A lot of betwixt-and-between movies came out in this era: sleazy B-pictures with major stars...and classier studio projects that dabbled in explicit sex and gore. Corruption fits both of those descriptions.

The contemporary setting works against the kind of tale that was even a bit silly in the pre-heart-transplant era.

The concept of face -- as a noun, as a verb, as the mask that hides and exposes our emotions, as the anchor to our definition of self -- is so essential to human identity that horror films that hinge on the disfigurement of the face have a special power.

Peter Cushing is over-the-top crazy in this grindhouse-style goreathon. It's hard to imagine the filmmakers didn't know the end product would be campy.