The benefit of flashcards is in the time spent making them. Just writing them helps you learn. Usually when I make flashcards I don't even use them just writing them helped me become familiar with the material.

The best advice I can give is don't memorize tell yourself the story and then tell others or even just tell it to yourself. You can remember a plot a lot easier than a bunch of disconnected facts. Its how I got through anatomy and physiology and every other memorization heavy course