'70s Trash: Beast of Blood (1970)

 At last, the Trilogy reaches its end!  This is Beast of Blood, the final Film in the Blood Island Trilogy from 1970.  What's new?  Well, we've got a new Female Lead and a new guy playing the old Villain.  Yes, you remember the old Villain- he was beaten to death and trapped in a burning Building.  Well, he survived.  Speaking of surviving, John Ashley is still here AND the Monster from the last Film.  That one ended with Sequel Bait and...it was actually paid off!  What are the odds?!?  Bad luck continues to befell this poor Doctor and he ends up back on Blood Island.  When the same old problems are here, he hopes to prove that the same old Doctor is not behind it.  Obviously he is, since I just covered that.  What fresh evil is he up to this time?  Will he keep using Chlorophyll?  Will I stop asking questions that I know the answer to?  To find out, read on...

Hours after the last Film ended, the Beast emerges and starts killing the disposable, ethnic Crew.

Only Ashley survives the attack, but, of course, a fire is started.

The Boat blows up and only two people survive- Ashley and the Monster.  Both make it to the Island separately.

So, to be clear, the Female Lead from the last Film was killed off-screen.  Nice.

A year later, we see Ashley return.  He seems to unsure of what is happening on the Island, even though we are told that he was found there and restored to health.

I guess he was just comatose and left.

Either way, we have a different Native Girl and Old Man.

Ashley ends up with a Reporter who follows him to Blood Island and get the story.

Oh good- a new Love Interest.  

...and she got kidnapped.  Whoops.

As for the Beast, well, it lost its head.

Well, that's not 100% accurate- he just got it separated from his body!
It actually lives on just fine!

The middle part of the Film drags quite a bit.

Basically, we see Ashley and the Villagers wander around looking for the Reporter.  They sneak around the Jungle.

Filler filler filler.

Ashley eventually finds the Doctor- who is wounded and still as evil- and the Reporter.

Naturally, she is now dressed up in 'native' attire.
Oh and he is over his lost love for her...for some reason.

The Doctor survived thanks to Plot and is continuing his work to...um, make mutant people.  His endgame is never quite clear.

This all leads to the second confusing and prolonged shoot-out of the Film.  For a Film called Beast of Blood, he sure does jack all in this Film...

The titular Beast finally gets into things as it can control its body from afar like Bender.

It speaks and kills the Doctor, putting an end to all of this stuff.  Our Heroes escape and everyone is happy.

Damn, this one has some problems.  If you watch a Blood Island Film, you know what to expect.  Native People being killed.  John Ashley making out with every woman possible.  A Monster.  In this case, you get all of that...but it isn't as special.  They take the Reporter out of things too early and make the middle all about getting her back.  She gets to do nothing, other than be scared and then be kidnapped.  You could have some bit of agency for her, given all of her setup.  It's too early for that, so she's just Damsel in Distress.  The pacing hurts this one as the Jungle bits feel like padding.  They know what you want to see.  They know where this need to go.  For whatever reason, they waste a strong, Cold Open and take their sweet time getting there.  There's not enough meat on the bone here.  The Beast is strong at the beginning and then vanishes from all importance for an hour.  In a way, it foreshadowed Friday the 13th: Part 9's whole vibe, didn't it?  We still get a taste or two of what we want.  The previous Film gave you a Buffet, while this one gives you an amuse bouche.  The Acting and overall vibe here is alright, but this one is a bit of a retread.  Sadly, the only Sequel in the bunch suffers from being a Sequel.  I will leave you with a bit of a fun fact: both of Ashley's love interests played one-off Characters on the original Star Trek...

Next up, I dive into my pile of random Films to pick out something good.  Well, not necessarily good, but at least interesting.  Stay tuned...