The Beast Must Die
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Movie Reviews of The Beast Must Die
Movie Review: The ultimate prey
Summary: 2 Stars
Honestly, I wanted to love "The Beast Must Die." Who wouldn't adore the idea of a country-house murder mystery with an urban fantasy twist? But sadly most of the genius of this movie is in its concept rather than its execution -- most of it grinds by with tedious slowness, and most of the paper-thin characters are never really explored.
Millionaire Tom Newcliffe (Calvin Lockhart) has invited several guests to stay at his remote mansion -- a disgraced diplomat, a pianist, a jet-setter, a sicko artist, and an archaeologist/werewolf expert. Once they arrive, Newcliffe reveals that he knows one of them is a werewolf (just one? All of them except the archaeologist are suspect!).
He plans to wait until the afflicted person transforms at the full moon, and then hunt them down with his rifle. To this end, he has also placed an elaborate security system in and around his house. But when Newcliffe begins tracking a beast through his land, it begins killing people and animals around him -- and unless the others figure out who the wolf is, all of them are going to die.
Director Paul Annett seems to have the basic idea behind a country-house murder, but little actual idea how to pull it off -- which is pretty sad, because "Agatha Christie-style werewolf murder mystery!" is one of the coolest ideas I've ever heard of. Most of "The Beast Must Die" grinds by very slowly, with various people hanging around chitchatting vaguely about werewolves.
The movie is at its best when there's action, usually involving Tom running through the woods or zooming through the night in his helicopter. Unfortunately, these scenes don't last nearly long enough -- instead we get a lot of scenes involving the suspects griping and complaining about their host. Also, the werewolf is not exactly frightening -- it looks like a large, cuddly dog, not a ravening eater of human flesh.
And the people in this story aren't much better. Lockhart is pretty much the only actor who gets to shine here, as a cultured and intelligent man with a raw steely core. The rest of the cast is either forgettable, or wasted -- Michael Gambon barely says anything, Peter Cushing is reduced to a walking werewolf encyclopedia, and the beautiful Marlene Clark (of "Ganja and Hess") just sits around and whines at Lockhart.
"The Beast Must Die" is overflowing with potential, but only the action scenes take advantage of that potential -- the rest is a tepid mess.
Movie Review: Loved Peter Cushing . . .
Summary: 2 Stars
but hated this movie. What a silly premise - a big game hunter getting together people who happened to be in the vicinity of mutilation attacks on humans - and then he tells them that one of them is a werewolf and that he's going to kill it!!!??? Then, one by one each guest is systematically killed. The movie could have ended 1 hour earlier (I think it's 1 hour 30 minutes long), and had the same, tiring outcome. Very monotonous, and tedious. I wouldn't recommend it.Movie Review: Pretty awful!
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm a huge Peter Cushing fan but even HE couldn't pull this one out of the old excusado.
If you're going to make a campy, spoofy film like this one, you pretty much need to stick to the stereotypical expectations of the potential viewers. Here, the producers/director seized upon every bizarre element that they could latch on to.
I was looking for the macho, loud-mouthed Brit in khakis and an Aussie hat as the host and Big Game hunter -- nope. It turned out to be a cultured black guy, speaking the Queen's English, who generates the ambiance of Issac Hayes.
One of the folks at the estate is supposed to be a werewolf (a strange idea), and this "hunter" who looks and acts more like a high-end record producer, has sworn to take him or her out. He is assisted by the fact that there are about a million cameras and microphones (indoor mikes that would last until the first time it rained!) spread throughout the estate. It's coming up a full moon (which he says is good for generating werewolf morphs for 3 days) and our hero has an astute assistant who seems to monitor the million TV screens, etc., 24/7.
Yes, a werewolf appears but, even though they have the high-tech stuff, they can't seem to get a handle on who it is.... and it goes downhill from there.
The musical score ranges from a Starsky and Hutch-type theme to Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata". Pretty awful all-around.
So, I made it to the ending so that I might review it and I wish that I had not. I won't tell you how the end went down but I think that they just ran out of money to make the film and opted for the "quick-out."
There may be folks who like this film but I can't imagine why they would. It's really just a DISMAL production, even if you're a huge horror film fan.
Movie Review: It's not over 'till ya pull that trigger boy
Summary: 1 Stars
This is a landmark movie for a number of reasons;
1. It is the WORST werewolf movie of all time
2. It is the WORST Amicus movie of all time
3. Its is the WORST film Peter Cushing ever made- although he is still good in it.
Amicus have produced some great genre pictures throughout the 60's and 70's. The House the Dripped Blood and City of the Dead are two of my personal favorites. In their hayday Amicus made brilliant films under the direction of many of Englands finest genre directors such as John Moxely and Roy Ward Barker (a Hammer regular).
This film isn't fun, isn't entertaining, contains lackluster direction and a 'star' who hams it up and chews through his scenes like a galloping Elephant. Oh, and the 'wolf' is literally a dog with a wig. "That's allright i bet your thinking. The director was probably clever and shot it with inventive camera angles/clever lighting and edited the film carefully so that you never see too much." WRONG. It looks like a dog wearing a wig. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS!!!! If you want to see a good english horror film then go watch City of the Dead, Circus of Fear, The Wicker Man, Scars of Dracula...infact pretty much anything!
Movie Review: THIS FILM MUST DIE
Summary: 1 Stars
THE BEST PART OF THIS FILM WAS...THE END, BECAUSE, THANKFULLY, THIS MINDLESS, UNIMAGINABLE EXCUSE FOR A FILM CAME TO A MUCH DESERVED...END. POOR PETER CUSHING, HOW HE GOT ROPED INTO APPEARING IN THIS FILM, EVEN IN A MINOR ROLE, IS BEYOND ME. THIS FILM WAS LIKE, McMILLIAN AND WIFE MEETS BLACULA MEETS GERALDO RIVERA AT THE WILLOWBROOK MENTAL INSTITUTION ON STATEN ISLAND, BAD!!!!!!!! IF YOU WANT TO TORTURE SOMEONE, MAKE THEM WATCH THIS FILM. LIFE IS WAY TOO SHORT TO WASTE YOUR TIME WITH LOUSY FLICKS LIKE THIS FILM. THIS IS LIKE ONE OF THOSE FILMS YOU SAW AT A DRIVE-IN THEATER, WHEN YOU SPENT MORE TIME IN THE BACK SEAT OF YOUR CAR WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND THAN IN THE FRONT SEAT WATCHING GARBAGE LIKE THIS. AMICUS FILMS STRUCK OUT LIKE A-ROD WITH THE BASES LOADED ON THIS ONE.