Night of the Blood Beast

source: Night of the Blood Beast

Astronaut Major John Corcoran (a solid performance by Michael Emmet) dies while returning to earth from his space mission. His body is recovered by the military. However, Corcoran comes back to life and terrorizes the military base. It turns out to be a bizarre plan from aliens to invade our planet. Director Bernard L. Kowalski, working from a compact script by Mark Varno, relates the entertainingly pulpy story at a steady pace, develops a reasonable amount of tension, and effectively creates and sustains a grimly serious tone. Moreover, this film is acted with admirable sincerity by the competent cast, with especially sturdy work by Ed Nelson as the stalwart Dave Randall, John Baer as the no-nonsense Steve Dunlap, Angela Greene as the distraught Dr. Julie Benson, Georgianna Carter as the fetching Donna Bixby, and Tyler McVey as the puzzled Dr. Alex Wyman. The primitive (not so) special effects possess a certain crude charm (the extraterrestrial monster resembles a mottled humanoid parrot!). In addition, there's a sprinkling of mild gore, the terse 62 minute running time ensures that this picture never gets dull or overstays its welcome, and the premise of Corcoran having alien parasites growing inside his body neatly prefigures "Alien." John M. Nickolaus Jr.'s stark black and white cinematography does the trick while Alexander Laszlo's robust score hits the rousing shivery spot. An immensely fun B-movie quickie.

When man was first venturing into space, fear of the unknown ran rampant. Think of movies like "The Creeping Unknown", "First Man Into Space" or TV episodes like "And Then the Sky Was Opened" from "The Twilight Zone" or "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" from "The Outer Limits". What exactly could be waiting for us OUT THERE??? Back then, we weren't as sure as we are now. "Night of the Blood Beast" is another cautionary tale of man's first tentative steps into outer space and as usual, our worst fears are realized. There are not many 50's SF films I haven't seen, but this one eluded me until tonight. I was ready for something awful, but despite comments from the usual MST3K nerds, I found this movie to be very creepy and morbid in its way. With the exception of one scene (which many 50's kids will probably never forget), it's not that graphic, but some of the implications are unthinkable. Pilot John Corcoran attempts to go into orbit, but loses control of his spaceship and is forced to crash in a remote area. Nearby are his scientific colleagues, including his fiancée Julie. This band make their way to the ship, only to find Corcoran dead and the craft a ruin. However, it is noticed that the body seems as fresh as if it died a minute ago even though Corcoran has been dead for hours. A strange kind of mud is also found clinging to the hull of the ship. The scientists take Corcoran's body back to their isolated lab complex, where they see his blood is invaded by a bizarre parasite. The power inexplicably goes dead, cutting them off from contact with the outside world, and then Dave is attacked by something "huge like a bear" that is lurking outside. Something uncanny is going on, linked to Corcoran's crash. And then, suddenly, Corcoran himself returns to life... The movie is ultra-cheap, but has the claustrophobic feel of movies like "The Thing" and "Night of the Living Dead". Michael Emmet is excellent as the living dead astronaut who appears to be an incubator for extraterrestrial creatures (shades of "Alien", but 20 years earlier).The alien monster itself won't impress those used to only CGI creatures, but it's no worse than any monster on "Outer Limits" or "Dr. Who" of the period. In fact, the movie often has the feel of an "Outer Limits" episode, which is high praise. The most startling thing about the film is how Corcoran pleads for understanding of the alien. When the alien itself finally finds its voice, it speaks in calm, reasonable tones despite its grotesque exterior. But is it really just misunderstood? Thereby hangs the tale... Sure, it's cheap and some of the lines are goofy, but overall, this is a cool little film, well worth checking out if you like intelligent 50's SF. And yes, Georgianna Carter is indeed a real looker as Donna Bixby...

I did however see this on TV in the late 60`s. Gemini/Apollo had already made the rocket and base seem ridiculous. Informal staff or what? I did stick with it and enjoyed the fleeting glimpses of the creature and plot weirdness. Possible shock landmarks: First movie with alien pregnancy? Near beheading? A previous review mentions a hairy chest.I recall that I too was smitten with Georgiana Carter somewhat and thought she had a contemporary beauty as compared to other 50`s sci-fi ladies. Unfortunately The Wild Ride with Jack Nicholson was all else she was in. Also thought Michael Emmet was OK in this and Attack Of The Giant Leeches. And of course Ed Nelson smokes cigarettes and adds energy to the proceedings. All in all one of my favorite 50`s schlock/sci-fi movies. Available at a nice price from Collectables. On the strength of being THE Georgianna Carter movie ** out of *****

I first saw this Roger Corman production on "Mystery Science Theater 3000." Despite the best efforts of Mike Nelson and his robot pals, NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST was excruciating. So what made me sit through the original, unriffed version? The same thing that once made me lick a cheese grater, I suppose. The film had an imaginative storyline for 1958: an astronaut crash- lands on Earth and is killed. There's just one problem: hours after death, his body stays warm and his blood cells remain alive. That's because there are alien embryos gestating inside him, which will soon exist independently of the astronaut. There is also a full-grown alien roaming the countryside who absorbs human knowledge by killing people and cutting their heads off. Though the title suggests a horror film, it's really sci-fi. However, unlike the best sci-fi, NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST offers nothing to think about once the film is over. The bland script serves up dull dialogue and characters, while the $68,000 budget ($578,000 in 2017 dollars) allowed for just a couple of sets. The director must have seen little need to move the camera, or else couldn't afford a dolly. In either case, the camera frequently locks in and doesn't move for minutes at a clip. The musical score has little to do with what's happening on screen. The monster is hilarious-looking, as are the shots of the dead astronaut's blood cells under the microscope. And the script leaves numerous questions unanswered: How was the astronaut impregnated? How was he supposed to give birth to those alien babies? Why do the aliens have to cut people's heads off to absorb their knowledge? Why don't the aliens simply come to Earth instead of hitching rides on our spaceships? Did the aliens wish to live in peace or to conquer us? The script is annoyingly vague in that regard. I'll end with the most quotable line of this 62-minute miasma: "A wounded animal that large isn't good!"

Most of the commenters for this film seem to be reviewing its budget rather than the film itself (hence the typical overuse of the empty headed all-purpose cliché "cheesy") but in fact this is one of the most intelligent and thoughtful science fiction films of any era. Anyone with sophistication enough to look past the obvious budget limitations will see a fairly solid study of human reactions to an unknown menace. BLOOD BEAST really has more in common with British science fiction of the time, especially the Quatermass films. Those who lump it in with other Roger Corman movies have, of course, the wrong Corman --- this was produced by brother Gene, who later went on to a successful career producing major studio films (TOBRUK, etc...). Gene Corman tended to inject a little more substance into his drive-in genre films that his more illustrious sibling. ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES, in addition to the expected cheap scares, also delves into Tennessee Williams territory with its low rent Big Daddy trying to deal with his unfaithful Baby Doll wife. BLOOD BEAST likewise devotes much attention to character development, presents several intriguing plot points, and ends on an enigmatic note almost unique in this type of movie. It's ironic that a cheap 50s drive-in movie like NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST should ultimately appeal only to more sophisticated viewers. MST3K fans should look elsewhere for their cheap yucks.

For a Roger Corman movie, Night of the Blood Beast had somewhat higher production values than most. Maybe that was because Corman was just Executive Producer on this one. The special effects were actually pretty good, and the monster costume wasn't all that bad. The story also seemed a bit more believable than a lot of his oeuvre. The acting was fairly good for a genre pic, and the cast was very believable. The only thing that really annoyed me about the movie was a number of scenes in which the characters were able to get a blood pressure reading off of a presumed-dead body (with no heartbeat) ... those elicited a definite groan from me. This was one of about ten sci-fi movies from the fifties that I hadn't seen until it showed up in the "Tales of Terror" boxed set from Mill Creek Entertainment. If you're a fan of the genre, definitely give it a look if you get the chance ... its no Quatermass, but its also no UFO: Target Earth, either.

After an astronaut dies in space, he is brought back to a military base. Inside the man are discovered alien embryos -- he is the host for what could be a terrible alien invasion! This film comes to us from director Bernard L. Kowalski, who also directed "Attack of the Giant Leeches" (see separate review) but may be better known for his work on "Columbo". Executive producer was Roger Corman, known as the creator of much better films than this one... particularly in the 1960s. And the writer-producer? Roger's brother Gene. This movie is cheesy and poorly constructed. What comes across as interesting is the poor effects, not the actual film itself. One scene shows a close-up of the alien embryos and it is an embarrassing cartoon representation... even for 1958. And then when a full-grown alien appears... you might wonder why he is wearing shoes. Or if you are really perceptive, you might wonder why you have seen the alien suit in other movies. (Although, why are you watching those movies?) By no means is this the worst science fiction film you will ever see. And you almost have to give it some credit -- the alien host overtaking a military base idea predates both "The Thing" and "Alien" by a number of years. I do not know if these films were inspired in any way (I have to doubt it), but at least it was ahead of its time. Beyond that, though, the film flops and is only great for heckling when drinking. I have seen this film both normally (it is easily found in the public domain) and also the "Mystery Science Theater" version, and this sure is one film worthy of their insults -- who else knows how to tear apart an alien parrot better than Crow and Tom Servo?

I recently picked up an American import of Night of the Blood Beast from a market stall for £2.00 and was certainly pleased I did. This is one of Roger Corman's better efforts. An Astronaut returns from outer space presumed dead, but when a small group of people take him back to their remote lab, they find signs of life in him when examining his body. Afterwards, a strange looking clawed and beaked alien creature is on the rampage and kills one of the doctors. The astronaut then comes back to life and we learn that the sings of life in him earlier are actually aliens breeding within him. The doctors then head for a cave where they think the creature is and kill it by setting it on fire and the astronaut is killed too. The filming locations for this movie may look familiar as it was filmed at Bronson Caverns, where many of these movies were shot including It Conquered the World and Robot Monster. The cast is mainly made up of unknowns, the only star I've heard of is Ed Nelson (Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Brain Eaters). This is worth catching if you get the chance. Enjoyable. Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Typical of the "Z" sci-fi films of the fifties, the viewing of Night of the Blood Beast takes significant time-warp calibration in order to appreciate it. Even Baby Boomers must be amazed at how much progress the world has seen in four decades. Night of the Blood Beast sure served its purpose at the time, but by today's standards is a clunky relic. One major redeemable factor, though, is the unrelenting grimness of the movie. Kowalski brought the same dark tone to Attack of the Giant Leeches, a less talky and cohesive film. One curious observation is the extensive footage of the shirtless and hairy-chested astronaut. Hollywood almost always insisted on bare-chested men being shaved -- weird as it may seem. There are other envelope-pushing facets in Blood Beast (and Giant Leeches) if you look close enough. Kowalski probably knew what he was doing.