WATCH: THE BLOOD BEAST TERROR : PETER CUSHING VENTHAM AND ROBERT FLEMYING

#GETTHECUSHIONSUNDAY! It's up on our PCAS YOUTUBE, it's taken a lot of flack over the years, it holds a damning branding that Cushing actually bestowed on it of....'The worst film I have ever appeared in..!' upon it's fluffy head.! Yup I did say fluffy. You'll see. For me, I actually like this film MORE every time I see it. Yes, it does run out of steam, because it ran out of MONEY! But, despite Cushing knocking it, I am guess he made that statement BEFORE he had made Tender Dracula, Devil's Men, Hitler's Son etc...

IT'S ANOTHER CUSHING film of MOMENTS. Yup, I know isolated moments do not make a whole film, but... there are plenty of more MOTH HOLES ..see what I did there 😉 .... in some of his Hammer film outings, and Amicus too, that I feel we can put this one in the, 'could do better' box. Who knows, if Rathborne hadn't died before his slated appearance in this film, it might have attracted more lolly from the suits and then maybe produced with a realistic budget. So, give it a chance, hide the moth-balls, your best suit and it might not be 'curtains' for this movie... let me know what you think?

 

TRIVIA: The MORGUE KEEPER is played by actor comedian ROY HUDD who narrates the 'Amicus Vault Of Horrors' documentary that we have posted here over the last four weeks..The Blood Beast Terror was released in the US under the title: 'The Vampire-Beast Craves Blood' AND  was directed by Vernon Sewell who directed Peter Cushing in the little seen thriller, 'Some May Live' 1967: Cushing's co star Vanessa Howard went on to star as Sybil Vane in Shane Briant's 'Picture Of Dorian Grey' film in in 1973 and in PANTO with Cliff Richard and Arthur Askey....She also stared as the dizzy 'pottage' party girl, with Cushing in 'Corruption' in 1968.

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TWENTY YEARS ON TODAY: ROY HUDD REMEMBERS PETER CUSHING:

ROY HUDD REMEMBERS PETER CUSHING:

"I made my first appearance in a feature film mid September 1967. It wasn't quite 'Gone with The Wind', but a small budget horror film called 'The Blood Beast Terror'. I had a smashing little part as the mortuary attendant. I could hardly believe my luck when I looked at the script and saw i had two scenes with Peter Cushing!

I religiously leaned every word of my dialogue, backwards and sideways. Anyway, I arrived a good hour before I was called, around five am, at a tiny studio off the Goldhawk road. Eventually, I was called for make up and there, in the next chair , was the great man himself. "Good morning" he said 'I'm Peter Cushing" - as if I didn't know. "Have you seen the script for today?" he asked, Had I seen it? - Seen it?? I'd LIVED it for the past seven days. "oh yes" I stuttered. "Not very good is it?" said Peter. "Well..." I blustered. "No we can do better than that", he said. "Can we?", I said. "How can we make it funnier?" asked the great man. "Well...." I advised.. And that was the start. Together we rejigged the whole two scenes. Peter was very patient, encouraging, and VERY inventive. It was his idea to have me eating pickled onions from the jar between the legs of the cadaver!

If you have never faced a studio full of camera people, lighting guys, production staff, actors and extras then you don't know what FEAR is! I was, petrified! So anxious not to make a fool of myself. The director shouted, "Lets rehearse" but Peter said, "No, Roy's never done a film before, so I just want him to feel at home" He held up shooting for a good half hour while he showed me the set, where the lights would be, and where the camera would move, the lot!'

He did make me feel at home and that, all too short morning spent in his company has stayed with me for forty odd years. A GREAT star, taking time and trouble to make a raw beginner feel able to give his best.

Thank you Peter. You were a gentle, dear and wonderful man...

Photograph: Peter Cushing and Roy Hudd on right, on set during the making of 'The Blood Beast Terror' (1967)

PETER CUSHING AND ROY HUDD ON THE SET OF 'THE BLOOD BEAST TERROR' (1968)

 A RARE BEHIND THE SCENES SHOT OF PETER CUSHING AND CAST MEMBER ROY HUDD ON THE SET OF TIGON FILMS 'THE BLOOD BEAST TERROR' (1968)