Revenge Of The Blood Beast (1966)

[GlacierTuba]

What a load of dysentery! Bloke who looks like a cross between Nigel Havers, John Boy Walton and Nick Rivers and talks like Richard E Grant, kips at a hotel with his wife who has a face that would terrify you in cold blood if she woke you getting up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night. They wake up some old trout that died 200 years ago and some stuff happens. The end.

This is a film made on a budget of about 8p and it shows. Director Michael Reeves is even quoted (from archival comments) in the booklet admitting that the film is atrocious. The thing is, as terrible as the film is, it is both endearing to view but also genuinely shows promise of what could have been a decent film underneath. It gets absolutely stupidly shit towards the end and feels more like Z grade farce than any sort of entrail-gurgling terrifying disembowlement fiesta.

It's a super breezy watch at a cheeky 79 minutes, and in fairness to Raro this is a nice disc with good picture quality, good English and Italian audio tracks (the film is presented as an Italian production but appears clearly English-funded, the booklet even states this) and a decent bounty of extras, including a commentary track and separate interviews with Nigel Havers and the woman who looks like Morticia Addams.

The booklet throws some really interesting light on how the film came to be, essentially Reeves rocked up with a camera and a briefcase full of banknotes to pay for the project and got to work. Also how it was Reeves' first film though there is a legend that says he directed Castle of the Living Dead (unproven), and lots more outside of the booklet that I haven't delved in to yet.

This isn't your typical Raro busting skulls open with .45's and hooning around Rome in Alfa Romeo's and Lancia's eurocrime scrumptiousness. This is not the Raro we know and love, but for €10 you could do a lot worse.

[oddbox83]

I like it, but then I like this type of movie. Well made is often so dull.

Even more interesting is what this director went on to do before his untimely death. To have made only 3 movies as director yet achieve a place in the Holy Trinity of British Folk Horror is quite a staggering journey in a short space of time from this one.

[GlacierTuba]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

I like it, but then I like this type of movie. Well made is often so dull.

Valid point. It is a collection of loose, watery stools, but you can see real glimpses of quality at times. The end sequence before the climax ruins the whole film in my opinion. The booklet documents the on-set rows over comedy vs horror, which Ian Ogilvy agrees on it seems.

The interview with Ian Ogilvy on the disc is invaluable and well worth watching. I didn't know he was in the 1970 hyperfilm Waterloo, a magnificent film and worth of the tag 'epic'. I love how he talks about a truck sequence in the film too. I did wonder at the time if it was Ogilvy doing the stunt and it was! The off-set pranks are interesting too!

This is one of those films that is utterly dross, but one of those films that has such an interesting history behind it. Example, the film was disguised as a documentary so it was cheaper to film, little things like that.

Such a shame Michael Reeves only made a handful of films. Taken too soon.

This disc is worth a buy for the experience of the film but also the booklet and extras. Well worth it at a discount price if you come across it.

[CinemaOfBlood]

I love Ian Ogilvy's past audio commentaries, he tells it as it is such as Karloff, Price and Cushing accepting the fact that once they entered the horror genre and with their faces and mannerisms they were always going to be typecast unlike Mr. Lee who resented the public's view of him.

[MolasarX]

Originally Posted by CinemaOfBlood

I love Ian Ogilvy's past audio commentaries, he tells it as it is such as Karloff, Price and Cushing accepting the fact that once they entered the horror genre and with their faces and mannerisms they were always going to be typecast unlike Mr. Lee who resented the public's view of him.

I feel Lee was always very insecure, which is why he seemed very hostile when asked about horror. It probably never helped his ego knowing he only became a star because he was cheaper than Bernard Bresslaw.

[CinemaOfBlood]

Originally Posted by MolasarX

I feel Lee was always very insecure, which is why he seemed very hostile when asked about horror. It probably never helped his ego knowing he only became a star because he was cheaper than Bernard Bresslaw.

Great shame really especially when you look at the mostly dreadful films he was making post Hammer.

If only he had embraced the genre more to please his loyal fans rather than listen to his critics.

I know films like The Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw killed off Hammer Horror but I cannot but help feel he put his own stake into them as well constantly moaning about the scripts he was sent, bite the hand that originally fed him etc.

[MolasarX]

Originally Posted by CinemaOfBlood

Great shame really especially when you look at the mostly dreadful films he was making post Hammer.

If only he had embraced the genre more to please his loyal fans rather than listen to his critics.

I know films like The Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw killed off Hammer Horror but I cannot but help feel he put his own stake into them as well constantly moaning about the scripts he was sent, bite the hand that originally fed him etc.

Lee, Cushing and Price seemed to have less leading men opportunities post-Exorcist but I think that might have also been down to their age. Lee was offered the part of Loomis in Halloween, but I think it worked out for the best that he turned it down as I can't imagine Lee skulking around in the bushes inconspicuously! I also can't imagine him wanting to do the sequels!

[CinemaOfBlood]

Originally Posted by MolasarX

Lee, Cushing and Price seemed to have less leading men opportunities post-Exorcist but I think that might have also been down to their age. Lee was offered the part of Loomis in Halloween, but I think it worked out for the best that he turned it down as I can't imagine Lee skulking around in the bushes inconspicuously! I also can't imagine him wanting to do the sequels!

What we needed was a Christopher Lee with a Donald Pleasence mindset!

[GlacierTuba]

Donald Pleasance was brilliant in Death Line AND Watch Out We're Mad. He was great in Double Target too with Miles O'Keefe and complained about how much hairspray he used on set.

[CinemaOfBlood]

Originally Posted by GlacierTuba

Donald Pleasance was brilliant in Death Line AND Watch Out We're Mad. He was great in Double Target too with Miles O'Keefe and complained about how much hairspray he used on set.

lol Double Target, remember buying that one on vhs for £1 at a car boot 30 odd years ago, entertaining enough for a Rambo knock-off and with Bo Svenson too!

[GlacierTuba]

Originally Posted by CinemaOfBlood

lol Double Target, remember buying that one on vhs for £1 at a car boot 30 odd years ago, entertaining enough for a Rambo knock-off and with Bo Svenson too!

I went to great pains to examine the death count in Double Target. Please look forward to some sub-par musings.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...9&postcount=13

[oddbox83]

Donald Pleasance was not leading man material in the traditional sense. Boy could he steal any scene he was in though. Nosferatu in Venice (to stick with bad movies) is a great example. He can sit eating in the background yet be the most memorable thing about a scene.

How to put into words what he had… a quiet intensity.

[GlacierTuba]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

Donald Pleasance was not leading man material in the tradition sense. Boy could he steal any scene he was in though. Nosferatu in Venice (to stick with bad movies) is a great example. He can sit eating in the background yet be the most memorable thing about a scene.

He was great in Death Line as one part of a 'Slater and Hoskins' detective duo. And as the gangland boss assistant in one of the finest comedy's ever to grace celluloid, Watch Out We're Mad! - proof right there of his (Meryl Streep's) versatility!