The Blood Beast Terror
It is murder most foul and shocking, a series of killings in the wealthy estates near London investigated by Inspector Quennell and Sergeant Allen of the Yard, but the evidence is strange and unhelpful, the bodies seeming to have been savaged by an enormous bird of prey, the blood drained from the clawed neck, and the only surviving witness mad, speaking of the impossible, “a horrible creature with huge wings.”
Quennell consulting with renowned entomologist Professor Carl Mallinger, lecturing to his students on the habits of insects, as diverse as their species, he is able to offer little insight, but nor does he divulge what he knows, that he is in possession of a large bird of prey and that he knows the most recent victim, explorer Frederick Britewell, just returned from Africa with samples for the Professor’s collection.
Known variously as The Vampire-Beast Craves Blood, Blood Beast from Hell and Deathshead Vampire, the original taxonomy was The Blood Beast Terror, all titles which somewhat oversell the 1968 horror directed by Curse of the Crimson Altar’s Vernon Sewell from the script by Peter Bryan, though this is not to say that it is not one of the better of Tigon’s offerings of the era, inventively plotted and with witty juxtapositions in the editing.
Well staged and cast, despite the presence of Peter Cushing and Glynn Edwards as Quennell and Allan, Robert Flemyng and Wanda Ventham as Professor Mallinger and his daughter Clare, John Paul and David Griffin as Messrs Warren senior and junior, “Billy the Bug Catcher” also with a keen interest in moths and butterflies, it is Kevin Stoney as surly butler Granger and Roy Hudd as mortician’s assistant Smiler who steal the few scenes they appear in.
Very much a film of two distinct halves as Inspector Quennell and his daughter Meg (Vanessa Howard) travel to the country incognito, following the revelation of a basement of bones any mystery is abandoned as the identity of the killer becomes obvious, derelict in disposal of bodies and choosing victims easily traced to their lair, though the precise nature of the titular beast is not made clear until late in the game and not quite what might have been anticipated.
Restored for Blu-ray, the new edition of The Blood Beast Terror is supported by an audio commentary from John Hamilton and Howard Lanning, a discussion by Lanning on the film and Witchfinder General, a featurette on the making of the film and Grim’s Dyke House, a location shared with Curse of the Crimson Altar, two trailers, a gallery and a reversible sleeve.
The Blood Beast Terror is available on Blu-ray from 88 Films
