Corruption in the Flesh

Corruption in the Flesh is a 1655 Shirerithian horror film released before the latest mini-detente between the Imperial Republic and the Garden of Kalgachia that gives full vent to the undiluted human supremacist values of the Imperial Government and the Nationalist & Humanist Party during the Dravot-Zinkgraven years.

Synopsis

Corruption in the Flesh is set in the early seventeenth century and tells the tale of a young publican's son who, following his over-reaction to an altercation with the local squire, runs away to the west and joins an Octalune caravan heading out into the Green.

It gradually becomes apparent that the poor foolish boy has joined a migration of the freakish and the uncanny, including creatures that are not entirely human.

Taken into their confidence after rescuing a be-scaled boy from drowning during the crossing of the White Elwynn, he subsequently falls into companionship with the boy's sister, a girl notable for her cold skin and lizard eyes. Initiated into the Octalune clan in a midnight ceremony involving nudity, a bonfire, copious quantities of cider & woad, and a very unfortunate goat, the boy receives one stern injunction – to never enter the sealed caravan that leads the clan on its migration.

Curiosity overwhelms him, however; one night he creeps up and peeps in. To his horror he espies the corpse of a child which then rises up from its bier and emits a piercing and inhuman shriek.

The boy is is discovered and in terror he flees from the encampment, pursued by his former companions and by daemonic creatures following in the dark. Eventually he stumbles into an Elwynnese settlement – one with a cudgeller garrison. The hue and cry is raised, the posse assembled. With the boy leading them, the villagers and cudgellers venture forth and the hunters become the hunted.

One by one the inhumans are hunted down and dispatched, in a number of inventive ways. The boy sheds a tear as “lizard-eyes” is gunned down. Finally the encampment is found and stormed. Caravans are burned one by one until only the sealed wagon remains. A large man with an axe batters down the door, and recoils in horror from what he sees. Inside, the corpse of a child kneels, it's hands held aloft in supplication. The man hesitates. A woman, of sterner stuff, shoves the man aside and flings in oil lamp, followed shortly after by a flaming brand. The child shrieks once more as the flames engulf it.

As a coda, the boy – exhausted – sits illuminated in the glow of a burning caravan. He accepts a proffered jar of cider and now we see the boy's initiatory tattoo on his arm, and the necrotising flesh spreading out from it. The boy has laid with the foe and accepted their mark. There can be only one outcome.

The film ends with the boy's own despairing scream as he is thrown onto the fire.

A merry jig begins as the credits roll.