I remember reading John Stanley’s Creature Features movie guide where Peter Cushing calls the 1968 horror movie The Blood Beast Terror his worst film. While it may not be his best, I really don’t think it’s his worst. I don’t even think he was ever in a truly bad movie but that is for viewers to decide.
Vernon Sewell’s The Blood Beast Terror, which was made by Tigon British Film Productions (Curse of the Crimson Altar, The Creeping Flesh) is the story about Dr. Carl Mallinger (Robert Flemyng, The Horrible Dr. Hichcock, Shadowlands) who is conducting experiments with moths, has turned his daughter Claire (Wanda Ventham, Captain Kronos-Vampire Hunter, Carry on Cleo) into a Deathshead were-moth creature who drinks the blood of attractive young men. Inspector Quennell (screen icon Peter Cushing, Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, Madhouse) of Scotland Yard is brought in to investigate the murders and to learn about this killer moth creature.
The Blood Beast Terror to me is your typical old-fashioned style of horror with a unique, okay maybe bizarre creature, a “were-moth”. The creature design in my opinion is pretty damn cool, but we didn’t see enough of it! The movie has a scene where there are some actors acting in a horror play that seems to be straight out of the Hammer Frankenstein series. It was an awkward moment in the film. Outside of that, the film has some suspense, a splash of gore, but nothing overly graphic. The performances of the cast are fine and is solid entertainment.
Previously released in 2012 by Redemption Films and is now long out of print, Kino Lorber has re-released The Blood Beast Terror with a new 2K scan, a slipcover, and a reversible sleeve to sweeten the pot. The Blu-ray is on a dual-layered disc and because of the higher bitrate, the image is clearer and colors look richer, especially reds. It does surpass the older release to some extent. Black levels also look sharp with excellent shadow detail. Skin tones look accurate as well showing some details in close-ups of the actors. No DNR appears to have been applied.
For their Blu-ray, English DTS-HD Master 2.0 dual-mono track is also perfectly fine. The Blood Beast Terror has a few aggressive moments with attacks from the beast and other action sounds. The haunting musical score by Paul Ferris is also nice and clear. The balance between the music, background sounds and dialogue generally is excellent with nothing sounding too overpowering and comes in at appropriate audio levels. English subtitles are offered for this Kino release.
The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by novelist and film critic Kim Newman and writer/editor Stephen Jones who give a tour de force about The Blood Beast Terror, its cast and crew and other factual tidbits.
There is also a trailer for The Blood Beast Terror and other Peter Cushing films including Dr. Who and the Daleks, Burke & Hare, Madhouse, and The House of the Long Shadows.
I think this release is easily an upgrade over the previous one. Kino has done a fine job giving The Blood Beast Terror Blu-ray a worthy re-release with a better scan, and a commentary. It is safe to replace the old Redemption Blu-ray. Recommended!
The Blood Beast Terror
Director- Vernon Sewell
Cast- Peter Cushing, Robert Flemyng
Country of Origin- USA
Distributor – Kino Lorber
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –11/24/2022