azathothpwiggins A space flight goes horribly awry! The ship crashes to the Earth! The lone astronaut is killed! Or, is he? Pulled from the wreckage, and taken back to the base, Major John Corcoran (Michael Emmett- ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES) shows strange signs of life! Plus, he may not have returned... alone! Soon, things get even weirder, an unseen entity makes its presence known, and the deaths begin. Annnnd, something is found in Corcoran's body that changes everything! NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST is another hunk of low-low-budget, 50's sci-fi cheeeze, made a classic through the influence of Roger Corman and his team. The monster costume, while obviously bargain basement, is endearing in a parrot / bear hybrid sort of way. Co-starring Ed Nelson (A BUCKET OF BLOOD), NOTBB is perfect for late-late night viewing...

soulexpress I first saw this Roger Corman production on "Mystery Science Theater 3000." Despite the best efforts of Mike Nelson and his robot pals, NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST was excruciating. So what made me sit through the original, unriffed version? The same thing that once made me lick a cheese grater, I suppose.The film had an imaginative storyline for 1958: an astronaut crash- lands on Earth and is killed. There's just one problem: hours after death, his body stays warm and his blood cells remain alive. That's because there are alien embryos gestating inside him, which will soon exist independently of the astronaut. There is also a full-grown alien roaming the countryside who absorbs human knowledge by killing people and cutting their heads off.Though the title suggests a horror film, it's really sci-fi. However, unlike the best sci-fi, NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST offers nothing to think about once the film is over. The bland script serves up dull dialogue and characters, while the $68,000 budget ($578,000 in 2017 dollars) allowed for just a couple of sets. The director must have seen little need to move the camera, or else couldn't afford a dolly. In either case, the camera frequently locks in and doesn't move for minutes at a clip. The musical score has little to do with what's happening on screen. The monster is hilarious-looking, as are the shots of the dead astronaut's blood cells under the microscope. And the script leaves numerous questions unanswered:How was the astronaut impregnated?How was he supposed to give birth to those alien babies?Why do the aliens have to cut people's heads off to absorb their knowledge?Why don't the aliens simply come to Earth instead of hitching rides on our spaceships?Did the aliens wish to live in peace or to conquer us? The script is annoyingly vague in that regard.I'll end with the most quotable line of this 62-minute miasma: "A wounded animal that large isn't good!"

Rainey Dawn This is what a "B-film" sci-fi should be - fun, corny, a little scary and overall a decent film. Night of the Blood Beast (1958) has all of the cheesy goodness I would expect from a 1950s sci-fi horror. Fun to watch.The alien monster in the film is a real hoot - a classic example 1950s alien monster mania that is sure to get a laugh out of a few fans of movies of this type.This film is a hidden gem - silly and good enough to keep fans of classic sci-fi horror interested. This film will not disappoint fans of bad "b" films... it's so bad it's good! 6/10

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.