This and Attack of the Crab Monsters were the two big hits of Roger Corman’s early career – both were based on smart scripts by Charles Griffith. This one was co-written by Mark Hanna, who worked on a number of films with Griffith before going their separate ways.
Corman was starting to get into his stride about this time – moving the camera about a bit, the story is better. Look at how he cheaply gets some extra movement by panning across paintings during the opening credits. His handling is a lot more sure than in Crab Monsters - maybe because most of it takes place in a house or around LA as opposed to on an island.
The plot concerns an alien who needs blood to survive. He hires a nurse (Beverly Garland) to help him with transfusions. Like Crab Monsters the exposition is complicated, but basically the alien is on a mission from his home planet to find food.
Garland delivers a typically fine performance; there’s a sexy scene where Garland is putting on stockings and talking to a sleazy man over a partition. Dick Miller’s small bit as a door-to-door vacuum salesman who winds up a meal is an early indication of the black humour which would come to full flourish in Bucket of Blood and Little Shop of Horrors. It’s actually a comic bit that jars with what’s proceeded. Actually, come to think of it, maybe it doesn't - there's a fridge full of blood and an intergalactic phone. Maybe it was all meant to be a spoof.
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