In the late 1960′s, Hammer films was still doing fairly well and there were a number of other companies that tried to copy and compete with them. Amicus was the main one and they had a number of films that were just as good if not better, another company was Tigon films and they are the creators of this particular film. They pulled in Peter Cushing to play a policeman who is investigating a series of bizarre and brutal killings. Cushing has his suspects and follows them, but his daughter is pulled into the plot as she becomes a source of blood for a moth creature that is being created as a mate for the existing moth creature. Is this a good film? No does it have it’s moments? Certainly The story is in someways lacking, but Hammer’s Gorgon and the Reptile don’t either and they manage to be entertaining. There is some action, Peter Cushing gives a solid showing and I really thought the sets and use of locations was really well above average foe a British horror film. The film seems to have gaps and a number of missed opportunites. They would fins a lead, but then people would stand around and mutter about until you start to get bored, then they will peak your interest again and then mill around some more. It is not boring, they just have a lot of time where they could have inserted some more action or clues or maybe some more about how or why this women can turn into a giant moth. Ultimately, this film is somewhere in the middle of British horror films of the day. It does a number of things right, but Tigon was number three for a reason. I must also say that I had never seen a video done by Image entertainment before, but thet did a good job as the film is of fairly sharp quality.
Rating: 3 / 5

Ignore the most negative of the comments, “The Blood Beast Terror” is not total garbage. It has the Hammer Studio’s feel which it was trying to imitate; with a decent imitation of the Hammer Victorian production design and a performance by Peter Cushing (as Police Inspector Quennell). It is also features one of the few available film appearances of Vanessa Howard, unfortunately she has only a supporting scream queen role as Quennell’s daughter Meg. Check out “Girly” if you want to see a lot more of this underutilized actress.

“The Blood Beast Terror’s” main weakness is its low budget which resulted in some horribly lame special effects, although the budget cannot be entirely blamed as just a little imagination in this area would have resulted in something far more effective. It also suffers from a condensed story that does not supply enough scientific details to make the basic premise interesting.

So instead of a sci-fi/horror picture, it is more of a detective story with some laughable horror elements. But it is a decent detective story with enough misdirection to produce several surprising revelations. Contrary to several other comments, I had no problem with the ending, finding the idea of a moth (even a giant one) being drawn to a flame quite appropriate, although so poorly staged as to be groan inducing.

There is some great comic relief in the underplayed performance of Glynn Edwards (as Sergeant Allen) and the overplayed performance of Roy Hudd, as the jaded morgue attendant who casually eats his meals off the slabs in the morgue (complete with cadavers). There is unintended comic relief in the casting of 30 year-old Wanda Ventham as the mad scientist’s on-the-make “teenage” daughter. Nothing exceptional but a cut above much of the 60′s cheap sci-fi and horror.

Then again, what do I know? I’m only a child.
Rating: 2 / 5