Night of the Blood Beast, Astronaut Infested With Alien Spawn

From Executive Producer Roger Corman, we have a neat science fiction film from 1958. In 1958 the Soviets were cleaning America's clock in space exploration. As paranoia sunk in, the U.S. struggled to get off the ground. Kind of like today. In this film, the U.S. launches a manned rocket with dreadful results. However dreadful, a lot less dreadful than the NASA shuttle program. With square-jawed hunks, nubile and screaming damsels, and a rubber suited monster, we have "Night of the Blood Beast," directed by Bernard L. Kowalski.

Major John Corcoran takes a rocket into space for no specific purpose (a foretelling of NASA's shuttle program, perhaps?). Something goes wrong and it crash lands in the Florida swamps. He's dead...well, maybe. A rescue crew with Dave (Ed Nelson), a square-jawed hunk, and photographer Donna (Georgianna Carter) get there and find a huge hole in the ship and John's corpse. John's fiancé, Dr. Julie Benson (Angela Greene) is on her way and is sad. So is Dr. Wyman (Tyler McVey). Wyman, ever the counselor, reminds Julie that John volunteered for this and it was all part of the job. Julie feels better.  

They get John's corpse back to an isolated base. Dr. Wyman realizes the corpse is not decomposing and John still has a blood pressure. Uh oh...blood samples show alien cells inside John's supposed corpse. Uh oh, again...a hulking rubber suited fiend begins attacking the base and rips Wyman's head off. Donna will scream a lot, and Steve (John Baer) will take command...he'll be useless. All power is cut off by a mysterious magnetic field and our science team is stuck. Oh no! John is awake. He has aliens growing inside him and the fiend needs to nourish its young. John is insistent about communicating with the thing but everyone else wants to kill it. John will hone his diplomatic skills as his comrades make Molotov cocktails.

Is this film a foretelling about NASA's space program which went aimlessly toward the now defunct SDI program and now discredited global warming science? Will the fiend in the rubber suit try to make a play for Donna and give her a real purpose in this film? NASA says we will be on the moon again in 2024...rest assured we won't. At least the failed mission in this film makes an entertaining movie. For a good time and a great utilization of 1950s B-movie staples, see "Night of the Blood Beast."