Imagine the most stereotypical example of 1950's drive-in science fiction and there's a good chance you'll be picturing something close to Bernard Kowalski's NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST. From executive producer Roger Corman, this is an epitome of the genre with all of the tropes you'd expect to find. If it weren't so dull, I'd call it a must-see classic. In the film, astronaut Major John Corcoran (Michael Emmet) appears to die when his spaceship loses control and crash-lands back on Earth. In what has to be the world's least enthusiastic response to a crashed space rocket and the death of a national treasure, a small team of scientists is sent to investigate the site. Major Corcoran is pulled from the wreckage and brought to a nearby lab where
cue the dramatic warbling sci-fi music
it's discovered that there are some bizarre irregularities in the man's blood. He appears dead but the condition of his corpse would seem to disagree. Then a strange magnetic field starts to interfere with the radios, and a large unseen creature assaults a member of the team outside the lab. It appears Major Corcoran did not return to Earth alone and the team gets a chance to ask the man himself when he awakens from his strange state of "not quite death". It seems the major made a new friend in space and believes it accompanied him home with the best of intentions for mankind. Is the major telling the truth? Or is he under its control?
NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST has everything you could want from a cheesy 50's sci- fi: creeping shadows, melodramatic performances, a failure to understand science, and that warbling music. My problem isn't necessarily with this movie in particular; I just don't think I'll ever find appreciation for them. It seems a lot of science fiction from that era relied on tales of the strange to keep the audience engaged. The problem is I was born in a time when there are literally millions of bizarre stories competing for my attention so something as trivial as man dies in space mission, returns to life, and serves as an alien communication device isn't enough for me. Not if it's going to be this plodding anyway. It feels unfair to call this pacing slow, though, because our astronaut returns to life and the alien makes its presence felt within the first 15 minutes. Things are happening in this movie, semi-interesting things too, but they're done without any sort of excitement. If the characters are this bored .and mind you, one of them is murdered then how can I be expected to get excited for it all? Things don't really get interesting until the end of the movie when we learn about the alien's intentions. It all culminates in a showdown at a nearby cave where the alien is cornered and is given a chance to explain its goal in a voice that sounds like Stan Lee through a megaphone. But is it a friend or foe?
If this movie were remade for modern audiences, it would be a horror/thriller with a higher body count and bloody remains but then we'd miss out on some fantastic alien costuming. The outer space blood beast in this movie is a wonderful blend of Swamp Thing, one of those stupid Minions, and a cartoon parrot mascot costume. It looks incredibly stupid but, if I'm going to watch cheesy '50s science fiction, it's what I want in my space monster. You've got to feel bad for poor Russ Sturlin, the man in the costume. It looks large and unwieldy. But it made for the best part of the movie. So would I recommend NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST? Maybe. It's a little painful for modern cinema sensibilities but I bet fans of this particular era love it. It's got anything you could ask for in one of these movies with a memorably stupid alien costume to boot. I wouldn't be surprised to find out this has a cult following behind it and, regardless of how dull I found the movie, I think it'd be awesome to see someone in a blood beast costume at conventions or something. In my limited experience in this sort of film, I did enjoy it more than the Corman-directed WASP WOMAN but not by a whole lot. There are better ones out there. So, no, I guess I would recommend skipping this one. Or don't. I really don't feel too strongly one way or another here.
NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST has everything you could want from a cheesy 50's sci- fi: creeping shadows, melodramatic performances, a failure to understand science, and that warbling music. My problem isn't necessarily with this movie in particular; I just don't think I'll ever find appreciation for them. It seems a lot of science fiction from that era relied on tales of the strange to keep the audience engaged. The problem is I was born in a time when there are literally millions of bizarre stories competing for my attention so something as trivial as man dies in space mission, returns to life, and serves as an alien communication device isn't enough for me. Not if it's going to be this plodding anyway. It feels unfair to call this pacing slow, though, because our astronaut returns to life and the alien makes its presence felt within the first 15 minutes. Things are happening in this movie, semi-interesting things too, but they're done without any sort of excitement. If the characters are this bored .and mind you, one of them is murdered then how can I be expected to get excited for it all? Things don't really get interesting until the end of the movie when we learn about the alien's intentions. It all culminates in a showdown at a nearby cave where the alien is cornered and is given a chance to explain its goal in a voice that sounds like Stan Lee through a megaphone. But is it a friend or foe?
If this movie were remade for modern audiences, it would be a horror/thriller with a higher body count and bloody remains but then we'd miss out on some fantastic alien costuming. The outer space blood beast in this movie is a wonderful blend of Swamp Thing, one of those stupid Minions, and a cartoon parrot mascot costume. It looks incredibly stupid but, if I'm going to watch cheesy '50s science fiction, it's what I want in my space monster. You've got to feel bad for poor Russ Sturlin, the man in the costume. It looks large and unwieldy. But it made for the best part of the movie. So would I recommend NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST? Maybe. It's a little painful for modern cinema sensibilities but I bet fans of this particular era love it. It's got anything you could ask for in one of these movies with a memorably stupid alien costume to boot. I wouldn't be surprised to find out this has a cult following behind it and, regardless of how dull I found the movie, I think it'd be awesome to see someone in a blood beast costume at conventions or something. In my limited experience in this sort of film, I did enjoy it more than the Corman-directed WASP WOMAN but not by a whole lot. There are better ones out there. So, no, I guess I would recommend skipping this one. Or don't. I really don't feel too strongly one way or another here.