An ultra cheap 1950s monster flick originally released by American Releasing Corporation (which was soon to become American International Pictures), THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES sees its way onto Blu-ray courtesy of Scorpion Releasing.

THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES has a family consisting of dad (Paul Birch from THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED and NOT OF THIS EARTH), mom (Lorna Thayer, best known as the waitress who Jack Nicholson gives his “chicken salad between your knees” lecture to in Bob Rafelson’s FIVE EASY PIECES) and teenage daughter (Donna Cole), living on a ranch house in the California desert. An object believed to be an aircraft zooms over their land, breaking all the glass in the house, including mom’s precious China. In actuality, it was a passing UFO (which turns out to resemble an altered coffee percolator) which can control various animals (including chickens, birds, cows and pet dog Buck) and transmits annoyingly loud sound waves that can draw people to it. When the dysfunctional family isn’t getting on each other’s nerves, they pull together to stand up to the unfriendly, pint-sized threat from another world.

THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES was actually the concoction of AIP co-head James Nicholson, who came up with the catchy title, as well as a poster campaign based on, before any cameras actually rolled or any script was put to paper. Of course, the film does not deliver anything promised by the title or the poster (no beast with a million eyes), so what we get is a minimalist but nonetheless interesting effort shot on location, which pits an evil alien against the human condition on a miniscule $23,000 budget. Production values are almost as poor as THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS, but there’s something about the film that makes it hard to turn away from, and its ineptitude can actually be engaging. Executive producer Roger Corman apparently directed a good amount of it along with an uncredited Lou Place, and some sources say producer David Kramarsky (the credited director) didn’t helm any of it. When the alien monster (voiced by Bruce Whitmore) is finally revealed, it’s the trademark work of Paul Blaisdell (his very first film, and Famous Monsters editor Forry Ackerman got him the gig), but it’s basically a hand puppet hiding inside a mechanical coffee pot. Future “Bewitched” star Dick Sargent (the second “Darren”) is the lanky deputy, Leonard Tarver (in terrible greasepaint make-up made to look like wrinkles) is the perverted mute handyman referred to as “him,” and former silent film actor Chester Conklin does some unfunny comic relief before being stampeded by an enraged cow.

Previously available on DVD as part of MGM’s “Midnite Movies” double feature series (paired with THE PHANTOM FROM 10,000 LEAGUES, now on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber), Scorpion Releasing has now licensed the film from MGM for this Blu-ray. Not present on this new transfer is a one-minute prologue (likely added for television airings) featuring narration (of the alien invader’s voice) over scenes of a rocketship, a spinning globe and a giant eye superimposed over scenes from the movie. The Blu-ray is presented full frame (an unmatted 1:37:1) and the 1080p HD rendering looks quite nice, with excellent filmic grain structure and the black and white image is very clean, boasting rich picture detail and nice contrasts. Black levels are impressively deep, and whites and grays are stable. The audio comes in a DTS-HD master audio mono track, which is perfectly clear in its mix of dialogue, music and sound effects. Optional English SDH subtitles are included.