Night of the Blood Beast

1958 "No girl was safe as long as this head-hunting thing roamed the land!"
3.5| 1h2m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 01 August 1958 Released
Producted By: American International Pictures
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

An astronaut returns to Earth as the no-pulse host of an alien monster's embryos; he is discovered by a loony farmer who find ways to feed his new critter.

Watch Online

Night of the Blood Beast (1958) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Bernard L. Kowalski

Production Companies

American International Pictures

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial
Watch Now
Night of the Blood Beast Videos and Images
View All

Night of the Blood Beast Audience Reviews

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic
Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.
Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
ctomvelu1 Silly Roger Corman quickie about an alien who resembles a giant mutated parrot, a dead astronaut who won't stay dead, and a nefarious plot to unleash an alien race upon the Earth. Ed Nelson plays one of a group of scientists who must deal with the giant mutated parrot and the undead astronaut and figure out how to stop the invasion. If you think you've seen the worst man in rubber suit horror flick, guess again. This one tops them all. No budget, no special effects, and yet lots of fun. Wait until you see the final showdown. You're likely to recognize the locales from many other Z-movies of the period. The mutated parrot creature apparently hides out in the same cave as the alien blob from "Space Children." Must get a little crowded in there.
Woodyanders Astronaut Major John Corcoran (a solid performance by Michael Emmet) dies while returning to earth from his space mission. His body is recovered by the military. However, Corcoran comes back to life and terrorizes the military base. It turns out to be a bizarre plan from aliens to invade our planet. Director Bernard L. Kowalski, working from a compact script by Mark Varno, relates the entertainingly pulpy story at a steady pace, develops a reasonable amount of tension, and effectively creates and sustains a grimly serious tone. Moreover, this film is acted with admirable sincerity by the competent cast, with especially sturdy work by Ed Nelson as the stalwart Dave Randall, John Baer as the no-nonsense Steve Dunlap, Angela Greene as the distraught Dr. Julie Benson, Georgianna Carter as the fetching Donna Bixby, and Tyler McVey as the puzzled Dr. Alex Wyman. The primitive (not so) special effects possess a certain crude charm (the extraterrestrial monster resembles a mottled humanoid parrot!). In addition, there's a sprinkling of mild gore, the terse 62 minute running time ensures that this picture never gets dull or overstays its welcome, and the premise of Corcoran having alien parasites growing inside his body neatly prefigures "Alien." John M. Nickolaus Jr.'s stark black and white cinematography does the trick while Alexander Laszlo's robust score hits the rousing shivery spot. An immensely fun B-movie quickie.
Claudio Carvalho The astronaut Steve Dunlap (John Baer) dies after crashing his rocket on Earth. His body is recovered by the base rescue team and examined by Dr. Alex Wyman (Tyler McVey) and Dr. Julie Benson (Angela Greene), who is Steve's fiancée. Out of the blue, Steve resurrects and Dr. Benson discovers that his body is impregnated with Alien embryos; further, the team finds that an alien (Ross Sturlin) has arrived in Steve's spacecraft. When Dr. Wyman is murdered by the alien, Major John Corcoran (Michael Emmet) and Dave Randall (Ed Nelson) decide to destroy the creature. But Steve is mentally connected to the alien and believes that the creature has peaceful intentions and tries to protect it. But when Steve learns that the alien is an invader, he takes an ultimate decision to protect the earthlings."Night of the Blood Beast" is a funny and underrated low-budget sci-fi produced by Roger Corman. This type of black and white Z-movie, with bad acting and poor special effects, is part of my childhood and maybe that is the reason why I find most of them cult. "Night of the Blood Beast" is a sort of grandfather of 1979 "Alien" or 1999 "The Astronaut's Wife" and entertains. My note is five.Title (Brazil): Not Available
flapdoodle64 Considering that the crew appear to have constructed the prop space capsule out of a septic tank, this is a decent little el cheapo scifi flick.A film buff with the slightest knowledge of the major auteurs goes into a B/W 1958 Roger Corman scifi film with a certain set of expectations. Within such parameters, this is a surprisingly well-made film, tense, moody, interesting, and moving along a pace that corresponds well with the plausibility factor. While none of the acting is spectacular, it is all competent and sometimes impressive. The script is surprisingly intelligent, especially considering the title. The title, however corny it may be, works well in this film due the portions of the plot dealing with the death and resurrection of an astronaut. There is a small bit of FX and monster make up in this film; you will be thankful to find out that it does not clash with the septic tank space capsule.Overall, this is an honest, well-constructed little drive-in type scifi/horror film that does the job it was designed for and more. It makes more sense, and is more satisfying than watching all the episodes of the new version of 'V.'