One of the highlights of visiting my relatives in Boston during the ’70s was getting to see The Creature Double Feature on WLVI-56. Saturday afternoons the UHF channel would run back-to-back horror films. Unlike some markets, it didn’t have a on air horror host. Radio DJ Dale Dorman would announce the two titles while Emerson Lake and Palmer’s “Toccata” played with a montage of clips from various horror films. The movies were a mix of Japanese monster flicks and horror from Universal, Hammer and American International Pictures. We wouldn’t exactly sit on the sofa and watch the three hours of movies. The Creature Double Feature would be on the TV and my cousins and I would stop our activities to see the freaky parts. During a Christmas visit, we’d play outside in the snow for a bit. When we got too cold, we’d come inside and warm up to the scares. We could multitask back then. I bring up this memory because I distinctly remember watching Attack of the Giant Leeches one afternoon. The other film was The Killer Shrews which Film Masters is also putting out on Blu-ray. This Blu-ray is a double feature of films directed by Bernard L. Kowalski and produced by Roger and Gene Corman.
Night of the Blood Beast (1958 – 62 minutes) is about the nasty things man can bring back to Earth after exploring space. When astronaut John Corcoran (Michael Emmet) attempts re-entry, things go completely wrong and his ship crashes. Dave Randall (Ed Nelson) and Donna Bixby (Georgianna) find the wreckage and bring back John’s body to the nearby rocket base. Things get weird as John’s now-ex-fiance physician Julie Benson (Futureworld‘s Angela Greene) realizes he has no heartbeat, but maintains a living pulse. Is he really dead? As they examine this mystery, they discover a strange creature lurking outside in the darkness. Is this what screwed up their rocket? Does he have something to do with John’s strange state of being? This is a classic Corman production with limited sets to make the production move fast. The monster is rather scary looking for a Creature Double Feature crowd.
Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959 -63 minutes) takes us down to a Florida swamp for a nasty surprise. There’s something nasty lurking under the water that isn’t a Florida Man. A local fisherman vanishes and while Game Warden Steve Benton investigates, the other locals are rather nonchalant about it. One person that isn’t worried is Liz Walker (Attack of the 50 Foot Woman‘s Yvette Vickers). She’s trying to have a lot of fun without her tubby husband Dave (The Wasp Woman‘s Bruno VeSota) ruining it. She goes down to the swamp to have a little privacy with her latest fling. When the action is getting hot and heavy, leech creatures rise up from the water, grab them and drag them down to their underwater grotto. Are they going to survive? And will her husband think the hickies on her body came from the leech monster and not her latest boyfriend? While the film does drag in parts, the grotto nightmare keeps me glued to the screen after all these decades.
Night of the Blood Beast and Attack of the Giant Leeches is a great double feature from Bernard Kowalski and the Corman brothers. While the movies feature different human casts, Ross Sturlin plays the monsters in both films. He’s pretty good at giving everyone the creeps whether he’s from space or the swamp. Ross makes that goofy leech monster outfit feel terrifying as he puts the sucker mouth on Yvette Vickers.
What’s amazing about Bernard Kowalski’s career is that years after Giant Leeches, he directed Sssssss about Dirk Benedict (The A-Team) turning into a cobra. He created two films packed with nightmare fuel that would explode as I’d try to go to sleep in the ’70s. He also directed Rockford Files, Banacek and Columbo episodes. What a legend in my life and now just from The Creature Double Feature. Kowalski is another extraordinary graduate from Corman University. Night of the Blood Beast: Special Edition allows us to properly appreciate his talent and career.
The Video is 1.85:1 for both films. Night of the Blood Beast also features the 1.37:1 full frame TV version. Having seen these films in a variety of ways over the last few decades, the 4K transfer and restoration here brings out their black and white beauty. There’s so much detail in the Leech grotto. The Audio is DTS-MA HD 2.0 Mono and Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. Both mixes are extremely clear. You’ll notice the Alexander Laszlo’s scores are identical for both films. The movies are subtitled in English.
Audio Commentary on Night of the Blood Beast with Tom Weaver has him express his passion for science fiction during the space race. He gets into the IGY and Sputnik. He points out the camera work in the film is excellent for a quickie film. Cinematographer John Nicholas went on the shoot episodes of The Outer Limits series. We learn about screenwriter Martin Varno and the film book that ran in Famous Monsters in 1965.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 presents Night of the Blood Beast (91:44) is from the Mike era when Dr. Forrester and his mother Pearl were the mad scientists.
8mm version of Night of the Blood Beast (6:56) is what we did as a civilization before the invention of the VCR. You could buy these 8mm films at Kmart. This one is silent so the dialogue is subtitled and you can hear the projector clicking way.
Night of the Blood Beast re-created trailer (1:33) has the big crash and something really goes wrong.
Night of the Blood Beast & Attack of the Giant Leeches publicity and still slideshow (2:22) includes press photos, publicity press release, newspaper ads and posters.
Film Restoration Comparison (2:38) lets you see how much works was done between the 4K Raw Scan and the restored version on the Blu-ray. They did a fantastic job making the film look better than when you saw it on TV or at the drive-in.
Audio Commentary on Attack of the Giant Leeches with Tom Weaver starts off with him talking about the precredit action which was unusual for the time. He talks about the rise of the indie monster movies in the late ’50s. He has people read interviews with the stars. He talks about his relationship with Yvette Vickers and how it ended.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 presents Attack of the Giant Leeches (91:37) is from the Joel years with Dr. Forrester and TV’s Frank tormenting him.
Born From T.V.: Bernard Kowalski as Director (27:00) is a tribute from C. Courtney Joyner. Kowalski’s dad was a script supervisor that got him on film sets. He worked on TV shows including Dragnet and Medic. He worked with Robert Altman. This led to directing pilot episodes of shows. This got him noticed by Gene Corman. He worked well in their feature films since he was used to working fast and with limited resources. He liked the feeling of working on Corman films. He kept hiring Yvette Vickers for TV shows in the ’70s that he directed. He went on to produce a season of Rawhide. He directed the pilot of Mission: Impossible and was given a piece of the profits. This bonus feature really ties this boxset together.
Attack of the Giant Leeches re-created trailer (1:37) promises us human victims in the everglades. Yvette Vickers looks sizzling.
Yvette Vickers slideshow (2:12) features her various headshots, location photos, commercial shoots, autographed photos and convention shots.
Booklet has an interview Tom Weaver did with Night of the Blood Beast‘s screenwriter Martin Varno. He also wrote an essay about the making of Attack of the Giant Leeches.
Film Masters present Night of the Blood Beast: Special Edition. Directed by Bernard L. Kowalski. Screenplays by Martin Varno and Leo Gordon. Starring John Baer, Angela Greene, Ed Nelson, Georgianna Carter, Michael Emmet, Tyler McVey, Ross Sturlin, Ken Clark, Yvette Vickers, Jan Shepard & Bruno VeSota. Boxset contents: 2 movies on 2 Blu-ray discs. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: November 12, 2024.
Here’s the opening to The Creature Double Feature. You might have to watch a few other things first. Enjoy!
