'Do not be afraid, I am not here to harm you.'
Welcome back to my Dark Corner of this sick world.
‘I’ve never seen anything like it’
Night of the Blood Beast is one of the cheap quickies churned out by the Corman brothers in the late fifties to feed the drive-in market.
‘Something’s wrong’
Astronaut John Corcoran is in charge of the first manned probe to go into space, but…
NASA rushes to the crash site with all of its resources...
one man and his photographer.
Well he’s dead, but what would you have done if he was alive? There’s no ambulance or anything, just one guy who…
is now smoking next to a crashed rocket ship
‘I’ll tell the others’
Oh, there are others are there?
'Did you find it?'
I’m still not feeling the sort of budget I would expect for the first manned space flight,
as they transport John’s body back to base...
in the back of a pick-up, for further examination.
‘By all medical standards this man is dead’
No idea what other standards would apply, but...
‘Blood Pressure 120 over 80’
Amazing, but why were you taking a corpse’s blood pressure?
‘Yeah, there doesn’t seem to be any logic in any of this’
Clearly something weird is going on.
‘He’s dead. But is he dead?’
And during the night...
‘Dr Wyman’
‘Half his heads gone’
You see, I think that would be quite a shocking moment were it not for their reaction of mild interest.
‘Dr Wyman!’
I guess that’s a little better. But the shock’s aren’t over.
John is back and feeling...
‘I seem to be floating in a warm black mist’
There are some side effects; nausea, mood swings – but that’s to be expected when…
'You're not going to harm them are you?'
Yes, this another precursor to Alien.
‘They’re using his body as a breeding ground’
Then the father shows up…
As always with these movies, scientists who have dedicated a lifetime to the exploration of space break out the hardware as soon as an alien shows.
‘How about a Molotov cocktail’
and I think it’s fair to say that’s more justified in this movie than most,
but the alien’s defence comes from John himself.
‘It’s an alien. The first of it’s kind to come to earth’
and we’re having a child together.
‘Why does it have to be killed’
Someone should tell him how this went down for John Hurt.
‘Don’t you realise this unknown creature is using your body as a breeding ground’
John’s friends have a different take.
‘I think we ought to track it down and make sure it’s dead’
But during the hunt.
They’re using flare guns to set the creature on fire so they can’t even fire in the vicinity of…
My mistake.
‘Are you hurt?’
Yeah, some 3rd degree burns.
‘It could have killed me’
and so could you, you dick.
‘That’s funny’
With John’s help they track the creature down.
‘Now I am able to speak. By assimilation – a form of photosynthesis’
Yeah, that’s how photosynthesis works – look at all the talking plants.'
'That we will give you a better way of life’
You don’t have to look hard to see the message here,
‘Something foreign is inside me’
You seemed to think they were okay earlier.
‘I’ve been a fool’
Remember people, nothing good comes from over there and if you feel yourself getting enticed...
‘Go ahead and kill me’
Failing that.
The movie seems to want a healthy debate about our prejudices against the unknown,
‘It didn’t come here to destroy’
Dead man hanging from the ceiling, parasitic alien babies.
‘I can feel them inside me’
The good guys are always convinced the alien is bad, but they’re given pretty good reason to feel that way.
‘It killed Dr Warren and it’s done this thing to you’
So where’s the debate?
‘What harm is there is hearing them out?’
Boredom mainly.
There’s no shocking twist, everything pans out exactly as you expect.
‘I can’t deny anything you’ve said’
Still on our ranking chart of movies that were Alien before Alien,
I put this below It-Terror From Outer Space, but above The Green Slime and Queen of Blood
'What are talking about’
Mid-table.
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In night of the blood beast the victim defends the alien are there any other alien invaders that could use an advocate to take their part?
'We will come again.'