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Horror of the blood monsters
How can you talk with an alien Tagoni? In a very easy way. You need to
put a gadget in the skull, cutting behind the ear and thus changing her
brain waves. Operation to be done safely outdoors and in a few seconds,
huh.
Al Adamson is one of the reasons for the existence of this blog and the
brilliant American director gives great satisfaction every time. Here,
however, we touch great moments, both from the point of view of history
and that of production.
“Horror of the Blood Monsters” opens with urban vampires
seeking victims. Are we in horror? No, or rather, also, because then we
move on to sci-fi, with a spaceship scattered in the cosmos, in search
of this people of vampires who have invaded the Earth. From a place
that should be NASA, but looks more like the abandoned closet of the
well-known space agency, they are following and guiding the spaceship.
Are we in sci-fi, then? We say yes, but the astronauts emergency land
on a strange planet, where there is oxygen and gravity and where there
are prehistoric creatures (harmless reptiles shot very close to give
effect gigantism) and tribes with a prehistoric appearance among which
the very bad Tubaton. Among other things, since the planet is full of
nuclear radiation, as someone from the base says while is having sex on
break from work, the film often changes colour, going from purple to
yellow etc. etc.
We can say that these things already identify Al Adamson's work as one
of the best and most weird B Movies of his filmography. An almost total
pleasure, with this mix of genres and colours and with laboratory
objects that are nothing more than lights and a spaceship with office
chairs and, as already mentioned, the inclusion of prehistoric
situations. Do you like monsters like "Black Lagoon"? There are. There
are. A series of human lobsters and batmen, in addition to the
aforementioned reptiles.
To raise the level even more, or to lower it if you prefer, there is a
non-linear narrative, which jumps from one side to the other, telling
us the adventures of astronauts on the planet Tubaton where they listen
to the flashback stories of Tagoni who tells of wars between tribes,
with the insertions from Earth of the scientists, without forgetting
the Professor who guides his people on the planet from the spaceship.
Tagoni chased by the evil Tubaton, is saved by astronauts and helped to
return with her tribe that manages a lake with fire water (that is, the
oil needed by our people to come back home). So the astronauts get into
tribal strife and suffer the planet's radiation, which kills a couple
of them. Tagoni naturally falls in love with one of them.
If we didn't read Adamson's name in the opening credits, might think
this movie is by Ed Wood. A bit like good Ed, Adamson also uses the
trick of grabbing things here and there and putting them together. A
Filipino film from 1965 called "Tagani", which the director liked very
much, is the basis of "Horror of the blood monsters" which uses various
clips, recoloring them. But it is not the only "loan", because the
fights between prehistoric animals come from "One Million B.C." and
more from “The wizard of mars”.
The cast led by Adamson stands out for John Carradine, Robert Dix and
Jennifer Bishop but even with the presence of these names, of "Horrors
of the blood monsters" you will only read bad reviews. I, I want to say
some different: it is so weird and badly done, that it is, in fact, one
of the best B's I've ever seen.
