Peter Cushing

Robert Flemyng

Wanda Ventham

Glynn Edwards

Kevin Stoney

Vanessa Howard

David Griffin

Roy Hudd

William Wilde

Simon Cain

Russell Napier

John Paul

Leslie Anderson

David Lyell

Drew Russell

Robert Cawdron

Kenneth Colley

Roy Evans

Peter Bryan

Vernon Sewell

Roger Dicken

Paul Ferris

Ricky Coward

Wilfred Woods

Freddie Vale

Henry Montsash

Marie Feldwick

Howard Lanning

Arnold L. Miller

Tony Tenser

Rosemarie McDonald Peattie

Stanley A. Long

George Pollard

Mike Tucker

Norman Jones

Jim Alloway

Len Harvey

Pat O'Donnell

Eve Wilson

Alan Hogben

Freda Pearson

Horror

Science Fiction

The Blood Beast Terror

Tigon British Film Productions

United Kingdom

**_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

CinemaSerf

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.

English

The Blood Beast Terror 1968 Trailer HD