. The only joy Shanks — puppets, which he does first-class tinkering. With this his talent to Shanks even managed to get in an assistant to Professor Walker, obsessed with the idea of reviving corpses. Walker’s methodology is simple and consists in passing on key neural nodes of the body electrical impulses, making the corpse move like a puppet.
Shanks is a 1974 fantasy horror film directed by William Castle about Malcolm Shanks, a deaf-mute puppeteer who becomes a lab assistant to a scientist experimenting with re-animating dead bodies, eventually using the technique to control corpses himself.
Synopsis
Why Cult
International mime legend Marcel Marceau stars as Malcolm Shanks, bringing his unique physicality to the eerie role.
The film fuses puppet artistry with mad science, as Malcolm manipulates corpses like marionettes thanks to experimental nerve-jolting.
Directed by William Castle, this oddball blend of fantasy and horror stands as his last film, showing a master of the macabre still twisting genres.
Questions from the Vault
What is Shanks about? +
Shanks follows Malcolm, a deaf-mute puppeteer who assists a scientist in re-animating corpses and then uses the method to control the dead himself.
When was Shanks released? +
Shanks was released in 1974.
Who directed Shanks? +
Shanks was directed by William Castle.
How long is Shanks? +
Shanks has a runtime of 93 minutes.
What genre is Shanks? +
Shanks is a fantasy horror film.
Where can I watch Shanks? +
Shanks is available to watch on SassyFlix.
