The Blood Beast Terror (1968)

The Mothman’s first movie

Young men in the countryside near London are winding up dead with their throats torn open and their blood drained. A Scotland Yard inspector (Peter Cushing) enlists the input of a college entomologist (Robert Flemying) to track down the killer. Wanda Ventham plays the latter’s daughter while Vanessa Howard is on hand as the former’s daughter.

"The Blood Beast Terror" (1968) was ironically made during the general period when the so-called Mothman terrorized inhabitants of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in late 1966. Cushing viewed it as his worst film and Flemying hated working on it. Most of the cast complained about the small, cost-effective (cheap) sets.

Made by Tigon, it’s quaint and frugal, but it’s not THAT bad. Fans of Cushing and British horror produced by Hammer, Amicus & the like should appreciate it to some degree. One problem is that the creature is revealed too early, albeit from a distance. However, when it’s fully shown it works for what it is. Another issue is that what a certain character is doing with his dubious experiments is muddled. I’d say more but I don’t want to give anything away.

Wanda Ventham is striking and charismatic; she’s the mother of Benedict Cumberbatch. Meanwhile Vanessa is cute.

The movie runs 1 hour, 28 minutes, and was shot in Goldhawk Studios, Shepherd's Bush, London and Grim's Dyke House, Old Redding, Harrow Weald, Middlesex (exteriors of the Clare House).

GRADE: C

Vernon Sewell has assembled quite a decent cast here, but sadly the story is scraping the bottom of the barrel somewhat. Robert Flemyng is a genetic scientist who has created (why?) a being that by day is the gorgeous, vivacious young women "Clare" (Wanda Bentham) but by night is a blood sucking insect feasting readily on anyone who takes it's fancy. Luckily, Peter Cushing ("Insp. Quennell") is on hand to get to the bottom of things. Again, the colour photography robs this of what menace it had, and the effects - such as they are - rely too much on the old techniques of light and shade to have much of an impact in this new medium. Perhaps not a film for lepidopteraphobics, it does gather a bit of pace as Cushing's investigations start to bear fruit, but for me this is all just a bit too predictably silly.