The Blood Beast Terror

• U.S. Title: The Vampire-Beast Craves Blood
• Also known as Blood Beast From Hell and Deathshead Vampire
• Directed by Vernon Sewell
• February 1968

A series of grisly murders leads to the discovery of a scientist’s bizarre experiments.

The Blood Beast Terror is a little gem I discovered while at a store that looked like a well lit murder basement from a movie. Peter Cushing was in it and that was all it took to get me interested. The man was massively talented but never found a way into more artful material that I know he would have excelled in. In general Cushing brought something amazing and authentic to the horror genre which kept him working steady for as long as he wanted. Perhaps that very talent is what trapped him.

As Inspector Quennell he outshined everyone else around him as an inspector tasked with investigating a series of strange deaths. He is charming yet serious. A keen observer that takes nothing for granted. And an actor that makes everybody he performed against look like a talentless hack.

This is a bit of a wannabe mystery in the same way that your average 80s detective series was a detective series. Nothing too mysterious since the cast is small and the answers are shown to the audience early in the story. None of that matters because you are watching to see how Quennell figures it all out. Just like your average 80s detective series!

The Blood Beast Terror opens with a shot in ‘Africa’ of an explorer (William Wilde) and then moves to him delivering some moth chrysalids to Dr. Carl Mallinger (Robert Flemyng). The explorer hits on Clare and being a true horndog meets her at an odd hour for a romantic evening that ends with him being attacked by a giant creature. Then the mystery quickly centers around Dr. Mallinger and his daughter Clare (Wanda Ventham).

The monster is not seen very much to the point I am not sure if it is ever seen in full. We do get several shots of its head and that was rather good looking. I would not be shocked if they spent most of the monster money in their budget on the head alone.

This is more atmosphere than scares. More hints at the monster than actual monster. It gives you just enough to keep you watching, but not every question is answered with a sense of dread and unease throughout. It doesn’t put all its cards right on the table. It slowly teases things out over time. There’s enough there that you can draw your own conclusions, but it’s not all spoonfed to you. It even maintains consistent logic.

The victims of the film are male. They aren’t damsels in distress screaming just before the monster gets them. The creature is female and hunts them. I found that intriguing and a better version of what one would traditionally expect.

If I had any complaints about the story it’s that you never know the ‘why’ of the creature. Was it created on purpose? Or for some nefarious purpose? Extraneous material tells me that the female blood creature was the sinister doctor’s daughter, but was she a creation of the doctor or his actual daughter who somehow got changed into a moth creature. And if she was transformed into a moth creature how did that happen? And if she wasn’t, why was the doctor making moth creatures? What was the butler’s connection to all this?

They point out that the doctor’s butler Granger (Kevin Stoney) was the only one who had access to specific areas of the house (specifically where the creature was). He had more knowledge of what was going on than anybody else. Why? These questions will come up in your head when you’re viewing it, but they don’t necessarily take away from the enjoyment. I’m left with a feeling certain elements were cut for an American release or left completely on the editing floor.

The camera is also a little static. That’s probably the biggest strike against it. Static with tight shots. I’m not expecting anything like a Spielberg with swooping panning shot but it looks like the cameraman just set the tripod up and nothing else.

I genuinely enjoyed The Blood Beast Terror. Maybe not intensely scary but very atmospheric and just fun to watch. If you’re a fan of old-school Hammer Films or even movies like them, this will appeal to you.