 701 - NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST
with short: ONCE UPON A HONEYMOON
Genre: Low-budget Horror (S:
1958, Color;
F: 1956, B&W)
One-Line Summary: Astronaut Becomes Pregnant With Alien
Parrot-Beast’s Offspring!
Short: The short that starts this episode is a strange one because I still
don’t know what it’s
about! Usually, shorts are to promote a product or to document something, but this one has no point at all that I can figure
– it’s like a small bit that was lifted out of a
Musical! The story starts with a bit on a Guardian Angel named Wilbur who is sent down to a newlywed
couple’s house to do something which involves sprinkling dust on everything.
The man of the couple is a song composer who has been ordered to postpone his honeymoon until he can write a title song for a new musical.
So, while he’s busy at the piano trying to write music and smoking 83 packs of cigarettes a day, his wife is singing and dancing around the kitchen which miraculously changes all of the cabinets and appliances to better-looking models.
She also dances around the bedroom and we see that they have separate beds, which brings up the question of “why even bother with a honeymoon?” because, obviously, nothing is going to happen! Wilbur-the-Angel then sprinkles his dust on the phone and the phone somehow inspires the songwriter to write-up an instant song, complete with music and lyrics, without even setting pen to paper.
And his new wife also somehow intuitively knows the lyrics to the new song and sings along.
So without even writing it down for the producers, they just sing it over the phone and take off on their honeymoon.
Once again, the old rule of “Bizarre Short = Great MST” holds
true because the riffing was top-notched for this short.
 Synopsis: The feature isn’t directed by Roger Corman but the fact that he and his brother Gene produced it is enough to make it a Corman flick in my book.
The plot is about an astronaut named Johnny whose spacecraft has problems and crash lands in a field.
The Official Space Agency beat-up pickup truck is sent out to investigate, but Johnny
was killed in the crash. So the other people working on the launch (all of whom are apparently named Steve, even the
women) take
Johnny’s body back to the secluded mountain lab for study.
Meanwhile, some mud or something on the spacecraft gets up and crawls away.
The Steves all discover that some radiation is present due to the crash and it prevents their vehicles and watches from working, so they are all isolated.
Soon, the head scientist is missing his head but Johnny the astronaut is, all of a sudden, alive again (kind of a lose one, gain one situation).
The others determine via a cheesy-looking X-Ray that Johnny is
also pregnant with the alien’s baby shrimp. Johnny assures the others
that – aside from biting off the dead scientist’s head
– the alien is good. And when the alien does show up, it
looks like a giant parrot and can talk in the dead scientist’s
voice! Johnny finally figures out that the alien parrot is
not good because it plans to take over the Earth, so the others kill it and Johnny dies in the process.
Host Segments:
- Prologue: Crow and Servo carry
taser guns for safety
- Segment One: Pearl forces
Clayton to give a trombone recital
- Segment Two: The ’Bots re-enact
the Short
- Segment Three: Pearl and
Clayton fight it out
- Segment Four: Crow pretends to
be pregnant with tiny shrimp
- Segment Five (End): Crow on
babies; letters; the Forresters reconcile
Stinger: “A wounded animal that large
isn’t
good!”
 Don’s Review: What a great episode! I guess being the first experiment of a given season when everyone
isn’t burnt out from work is a plus, because the riffs heard here are
great! The host segments are of the Thanksgiving Turkey Day clips with a lot of
characters from previous experiments showing up in Deep 13 for a Thanksgiving dinner
because they were invited by the departed Frank, surprising Dr. F who is awaiting a visit from his mother, Pearl.
They’re fairly funny, with Mike’s appearance as a drunk Jack Perkins hitting on Mr. B Natural (Bridget Jones) being a hilarious highlight.
This episode is also available with different, non-Turkey Day host segments, but I
haven’t yet watched that version for comparison purposes. Regardless of which one of the two different sets of host segments is included, this is one funny episode.
Don’s Rating: 
[ S:
F:
]
 Forrest’s Review: Night of the Blood Beast stands alongside
The Final Sacrifice, Manos: The Hands of Fate,
Santa Claus, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The
Movie, and Cave Dwellers as the very funniest episode on the show.
The episode starts out with a great short called Once Upon A
Honeymoon, which may as well be my favorite short on the show, or at least it's up there with
A Date With Your Family and Posture Pals.
The first thing you will notice is how incredibly rapid-fire the riffing is.
In fact, I really think that the riffing is even slicker than that of
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie. The riffs come from all directions, constantly, never ending.
It's an MST3K episode that is a gift from God, or though it seems.
An episode that is built on constant, on-target, 100% funny riffs.
There are a lot of great MST3K episodes, but this really is one of the best.
I could not WISH for a better episode.
The movie is possibly my favorite type of film on MST3K, right up there with the crappy 80's flicks. This category is the old out-dated monster movies.
This episode reminds me of MST3K: The Movie a lot.
They both have an old outdated sci-fi film, and both of them have the similar fast-paced rapid fire riffing.
The movie is actually quite enjoyable, and this episode goes by really damn fast!
The movie consists of scientists cooped up in a lad, and they are attacked constantly by "The Blood Beast".
Overall, this is probably the third funniest episode, followed by
Manos for fourth, and behind Santa Claus for second.
The Final Sacrifice obviously being first. I recommend this episode very, very highly.
Forrest’s Rating:
[ S:
F:
]
Related Links:
(1) MST3K
Info Club Website (BBI’s ACEG-style Write-up) (and Turkey
Edition too)
(2) BadMovies.org
(Movie Review)
(3) DVD
Savant (Movie Review)
(4) B-Movie Central (Movie Review)
(5) DVD Drive-In (Movie Review)
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