Beast of Blood

Beast of Blood (1971)

** (out of 4)

The third and final film in the Blood Island trilogy takes place hours after the events in MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND. As the film picks up Dr. Foster (John Ashley) is on the boat thinking he's going to safety but the green monster shows up and pretty much destroys the entire crew. The ship blows up and the doctor is the only one to survive. Flash forward a year and the doctor is going back to the island with a reporter (Celeste Yarnell) to see if the crazy doctor is still alive and doing more experiments (well of course he is). BEAST OF BLOOD might come across to many as being a disappointment because the horror elements aren't nearly as strong as in the previous two movies. I thought overall that this one worked quite well even though it plays more for a jungle-adventure movie than anything else. It's still got plenty of exploitation and this includes some rather hilarious death scenes. Since the majority of the kills are via gunshots you'll have a good time seeing how much blood they have pumping out of the wounds at all times. It seems they had the fake blood hooked up to water hose because that's pretty much how much comes out with each bullet wound. Another good thing that the film has going for it are the Philippeans locations. The jungle certainly adds a lot of atmosphere to the movie even though this one appears to be the slickest of the three. Ashley and his sideburns are once again back in action and it appears that he's having a good time even though he's phoning the performance in. Yarnell makes for a good sidekick and those wanting to see her naked will be pleased. There are, as you'd expect, some problems here and the pacing is one of them. The film never really picks up a good flow from start to finish but I will say that overall this here is probably the most entertaining as there's usually always something going on whereas the first two films had a lot of dialogue. The highlight of the movie happens before the opening credits when the monster goes around with an ax tearing up the boat crew. BEAST OF BLOOD isn't a classic but if you're a fan of exploitation then it's a decent close to the series.