Despite the presence of (Sir) Peter Cushing - a Hammer legend with an iconic screen persona - this film is truly lamentable. 'The Blood Beast Terror' may have alliterative power but it certainly doesn't possess terror. From the faux genetic science in the clichéd vein of 'tampering with Nature (God's grand design)' to the pace less plotting and hammy acting; to the flimsy sets and appalling special effects, what the audience is ultimately subjected to is a film devoid of atmosphere, tension or 'scares'. And before I am accused of not placing the film into any kind of historical context, there are plenty of British and Non-British thrillers/horror films made during this period which do accomplish thrills and spills, even if purely on a psychological level: Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' (1960) and Robert Wise's 'The Haunting' (1963), for instance, or Polanski's 'Repulsion' (1966). Notably, Polanski returns again with 'Rosemary's Baby' in the same year as 'The Blood Beast Terror' and, again in the same year, the horror film is transformed by the sub-genre defining 'Night of the Living Dead' - with George A. Romero showing us seminally how horror truly acts as social commentary. My advice is stick to films which take the idea of genre filmmaking seriously - including those films which push the boundaries, like 'Repulsion'.
Review of The Blood Beast Terror
The Blood Beast Terror
(1968)
An inept British Horror: 'The Blood Beast Terror' (1968)
9 September 2012