Night of the Blood Beast (1958)

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Not bad at all. An interesting plot, good pacing, and decent performances. As others have mentioned, Night of the Blood Beast is reminiscent of The Thing From Another World.Like The Thing, the monster here lurks around the isolated lab, busting its way in, killing, and getting torched by the beleaguered scientists. Isolation helps maintain our suspension of disbelief: it adds to the sense of danger, and makes the experience more plausible, as the cast naturally is just a handful of people, easily contained in a small area. A low-budget movie can't adequately depict a larger-scale menace.Blood Beast also builds on the replicant theme by having the astronaut John host the parasitical aliens in his blood "using his body for a breeding ground". That's an even creepier concept than the pods in The Thing and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.The monster is plenty hokey, sort of like Big Bird with leprosy. Still, at least it looks like a monster. Like countless sci-fi movies of this era, there's an interest in 'understanding' the monster. Rather than the usual naive scientist getting hosed as he tries to use sign language to 'communicate' with the alien/monster, here it makes more sense. John has a literal, biological connection with it.There's suspense about the alien's intentions until the climactic cave scene. Even the doctor's murder is explicable, given the alien's value system. John's suicide neatly simplifies things, as that destroys the replicant process. The alien's final 'we'll-be-back' threat is a good touch.Night of the Blood Beast successfully shows many facets of the 50s sci-fi genre. Even the spacecraft looks cool, at least when it was in flight. When it crashes, though, we're stuck with what a cunning reviewer aptly terms a "septic tank." Also, the alien/monster disembarks like a chunk of sentient crab grass. Still, this is watchable entertainment; in fact if it were nothing but Georgianna Carter standing around looking bewildered, I'd still be watching.

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...

Mankind has sent the first astronaut Jon Corcoran in to space and his spacecraft returning through Earth's orbit crashes . A rescue team recover him only to find Corcoran dead . They take him back to the nearby base and realise his body still shows signs of life . They also realise he brought something back from space This has THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT written all over it , so much so that you wonder why Nigel Kneale , the BBC , Hammer Sudios or anyone else holding any copyright claim over TQE didn't take out any copyright litigation against Roger Corman . If nothing else it would have saved the audience sitting through a pretty terrible movie Very little happens . The rescue crew take Corcoran back to base and discuss the situation . Corcoran recovers and the scientific team find he's been taken over by an alien entity and try to find a solution to the problem . The BBC serial of THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT had the same premise and spent many , many scenes of characters talking in a very limited set of locations . That said at least script-writer Nigel Kneale managed to write an intellectually literate script that touches upon the human race about to a step in to the unknown . Here however the bland dialogue from Martin Varno never rises above generic B movie standard Bernard L Kowalski is hamstrung by an obvious lack of budget and can't really be blamed for failing to disguise the fact that space tracking station only has five members who comprise the entire cast save for the monster . That said he can be blamed for the lack of visual imagination with some painfully static camera work where the camera is constantly locked on and rarely moves . It also contains a very strange musical score by Alexander Laszio which will constantly take you out of the movie by reminding you of the Tornados hit Telstar but if you watch a movie this bad you don't mind being taken out of it

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.