Beast of Blood Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.0

Beast of Blood Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 7, 2019

Note: This film is available as part of The Blood Island Collection.

H.G. Wells’ chilling 1896 novel about a mad scientist creating human-animal hybrids on an isolated blip in the ocean has been adapted for films several times, with manifestly different results. 1932’s Island of Lost Souls, 1977’s The Island of Dr. Moreau and 1996’s The Island of Dr. Moreau are probably the three most widely known adaptations, but there have been others, as mentioned in my The Twilight People Blu-ray review (The Twilight People being among them). There are a number of interesting connections between The Twilight People and at least three of the four films Severin has assembled in its Blood Island Collection, including star John Ashley, director Eddie Romero and a Philippines location. All of the Blood Island films, like The Twilight People, also obviously owe their genesis to Wells’ original conception, though none of the films actually credit him. While the inherent quality of any and/or all of the Blood Island films may be questionable (and of course up to individual tastes), Severin has assembled a really interesting package here that includes some excellent supplements which may provide further allure for the “franchise”’s fan base while also perhaps offering a bit of a selling point for those who may not know of or especially like any of the outings. Hemisphere Films "marketing consultant" Samuel M. Sherman's commentaries for some of the films are among those supplements, and Sherman makes it clear that no one associated with these productions had any illusions about making "Art", these were all churned out as drive-in fare, with an emphasis on sex and gore that had proven to be a winning combination for largely teen audiences.

While as Samuel M. Sherman mentions in his commentary, this film is probably the only true "sequel" in the bunch, it's also arguably the most gonzo of all the Blood Island offerings, with the central beast ultimately having his (its?) head removed from its body, which does not prevent either “section” from continuing to wreak havoc on its own. In fact, as Celeste Yarnell (who portrays this film's love interest slash damsel in distress, crusading reporter Myra Russell) laughs about in the interview included as a supplement, one of the chief "pleasures" of this film is the head of the monster screaming "Lorca!" repeatedly to this film's "mad scientist", Dr. Lorca (Eddie Garcia). It actually takes a while to get to this point, though, with the film's (kind of rough looking) opening sequence picking up where Mad Doctor of Blood Island left off (more or less, anyway), with Bill Foster (John Ashley) attempting to subdue the still intact creature on what one assumes is the same boat seen at the end of Mad Doctor of Blood Island, a boat which some may recall offered a little "sting" of green blood oozing down the side just as that film ends.

This is certainly campily enjoyable on its own lunatic terms, but it never really goes the completely prurient route that its immediate predecessor did, and as such may not offer the same level of titillation. It's wacky and weird, as all three of the "contemporary" Blood Island films are, but it's probably too silly to work up much suspense.

Beast of Blood Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Beast of Blood is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. The back cover of this release states "scanned in 2K from a 16mm CRI and presented totally uncut." The source element may tell much of what you need to know about this transfer, but there are wide variances here in terms of palette reproduction. Some early dark material has waves of blue passing through it, later outdoor scenes have a blue tint, and large swaths look skewed toward brown. There's quite a bit of damage on display as well, including quite a few scratches, splotches and other nicks and dirt. Grain is quite heavy, and can often attain a kind of splotchy yellow or even slightly purple and pixellated quality. It's a little odd that this "newest" of the three "contemporary" Blood Island films should have evidently been curated less well than the first two, but I'm assuming that Severin sourced the best element available, especially since Samuel M. Sherman pops up so regularly in the special features of this release.

Beast of Blood Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Beast of Blood features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix which has some prevalent hiss and the same sort of hum I mentioned in the review of Terror is a Man (if not as extreme as in that film), along with occasional pops and cracks, but which preserves the film's dialogue and kind of goofy score (including some Leslie Organ cues with lots of tremolo) well enough. There aren't the huge amplitude differences that I noticed in Mad Doctor of Blood Island, even if the overall sound here is pretty anemic.

Beast of Blood Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman


• Celeste and the Beast: An Interview with Celeste Yarnall (1080p; 12:25) is another fun interview culled from Mark Hartley's documentary Machete Maidens Unleashed!, with Yarnall talking about finding out she was pregnant right before she left for the shoot and some of the hardships of the location work.


• Dr. Lorca's Blood Devils: Interview with Actor Eddie Garcia (1080p; 3:08) is a brief piece culled from interviews Hartley did for his documentary.


• Super 8 Digest Version (1080p; 15:35) is almost hilariously redacted, and features less than stellar video and audio quality, but should be a real find for "historians" interested in this particular sidebar to the film industry.


• Beast of Blood Trailer (1080p; 3:01)


• Radio Spot One (00:58)


• Radio Spot Two (1:00)


• Poster and Stills Gallery (1080p; 5:02)

Beast of Blood Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This last Blood Island film has some truly lunatic elements which may appeal to more jaded types, but it never really works up the mood or titillation of some of its predecessors. Those interested in a purchase are encouraged to look at the screenshots accompanying this review with an understanding that the element utilized is not at the same quality level as for some of the other transfers in this set.