Night of the Blood Beast |
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USA • 1958 • 62m •
   • Directed by: Bernard L. Kowalski. • Starring: Michael Emmet, Angela Greene, John Baer, Ed Nelson, Tyler McVey, Georgianna Carter, Ross Sturlin. • Music by: Alexander Laszlo.      A spaceship returns from space but the astronaut has not survived the journey. The base that recovered the body is all of a sudden cut off from the outside world by an alien. The revival of the dead astronaut, the death of a scientist, and the discovery of alien embryos inside the resurrected astronaut's body bodes ill for the survival of those trapped at the base and the rest of humanity.
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Directed by Bernard L. Kowalski this cheap Roger Corman produced black and white 50 sci-fi horror monster flick is an OK time waster I suppose but nothing more, it has a few alright ideas & at only 62 minutes long doesn't outstay it's welcome. The script seems like a rip-off of The Thing from Another World (1951) with it's isolated military base, the few character's cut off from the outside world & an alien threat that must be stopped before it contaminates & destroys all of humanity. Unfortunately that's where the comparisons stop as Night of the Blood Beast is a cheap rip-off with the atmosphere of the freezing Artic or the menace of the alien creature, any attempt the script makes to try & sympathise with the alien are wasted & come across as half hearted. I mean when an alien eats half your mates head you just aren't going to consider it friendly are you? In a side-note it's interesting to think (or not, depending on your viewpoint) that the alien gestating & growing inside a human body idea would later famously be used in the Alien series of films to much, much better effect. No-one seems that bothered by John coming back to life or the presence of an alien life-form until the very end I was never convinced that they were as cut off & isolated as they kept saying they were. I also don't understand why the alien was so passive, if the humans were such a threat to it's offspring why not just kill them all? I suppose it moves along at a decent pace, the script tries to blur the lines between the standard killer & friendly alien clichés although without much success it has to be said & it passes an hour or so without really ever being that gripping or entertaining. Not worst example of a 50's sci-fi monster film but not the best either.
The actual blood beast alien looks like a man in a rubber suit because it is a man in a rubber suit. The alien has a big bulbous head & a sort of beak like thing & two black eyes, it is otherwise human in appearance with two arms & two legs with stringy stuff hanging off it's body. The actor inside the suit obviously had difficulty in moving properly, the alien costume later featured in the film Teenage Caveman (1958). Director Kowlaski could have made more use of the enclosed military base but instead stages a lot of action outside in broad daylight which lessens the scares & atmosphere. The X-100 rocket special effects look cheap & fake with less than convincing model work.
With a supposed budget of about $68,000 this was filmed in Hollywood & nearby Bronson Canyon, originally released as a double feature with She Gods of Shark Reef (1958). The acting is alright if a little wooden like a lot of sci-fi from this period, the cast features no-one of any note whatsoever.
Night of the Blood Beast is a decent little sci-fi horror that passes the time, it has a few good moments & although the alien monster looks fake it doesn't look as silly or goofy as many film monsters from this period. It could have been worse I suppose, a lot worse.
Review by Paul Andrews from the Internet Movie Database.
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