Dr. John Rowan is finally reaping the rewards of some hard graft and is now established as a highly successful surgeon in London of the swinging 60's. After a gruelling five hour operation he returns to his plush residence and collapses only to be awakened by his supermodel fiancée Lynn who reminds him that they have a groovy party to attend with lots of pretty girls in attendance. The party turns out to be a suitably hip, happening scene but sadly Rowan (Peter Cushing) looks sorely out of place wearing his stiff Harley Street gear and not knowing the jive.

Meanwhile as prerequisite at such parties there is an Austin Powers-like resident photographer on hand, the grubby Mike Orme who immediately coaxes his star pupil Lynn to pose for a freaky, kinky snaps. Rowan was already exhausted after the operation and also developed a throbbing headache but the manipulative, selfish Lynn implores him not to spoil the party forcing him to endure. When the photo session gets a little too kinky for Rowans liking and the cheap photographer asks her to remove her top, a fight erupts punches flying, then one of the high powered spotlights is sent tumbling and it lands on Lynn's face with horrible results. In hospital Lynn 's life is saved but she has a hideously charred face and career and morale in tatters.

Her adoring husband to be, John Rowan, suffering from waves of remorse delves deeper into his experiments using ancient Egyptian techniques involving the use of the pituitary glands and the development of a high powered laser beam that may be able to salvage the distraught Lynn 's face as well as her ambitions. The doctor, having practiced using his decidedly funky and extremely dubious looking laser device on some unfortunate gerbils is now confident that he is ready to work the miracle on Lynn without adverse effects. So he visits the hospital morgue where a fresh corpse has chunks of tissue ripped off for the upcoming operation. Afterwards when the bandages are removed, Lynn is restored to her former glory and the scars seemingly banished.

The couple fly off to the Caribbean for a celebratory cruise but sadly Lynn 's face soon returns to its charred condition as the effects of the tissue and the pituitary glands start to fade and the celebrations cut short. Lynn , increasingly manic, is now desperate for Rowan to attempt the operation again with the live flesh that he reckons will cure the problem. Previously the tissue had been removed from a corpse. Rowan goes out to the red light district and butchers a prostitute in a most savage manner, returning home with her head! Once again the experiment is a success but once again the effects don't last very long and Lynn keeps returning to her charred condition, goading and beckoning Rowan to find new victims so that she can continue to remain gorgeous even though she has been informed that her time as a model has passed.

Yet she is determined to recapture her beauty and will stop at nothing to achieve her ends. The film is very similar in theme to Les Yeux Sans Visage from 1959 but while Les Yeux had a dreamlike quality this film is loud, manic, deliciously distasteful and particularly nasty for a film of its era. However the film boasts some fine acting with Peter Cushing at his frenzied, maniacal best and Sue Lloyd also turning in a strong show with quality support from Kate O'Mara and Noel Trevarthen.

Perhaps the most memorable aspect of the film is the barbarism and brutality of the murder scenes and the fact that severed heads and the like are depicted in their full glory. The music – a sort of hybrid of bad 60's jazz and muzak – is used liberally and works fine in scenes when the accent is on the swinging 60's but totally out of place and bizarre when used for the murder and chase scenes. It took a repeat viewing to notice that the vaguely familiar face of the character playing a victims husband was none other than Billy Murray AKA Johnny Allen of Eastenders fame and somewhat ironic that the fate he is dealt with here is similar to the fate he recently dealt the hapless Andy Hunter in the abovementioned soap.

Love it or loathe it, or even if you consider it a cheap rip off of the majestic Les Yeux Sans Visage, Corruption is never less than compulsive viewing however nasty or lurid or sleazy it might be. The film has virtually vanished from sight and is found only though obscure website dealing in “hard to find” video titles. Interestingly there are two different cuts of the film, with a different one used in the UK and another used for the US and continental Europe . It's a film that certainly makes an impression and is difficult to forget, especially the outrageous finale featuring the deathly laser beam and the epilogue the follows.

It is primarily regarded as little more than a trashy exploitation flick that borrowed heavily from superior films that came before it yet it does contain a grim, nasty edge and Peter Cushing in spectacular possessed form even though his fans prefer to disown this particular film for its dubious “qualities” and found it difficult to forgive their hero for appearing in what is seen to be a cheap exploitation flick. Corruption deserves more recognition and needs to be rescued from fading from memory. The Mondo Macabro team would be the perfect people to revive this deliciously dubious and nasty little nugget.