Revenge of the Blood Beast
Touring Europe on their honeymoon, newlyweds Philip and Veronica have found themselves off course, their map having guided them to a rendezvous with an autobahn which, had Philip checked closely, is not due to be opened for another eighteen months, leaving them stranded in the rural village of Vaubrač in Transylvania with nowhere to go and night closing in.
Obliged to take lodging with Ladislav Groper, a lecherous alcoholic who lives up to his name, the couple share drinks with a more amenable gentleman, Count Von Helsing, who tells them of the legends of the area, of a terrible event two hundred years before, the anniversary the following day when Philip and Veronica have an accident on the road, their car plunging into the lake where the witch Vardella was drowned on 18th July 1765.
Directed by Michael Reeves, renowned for Witchfinder General, his final film released in 1968 before his death at the age of twenty-five the following year, there are parallels between that and his first, Revenge of the Blood Beast, also known as The She Beast or Il lago di Satana, “The lake of Satan,” released in the summer of 1966, both concerning witchcraft and revenge and starring Ian Ogilvy, as did Reeves’ intermediate film, The Sorcerers.
With Black Sunday’s Barbara Steele as Veronica, all her location and studio scenes shot in a single extended day as that was what her schedule allowed, pulled from the water her body is possessed by Vardella (Joe Riley), a monstrous deformed crone seeking the descendants of those who accused her who has sought “the person and spirit of an innocent” in which to be reborn, fulfilling the curse of her last words.
The overly talky screenplay credited to “Michael Byron,” in fact it was a joint effort between four writers including Reeves and Mel Welles who plays the odious Groper, and the outcome is markedly uneven, the unexpectedly graphic execution shocking for the period but the later scenes of the incompetent police pursuit undermining any sense of menace, the irreverent quips made by Veronica giving a better sense of character without sacrificing atmosphere.
Restored on Blu-ray from the original camera negative, Radiance’s new edition of Revenge of the Blood Beast is supported by new interviews with Ian Ogilvy and critic Kim Newman, an archive audio interview with Barbara Steele, a 2007 commentary with Ogilvy, Steele and producer Paul Maslansky moderated by filmmaker David Gregory and the original trailer.
Revenge of the Blood Beast is available on Blu-ray from Radiance now
