- Release year: 1966
- Director: Michael Reeves.
- Producer: Paul Maslansky.
- Screenplay by: Michael Reeves, Mel Welles, Charles B. Griffith and F. Amos Powell.
- Cinematography by: Gioacchino Gengarelli.
- Music by: Ralph Ferraro.
Synopsis: a witch curses a town before they kill her, and comes back from the dead years later to make good on her curse.
Shotgun Commentary: a cheap Italian film with horrible acting and a ridiculous story. Depending on your personality, it might be the best or the worst thing you’ve ever seen.
Review
Radiance released last summer a high definition digital transfer of The Revenge of the Blood Beast. Now, one can’t just let a perfectly good horrible Italian B-movie go to waste for no reason so, naturally, it had to be watched. If you find that this is your jam, know that it is still available for purchase in the UK through Radiance, and they included some special features, full details after the review!
Men’s biggest fear
The Revenge of the Blood Beast is a film about a witch who is played by a man in the cheapest makeup possible, which kinda looks like a £1 Halloween mask. This seemingly small detail has no business being as bothersome as it is. To make matters worse, the film has also been branded as “The She Beast”, in case it is not clear that the villain is a woman.
You will never hear a complaint about women being villains in this blog. However, when it comes to witches, one of the most sexist, toxic and harmful denomination for women in history, make it good or don’t make it. This film is the perfect example of a male perspective of what a witch is: pure evil, physically ugly, unreasonable and ever-screeching… Does she have any purpose, background, or personality? No, not really.
Now, I know what you are going to say, it is a sixties B-movie, what do you expect? Well, I Vampiri (1957) was made in the same country almost a decade earlier, presumably with a similar budget. So the answer to that question is, a lot better. It is bad enough that in a horror comedy, all the female characters have five-minute roles, but when they don’t have any personality or working neurons and their whole purpose is to complain, screech or get naked, it gets harder and harder to justify or enjoy the film.
The big unknown
Not to mention the obvious, the magnificent scene in which a young girl walks into the hotel because she is scared, and the manager tries to rape her. Can anyone explain what that scene is doing in a comedy movie? It is literally the only moment that could be considered horror at all, and it has no connection to any of the events that transpire before or after.
There is no narrative, textual or visual value in that scene whatsoever. So the question is, why? Only two possible reasons come to mind, and none of them are satisfactory. Either someone considered that disgusting, horrible situation funny, which is hopefully unlikely. Or someone realised that the film wasn’t even mildly scary, so they decided some good-ol’ sexual assault might do the trick. As stated before, unsatisfactory either way.
Cheap, or genius?
That being said, everything else about the film works if your goal is to see a cheap, quirky horror comedy. Especially during the first few minutes, when the conversations are hilariously incoherent, you will find it is quite enjoyable. Towards the end of the feature, the jokes get a little bit repetitive and the dialogue is more uninspired, but it doesn’t cross the line into annoying, which is commendable for a film of this genre. Additionally, the horrible special effects give the whole story a cosy, retro feel that is perfect for a silly afternoon vibe.
As for the acting, it is so horrible it’s actually funny. It is hard to choose who does a worse job, although the priest of the opening scene seems to have the odds in his favour. The only reasonable acting comes from John Karlsen as Count Von Helsing and Joe ‘Flash’ Riley as Vardella the She-Beast. The first is quite on point as a caricature of the famous Dr Van Helsing from Dracula, and the second has so much cheap makeup in his face that he could literally have the exact same facial expression the whole time and no one would notice regardless.
All in all, The Revenge of the Blood Beast is a very fun, silly film for male audiences and for women as long as you are able to not pull a nerve from all the eye-rolling. The feature falls into the category of so bad it’s kinda fine.
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
- High Definition digital transfer from the original camera negative
- Uncompressed mono PCM English and Italian audio options
- Audio commentary with Paul Maslansky, Ian Ogilvy and Barbara Steele, moderated by filmmaker David Gregory (2007)
- Newly filmed interview with star Ian Ogilvy (2024)
- Newly filmed interview with author and critic Kim Newman (2024)
- Archival audio interview with Barbara Steele
- Original trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring artwork based on original posters
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and newly translated English subtitles for Italian audio
- Limited edition booklet by Kevin Lyons, author of The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television
- Limited edition of 3000 copies
Find the Radiance release right here!
Advice to take from this movie:
- If you use a man to portray an ugly woman, WE WILL NOTICE.
- Rape scenes aren’t always necessary. They really aren’t.
- Don’t stop your car in little towns with creepy people.
What’s your take? Have you watched The Revenge of the Blood Beast? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀