The Blood Beast Terror

I really had high hopes for 'The Blood Beast Terror'. An above average cast led by Hammer legend Peter Cushing, Robert Flemyng ('The Terrible Dr. Hitchcock') and Wanda Ventham (of cult TV series 'UFO'), and produced by the same company that made the excellent 'Witchfinder General' and one of the best non-Hammer movies Cushing was ever involved with, 'The Creeping Flesh'. Surely this was going to be an overlooked gem? Sadly no. While it isn't an absolute waste of time, it's nowhere near as good as 'The Creeping Flesh' or any Hammer movie from the same period. It reminded me in many ways of 'The Reptile' but it was nowhere near as good. Cushing and Flemyng give it their best shot, but despite a few effective sequences, it never really takes off, and the disappointing climax really lets the movie down. For rabid Peter Cushing fans only. Otherwise stick with his Hammer work, 'The Creeping Flesh' and 'Horror Express'.

OK, not one of the better offerings of British horror, that's true. But it does have Peter Cushing who is always fun to watch and I have to give credit for the writers to try to bring a somewhat more original monster to the screen than just another rehash in the Vampire or Frankenstein vein. Well, come to think of it aside from making the monster a moth ,this really is just another rehashed Vampire story with a few elements from the Frankenstein storyline thrown in for good measure.

I cannot help but wonder if the monster was inspired by the legend of the Mothman, the legendary beastie from West Virginia. The resemblance is pretty close. A man sized moth creature with red glowing eyes.

Shame more people have not seen this though, it's not as bad as its reputation. I find it pretty enjoyable.

Ignore the most negative of the comments, "The Blood Beast Terror" is not total garbage. It has the Hammer Studio's feel which it was trying to imitate; with a decent imitation of the Hammer Victorian production design and a performance by Peter Cushing (as Police Inspector Quennell). It is also features one of the few available film appearances of Vanessa Howard, unfortunately she has only a supporting scream queen role as Quennell's daughter Meg. Check out "Girly" if you want to see a lot more of this underutilized actress.

"The Blood Beast Terror's" main weakness is its low budget which resulted in some horribly lame special effects, although the budget cannot be entirely blamed as just a little imagination in this area would have resulted in something far more effective. It also suffers from a condensed story that does not supply enough scientific details to make the basic premise interesting.

So instead of a sci-fi/horror picture, it is more of a detective story with some laughable horror elements. But it is a decent detective story with enough misdirection to produce several surprising revelations. Contrary to several other comments, I had no problem with the ending, finding the idea of a moth (even a giant one) being drawn to a flame quite appropriate, although so poorly staged as to be groan inducing.

There is some great comic relief in the underplayed performance of Glynn Edwards (as Sergeant Allen) and the overplayed performance of Roy Hudd, as the jaded morgue attendant who casually eats his meals off the slabs in the morgue (complete with cadavers). There is unintended comic relief in the casting of 30 year-old Wanda Ventham as the mad scientist's on-the-make "teenage" daughter. Nothing exceptional but a cut above much of the 60's cheap sci-fi and horror.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

So do you think that moths are scary? I know someone who does but I doubt even they would find much fright in this anemic slice of British horror hokum. Peter Cushing lends his usual good performance and the period detail is well executed but the blood-sucking moth creature is too silly for words. Fans of creature features may think that the moth beast looks a lot like the bee monster in Roger Corman's THE WASP WOMAN. The destruction of the vampire beast moth creature at the climax is particularly pathetic.

I've always heard atrocious things about this Hammer imitation, but it wasn't that bad IMO. It may be the only time I've seen Peter Cushing appear that he was walking through a role, though. He just doesn't seem very interested and I've read somewhere that he considered this his "worst horror film". I don't know whether this was his own approach to the material or the spawn of director Vernon Sewell. Maybe it was the part of a police inspector that didn't showcase Cushing to his best ability. I haven't seen THE REPTILE yet, but apparently this film is very derivative of it. I thought that the Deathshead moth creature was reminiscent of THE WASP WOMAN myself, but this wasn't a bad thing; the creature makes some pretty satisfying appearances and killings. The ending is very weak and the whole approach comes off on the superficial side. But one could do much worse for a horror movie. ** out of ****