Beast of Blood (1971)

Published on March 1 2011 by goretide-media

Review taken from digitallyobsessed.com

Beast of Blood is really the third film in Hemisphere Pictures Philippine-made Blood series, though in actuality it is one of six that Image has released as part of their superb Blood Collection. This 1970 entry is a loosely connected sequel to the 1968 Mad Doctor of Blood Island, with star John Ashley returning once again as Dr. Bill Foster. The eerie Ronald Remy, however has been replaced by Philippine icon Eddie Garcia as the mad Dr. Lorca, and evil henchman Razak is once again played by hulking menace Bruno Punzalan. The story picks up immediately after the events of Mad Doctor of Blood Island, though it's comical how no one mentions the fate of Angelique Pettyjohn.

Ashley's Dr. Foster returns to Blood Island, accompanied by photo-journalist/love interest Myra Russell (Celeste Yarnall) and a tough sea captain (Beast of Blood scribe Beverly Miller), for yet another confrontation with the evil Dr. Lorca, here burdened with some bad-looking "burn" makeup as a result of his climactic battle in the earlier film. Even with the presence of Lorca and his chlorophyll-induced zombies, this one plays out more like a low-brow Indiana Jones adventure yarn, more akin to a B-grade jungle adventure than a pure horror film. Hemisphere Pictures producer Sam Sherman likens Beast of Blood to a "Dr. No-type film" on the accompanying audio commentary, but no matter how you slice it, the film remains typical drive-in fluff with a requisite amount of nudity and gore.

Ashley is anonymously rugged in the lead, and serves as the Anglo connection for American audiences (along with Yarnall and Mitchell) for what is otherwise an all-Philippino cast. It is the absence of Ronald Remy that is the severest omission, and the one cast change that is the most noticeable and unforgivable. If you have ever seen Mad Doctor of Blood Island you know that Remy WAS Dr. Lorca, and even an extremely talented actor like Garcia would be hard-pressed to fill his shoes. Garcia would later shine in Hemisphere's Blood of the Vampires, but in this one he is always acting in the shadow of Remy.

Beast of Blood, despite another sequel-ready cliffhanger ending, proved to be the last of Hemisphere's Blood Island pictures, though the classic Brain of Blood was still to come in 1972, directed by B-movie master Al Adamson. This is by far the weakest of the trilogy, and as a standalone piece, certainly the oddest in terms of pacing and action. Yet as a part of the whole Blood Island experience, and what would prove to be its swan song, it has decidedly more character development than its predecessors, thanks in part to director Eddie Romero, who generally gave his films more dramatic depth than was really typical of the genre.

Rating for Style: B-
Rating for Substance: C+

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 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065456/

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Dual audio with English language track and audio commentary track featuring distributor Sam Sherman

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