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:
I'll end with the most quotable line of this 62-minute miasma: "A wounded animal that large isn't good!"
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!"