Shocktober 2024: The She Beast aka Revenge of the Blood Beast (Michael Reeves, 1966)

TRANSYLVANIA-TODAY. When a newly married British couple arrive at an inn in the middle of the Transylvanian countryside (as you do), their mere presence awakens a fiend from the past, and the village is once again subjected to terror from a mysterious and murderous witch — who was killed by rioting villagers 200 years prior, but not before she uttered a curse on the peasants and their families. The couple try to leave the village, but to no avail. Luckily, local count Von Helsing (not to be confused with Van), who appears to live in a cave, knows all about the supernatural.

Michael Reeves’ directorial debut is a low-budget UK/ITA effort, the sort of cheap, middling fare that wouldn’t feel out of place at a Hammer Horror double-feature matinee circa mid-60s. The miracle and saving grace of this rather dull movie is, of course, that Reeves was able to engage scream queen Barbara Steele, by that point an international movie star following breakout parts in Mario Bava’s haunting Black Sunday (1960) and other sicko-helmed Italian horror stuff. Reeves only had Steele for a day, and he made her work — reportedly for 18 hours. He desperately tries to make her the star of the movie, but she more or less bows out after 30 minutes or so. The rest is a mostly about an assortment of men trying to murder an old crone.

This is exactly the kind of dull, dusty, Dracula-adjacent chiller you want to kick off Shocktober. It’s cozy, its ambitions are limited, and it provides a sort of stepping stone for both Reeves and Steele. Steele would go on to star in tons of horror films, becoming an icon of the genre, and was still active guest-starring in TV shows just a couple of years ago, at 80+ years old. As for Reeves, he only made two more movies, most notably Witchfinder General (1968), before accidentally od’ing on barbiturates in his London flat; he was 25. Dr. Runtime approved (74 mins).