Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: Tigon British Film Productions

Video: Redemption

 

Disc:

Region: 'A' (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 1:27:57.303

Disc Size: 21,827,804,460 bytes

Feature Size: 19,199,646,336 bytes

Video Bitrate: 26.05 Mbps

Chapters:10

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: July 17th, 2012

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 1.66:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit

 

Subtitles:

None

 

Extras:

• 5 Trailers

• Stills Gallery

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: Peter Cushing (Star Wars) and Robert Flemyng (Battle of Britain) star in this classic horror film. A crazed etymologist is dabbling in gruesome experiments that are turning his beautiful daughter into a vampire-beast with an insatiable lust for blood! From Cushing's investigations of the opening atrocities to the fieryfinale--this gory thriller from legendary director Vernon Sewell (Ghost Ship) is definitely not for the squeamish!

 

 

The Film:

Tacky, indifferently acted horrors involving a weremoth (Ventham, who metamorphoses into a giant death's head) loose in rural England. Flemyng is the loony entomologist, Cushing the cop investigating a series of murders.

Excerpt from TimreOut located HERE

Set in mid-19th century England, THE BLOOD BEAST TERROR stars Robert Flemyng as Prof. Mallinger, a somewhat daffy entomologist whose daughter changes herself into a giant moth that needs human blood to survive. In a rather odd attempt to thwart his daughter's assault on the entire village, he tries to create another mega-moth for her to play with. Peter Cushing plays a Scotland Yard inspector sent to solve the perplexing murders. This silly mad scientist drama is undone by an incompetent production team which utterly fails to persuade an audience to suspend their disbelief of the outlandish concept. Poor Cushing gives it the old college try, but even he can't overcome the film's fundamental flaws.

Excerpt from TV GuIde located HERE

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

The Blood Beast Terror looks pretty solid on Blu-ray from Kino. It's single-layered with a decent bitrate. There are hints of depth but nothing notable. Colors seem brighter and truer than SD could relate and contrast exhibits reasonable black levels without any predominance of noise. Daylight scenes are bright but most of the film is shot at night locales or dark interiors. This Blu-ray has a consistency and I'll wager it won't look significantly better in the upcoming British 1080P edition. This is in the original 1.66:1 aspect ratio.

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

Redemption offer a linear PCM 2.0 channel track at 1536 kbps that does the job well enough. The effects have some aggressive depth but nothing extravagant. Paul Ferris' score seems standard fare for a Brit horror. Nothing to strongly extol but I'll wager this is a decent representation of the original. There are no subtitles. My Momitsu has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked with an Odeon Release coming out of the UK later this year.

 

Extras :

More or less 'nothing' with a handful of like trailers and a Stills Gallery. With the film being what it is I can't imagine much discussion would be forthcoming.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
Sure it's not Hammer and there is a lot wrong with The Blood Beast Terror but Cushing and the atmosphere can make up for the wonky effects and mismanaged plot swings. I got into this a bit despite the weaknesses. The bare-bones Blu-ray offers a decent a/v representation but only those with strong genre leanings need indulge. 

Gary Tooze

July 11th, 2012