Revenge Of The Blood Beast — Revenge Of The Blood Beast(Blu Ray)
Revenge Of The Blood Beast is a late 60’s horror film that seesaws between parody/ humour, and atmosphere/moodiness- with a few moments of uneasiness & gore. It’s a film that sits somewhere between being a witch & vampire film- set in a small Transylvania town, where a newly married British couple stop for a night. Here from Raro Video/ Radiance is a new Blu-Ray release of the picture- featuring an HD scan of the film, a few new interviews, and archive extras,
Revenge Of The Blood Beast( aka The She Beast) is a British/Italian production filmed in the countryside of Italy and Yugoslavia. It was made in the year 1966, and directed/ co-written by Sutton, Surrey Michael Reeves. He had three shorts & three feature lengths to his name- sci-fi/ horror The Sorcerers (1967) with Boris Karloff as an ageing hypnotist, and the classic witchcraft horror film Witchfinder General (1968) where Vincent Price played the title role.
The film opens in modern-day Transylvania- where we see the plus- four wearing & grey goateed Count Von Helsing( John Karlsen) getting out of his yellow-coloured/hand-cranked car- and going inside a shambling structure to read a book- this flashes us back to the village's past. Where a group of townspeople are making their way to the outskirts of the village, and to a cave set near a body of water. Inside the cave is a jabbering, frothing-mouthed, and snaping-teethed old woman- the group pulling her up on a wooden contraption- before pushing a fire-heated metal rod through her back, and out of her chest- before drowning her in the water.
We then switch back to the present- where we see newlyweds Philp( Iain Ogilvy) and Veronica( Barabra Steele) looking for a place to stay- they come across the only Inn in the village, which is run by the often drunk/ perverted Ladislav Groper( Mel Welles) who looks like a more tubby/ gone to seed Tom Hardy.
The pair settle in for the night- starting to get down & dirt, then they notice Ladislav peering in at them. Philp gets up, and in a sudden/ jarring brutal attack smashes the landlord's head against the wall- so much so, you think he’s dead- but no he comes around and stagers off.
After this, the couple decides to take off, but while driving past the body of water in the flashback a van is coming the other way- they swerve, going into the water. The van driver pulls out two bodies- Philp is just alive, but Veronica is seemingly dead.
They get brought back to inn- but when Philp comes around, uncovering what he thinks is his wife he finds the old hag from the start. The remainder of the film finds the eccentric Count trying to convince Philp that his wife is possessed by the witch- with a decidedly tonally unbalancing quality to the film- as it switches between a parody/ light comedy film, and a dark creepy nastily edged film.
The witch/ hag character rather brought to mind the first Evil Dead- with its demented, deranged yet creepy quality. The newlywed couple is believable enough, and Karlsen and Welles often play their parts in a humour-lined manner- though the latter does attempt to rape a woman at one point.
I’ll have to admit the shifting tonal quality of Revenge Of The Blood Beast initially threw/ annoyed me somewhat. But as it went on, I got pulled in, with the blend of formal dramatics/ horror/humour being rewardingly unbalancing & unpredictable.
This new region-free Blu-ray takes in a very clean & crisp HD scan of the film- which features a well-balanced colour pallet, and generally good all-around definition. The disc takes in a fairly good selection of both new and archive extras.
On the new side, we have two new interviews. The first is with actor Iain Ogilvy(12.57) who starts off talking about how he met director Michael Reeves at the age of fifteen with the pair making the director's first short Carrion( 1958)- which is sadly now lost, aside from a few stills. Then he didn't hear/ see him for some years- though when he made this his first film Reeves wanted Ogilvy as his lead( he appears in the director's other two films). He talks about how the production lied to the Italian authorities saying they were making a documentary to get a cheaper fee rate. We find out the film had a budget of £20,000, and was shot in eighteen days. He talks about the rest of the cast, and how he feels the comedy elements don’t work.
The other interview is with horror critic/ author Kim Newman(19.32) he talks about how the film is not wholly serious like the director's other two films, and why this may be. We find out Ms Steel was only on set for just one long day, and he talks about the shifting tone of the leading man Ogilvy. Both interviews are certainly worth a play- though I felt the Newman one wasn’t quite up to his normal high standards, as he does hark on rather about a supposable conversation that Reeve had with Price on the set of Witchfinder General.
On the archive side, we have a 2007 audio commentary with Paul Maslansky, Ian Ogilvy and Barbara Steele, moderated by filmmaker David Gregory. An audio interview with Barbara Steele, and an original trailer. The finished release comes with a booklet by Kevin Lyons, author of The Encyclopaedia of Fantastic Film and Television.
Revenge of the Blood Beast is a film that you have to have a little time/ patience with- customizing yourself to its often darting blend of horror, drama, and comedy- but when it clicks/ works it makes for an impressive and interesting first feature from Mr Reeves. This release from Raro Video/ Radiance features a great ‘n’ crisp scan of the film, and a nice selection of extras- this is Ltd to just 3000 copies, and considering the respect/interest with Reeves as a film-maker I can’t imagine these hanging around long.