NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST

The scene with the hanging corpse

NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST (1958). Director: Bernard L. Kowalski. Produced by Gene and Roger Corman. Colorized.

An astronaut named John (Michael Emmet) returns to earth in his capsule and appears to be dead. However, he eventually comes to life and blood tests reveal that certain creatures are gestating inside his body. This is, of course, unnerving to his fiancee, Dr. Julie Benson (Angela Greene), as well as colleagues Steve (John Baer), Donna (Georgianna Carter), Dave (Ed Nelson, of T-Bird Gang), and Dr. Wyman (Tyler McVey of Teenage Thunder). An equally disquieting development is that an extraterrestrial creature somehow managed to make it to Earth, a huge thing with a parrot-like head that invades the lab and causes death and havoc. John is convinced the creature is nevertheless benevolent, but the others aren't so sure. 

Concerned trio: Nelson, Emmet, and Baer

Night of the Blood Beast resembles a gruesome horror comic book. Although we now know that spaceship launchings employ hundreds if not thousands of technicians and scientists, this space trip is handled by just this very small group of people. If you can simply accept that this aspect is a convenience of (very) low-budget filmmaking, you might enjoy this rather creepy movie which grows on me each time I see it. Although the reaction to a dead, mutilated corpse might not be as intense as one would have expected, the acting is generally credible. The influences on the later Alien are obvious. Emmet and McVey appeared together in Attack of the Giant Leeches, which was also directed by Kowalksi. Alexander Laszlo reuses the score for that film for Blood Beast. 

Verdict: Color, as usual, adds a new dimension to the horror. ***. 

THE LOUISIANA HUSSY

Peter Coe and Nan Peterson

THE LOUISIANA HUSSY (1959). Director: Lee Sholem. A Bon-Air Production. 

In a stretch of the bayou called The Pit, brothers Jacques (Peter Coe) and Pierre (Robert Richards) love the same woman, Lili (Betty Lynn), but she prefers Pierre. On their wedding day a stranger who calls herself Minette (Nan Peterson of The Hideous Sun Demon) shows up in town, and is taken in by the newlyweds. Right away Minette is making passes at Pierre -- which he initially does little to reject -- and then moves in on -- and with -- Jacques. Pierre and Lili are convinced that Minette is bad news so they decide to investigate her past, bringing them to an estate and a drunk, grieving widower named Clay Lanier (Harry Lauter of It Came from Beneath the Sea). 

Betty Lynn, Robert Richards, Harry Lauter

An atmospheric melodrama, The Louisiana Hussy is reasonably absorbing and mildly titillating, although some of the love scenes are kind of intense for a fifties movie. Although Nan Peterson is rather  average-looking to play a femme fatale, with her push-up bra she manages to assert her sexuality in scene after scene. Betty Lynn is best known as Barney Fife's girlfriend on The Andy Griffith Show and she's bland but adequate in this. Richards had only a few credits, Peterson twice as many, and Coe amassed over eighty appearances. Also in the cast, as a doctor, is Tyler McVey of Attack of the Giant Leeches. 

Like many movies from this period and after, the film is hypocritical when it comes to the question of marital affairs. This is one of those films in which the trampy gal who goes after married men is seen as being much, much worse than the husbands who simply don't abstain, and get all moralistic about the mistress while ignoring and justifying their own behavior. Lee Sholem also directed Pharaoh's Curse.

Verdict: Sizzles but never quite boils. **1/4. 

ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES

Yvette Vickers and Michael Emmet

ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (1959). Director: Bernard L. Kowalski. Executive producer: Roger Corman. Colorized. 

Portly Dave Walker (Bruno VeSota) has a hard time keeping his sexy wife, Liz (Yvette Vickers of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman), under control. She goes off with Dave's alleged friend, the much sexier Cal (Michael Emmet), and Dave discovers the two of them making love in the swamp. As Dave is threatening them with his shotgun and forcing them into the water, they are attacked by two giant leeches -- or leech men, if you prefer. Everyone suspects Dave of murder but then more people start disappearing. Game warden Steve Benton (Ken Clark of Mission Bloody Mary), along with his girlfriend, Nan (Jan Shepard), and her father, Doc Greyson (Tyler McVey of Teenage Thunder), investigate but come into conflict with each other when Doc wants to bomb the swamp ... 

Ken Clark and Jan Shepard

With its backwoods bayou atmosphere, a sleepy score by Alexander Laszlo (also used in Night of the Blood Beast), and some decent acting, Attack of the Giant Leeches may not be a world-beater but at least it holds the attention if you're a devotee of creature features. The color adds a degree of gruesomeness to the scenes in the underground lair of the leeches, and the sequence of dead bodies rising up in the lake has always been kind of creepy. Vickers is as vivid as ever, and VeSota and Emmet are effective and professional. Ken Clark, who showed much more charisma playing a superspy in some eurospy features, is stalwart as the game warden. Although she apparently never appeared in anything that allowed her to make much of an impression, Jan Shepard amassed over eighty credits and had a long career, as did Tyler McVey, who had over 220 credits! Kowalksi also directed Michael Emmet and McVey in Night of the Blood Beast, which is better than Leeches. Art director Daniel Haller went on to better things.  

Verdict: You know it isn't especially wonderful but there's just something about it ... **1/2. 

NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST

Ed Nelson and Michael Emmet

NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST (1958). Director: Bernard L. Kowalski. Produced by Gene Corman. Executive Producer: Roger Corman. 

Major John Corcoran (Michael Emmet) has flown deeper into outer space than anyone before. Unfortunately, when his rocket lands back on earth he appears to be dead. Along with his heartbroken fiancee, Dr. Julie Benson (Angela Greene), his body is taken back to a make-shift lab by Dr. Wyman (Tyler McVey of Teenage Thunder), Dave Randall (Ed Nelson of Attack of the Crab Monsters), Steve Dunlap (John Baer), and Donna Bixby (Georgianna Carter). But in the lab they discover that John's blood pressure is normal and he doesn't quite seem to be deceased. There's something strange about his blood, and there appear to be organisms using his body for a breeding ground. John eventually revives, even as the monstrous parent of said organisms -- a bear-like creature with claws and a parrot-like head -- breaks in and causes havoc. 

John Baer and Angela Greene

Night of the Blood Beast isn't as well known as other Roger Corman productions, but I believe it has been seen by many filmmakers who were undeniably influenced by it. (The creatures inside John's chest remind one of Alien). The actors all play with conviction, and show the fear and upsetment, indeed depression, that they would be feeling under the circumstances. They also have to deal with the dilemma of wondering if the alien is benign, despite his gruesome murdering of one of their number, or as dangerous to the human race as an initially sympathetic John comes to believe. The creature itself, a stunt man (Ross Sturlin) who must have been sweating like crazy under the costume, is effective enough for this low-budget outing. 

Michael Emmet

Aside from Ed Nelson, none of the others became part of executive producer Corman's stock company. Gorgianna Carter had only two more credits after this, although Angela Greene had over a hundred credits overall. Tyler McVey had over 200 credits! John Baer starred on the TV series Terry and the Pirates and also amassed quite a few credits. An amusing aspect of Night of the Blood Beast is the outlandish notion that only a mere handful of people -- and not one of whom is a physicist or rocket scientist -- are on hand when the rocket crashes back to earth! The other scientific aspects of the script are also a bit fantastic. But the movie is still creepy, atmospheric, and fun. Michael Emmet also had a good part in director Kowalski's Attack of the Giant Leeches; he was actually a good actor. 

Verdict: I confess I have a higher opinion of this movie than most people. ***. 

TEENAGE THUNDER

Chuck Courtney

TEENAGE THUNDER (1957). Director: Paul Helmick. 

18-year-old Johnny Simpson (Chuck Courtney) is a sullen, difficult teenager who keeps making stupid choices, allegedly because his father (Tyler McVey) is neglectful and distant. Johnny takes up with plain-but-appealing waitress Betty Palmer, (Melinda Byron), who asks her sister "why aren't boys as smart as girls are?" True, Betty is a lot smarter than Johnny, whose life is made miserable by bad boy Maurie Weston (Robert Fuller), who not only gets him to play "chicken" but nearly gets both of them killed until Betty intervenes. Johnny's father tries to teach him self-defense, but it backfires, and Johnny steals a hot rod from his former boss, Burt Morrison (Paul Bryar), and takes off. But when he learns that Burt wants to race the hot rod for his son, Jimmy (Gregory Marshall), who has polio, Johnny may have a change of heart. 

Robert Fuller on the left with uncredited player

Teenage Thunder is not really a wild exploitation film with juvenile delinquents and wild, painted women -- more's the pity -- but more along the lines of a lower-budgeted Disney picture, with obvious moral statements and a wind-up meant to tug at the heart strings. The best scene is between Tyler McVey and Paul Bryar when Johnny's boss comes to give his father some advice. Although not especially charismatic, Chuck Courtney, who was actually 27,  gives a more than adequate performance, and eventually amassed 91 credits, most of them on television. His most famous film was Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula, in which he played William Bonney. Robert Fuller, on the other hand, who also had a long career, exudes plenty of charisma as Maurie; he and Courtney were good friends in real life. Melinda Byron had only 15 credits. The other actors all turn in solid performances. The climactic race takes all of ten seconds!

Verdict: Not enough of those hot rods! **.