Starting in 1956 Gilling directed and wrote several films for Albert R. Broccoli and Irving Allen's Warwick Films beginning with "Odongo". Perhaps his very best film as a director is "The Flesh and the Fiends" (1959), the story of Dr. Robert Knox and the West Port murders, which starred Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence. For his own production company John Gilling Enterprises he made "Fury at Smugglers' Bay" in 1961.