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The Beast Must Die

The Beast Must Die

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Good Werewolf Film with Surprising Twists!
Review: Although this film is desperately in need of a negative re-mastering and restoration before it was put out on video, the film itself and storyline will hold your attention. Just when you think you know whom may be the werewolf, they gotcha! There is an audience break in the film where a clock is put on screen (remember the game show "Beat The Clock"?) and giving you a chance to guess which person in the room may be the werewolf, then the film continues on to the grand finale. Please watch the film to the very end because there are a couple twists.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Who's the werewolf?
Review: By this time British horror was sinking and the companies knew it. It wasn't the companies fault, it was the fact that the market had changed and if they wanted to tread water then they had put a new face on their product. Amicus decided to make a werewolf tale set in modern day and then throw in elements of mystery and add a dash of blackploitation for good measure and here is the result. Calvin Lockhart invited a group of people to his secluded mansion because he is certain that one of them is a werewolf. He has equipped his area with all kinds of monitors and tracking devices and he hopes to flush out the werewolf and kill it. We have plenty of groovy music, a strange bunch of suspects (none of them seem particulary shocked when they are told why they are there) and a few plot twists here and there. The film oftentimes seems very off kilter and uneven, but you still watch because the whole concept is fairly interesting. The film seems a little [low-budget] due to the werewolf being a dog with an extra fur coat being the werewolf. Calvin Lockhart tries and he is fair, but having legendary Peter Cushing, steely-eyed Charles Gray and ice cold Anton Differing in the supporting cast really gives this one a boost. Not a great one, but certainly interesting.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Forgotten gem!
Review: I first discovered this movie about 15 years ago when it ran on a rainy Saturday afternoon throwaway slot. This isn't a great movie, but it's a great potboiler, where even if you know how it's going to end, you like watching the characters unravel throughout the story. Camp at its best.

You don't see movies like this anymore, probably because they don't use self-conscious ironic detachment. The (over)acting must be good enough that the players actually inhabit their roles. Play it straight and it's unwatchable. The effects aren't so special, so it's just as well that the action is implicit rather than graphic.

Everything about the film is dated--there's no mistaking the costumes or the music for any era other than the mid 70's. For that matter, the voiceover, the ticking clock and the freeze-frame shots of the characters probably looked dated even when the movie was new. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Later the horror film evolved into the mindless slasher film in the late-70's-early 80's, where the killer was only a setpiece, and then into the 90's, where the ironic, self-aware Scream type picture cannibalized the former genre. So hungry were moviegoers for subtle, sincere horror that they drooled over Blair Witch. It was a valiant effort, the spookfest had all been done better, when films relied on pacing, acting and camera angle to scare the audience instead of gore.

It's surprising enough that this film merited a DVD release at all and I was so thankful to find it that I didn't even care about the lack of outtakes and extra comments. The next rainy Saturday afternoon I'm watching this again.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Forgotten gem!
Review: I first discovered this movie about 15 years ago when it ran on a rainy Saturday afternoon throwaway slot. This isn't a great movie, but it's a great potboiler, where even if you know how it's going to end, you like watching the characters unravel throughout the story. Camp at its best.

You don't see movies like this anymore, probably because they don't use self-conscious ironic detachment. The (over)acting must be good enough that the players actually inhabit their roles. Play it straight and it's unwatchable. The effects aren't so special, so it's just as well that the action is implicit rather than graphic.

Everything about the film is dated--there's no mistaking the costumes or the music for any era other than the mid 70's. For that matter, the voiceover, the ticking clock and the freeze-frame shots of the characters probably looked dated even when the movie was new. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Later the horror film evolved into the mindless slasher film in the late-70's-early 80's, where the killer was only a setpiece, and then into the 90's, where the ironic, self-aware Scream type picture cannibalized the former genre. So hungry were moviegoers for subtle, sincere horror that they drooled over Blair Witch. It was a valiant effort, the spookfest had all been done better, when films relied on pacing, acting and camera angle to scare the audience instead of gore.

It's surprising enough that this film merited a DVD release at all and I was so thankful to find it that I didn't even care about the lack of outtakes and extra comments. The next rainy Saturday afternoon I'm watching this again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Superfun and Original Werewolf Flick
Review: I first saw this film on tv in my childhood. It still is great today. It is essentially a who done it, except in this case, who's the werewolf. The acting is great, the characters are interesting and the film has that wonderful 70s feel we love. Cushing and Annett are great fun to watch. The killings are not overly gory and the suspense runs high. If you love 70s horror and don't mind some silliness grab this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Pure comedy with 70's cheese and groove!
Review: I love this film! It was`nt really meant to be taken that seriously back in 1974 when it first appeared, almost 30 years on, it can only get better! The parts that are meant to be funny are good, the parts that are NOT are even more hilarious! You can't help but think that everyone on set had a great time making this film and it shows. Highlights include; Peter Cushing's dodgy accent, meant to be German but frequently sounding Indian, Calvin Lockhart's accent and mannerisms, The werewolf who looks more like an Alsation dog, the dodgy (but funny) bad acting in general, groovy 70's tunes plus fab clothing and to cap it all the legendary 'Werewolf break'. You`ll have to watch the film to know what I'm on about. All in all, a great comedy/horror with groovy 70's funk capped with a copious amount of cheese, making for an entertaining and hilarious night in front of the box. Highly recommended.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Pure comedy with 70's cheese and groove!
Review: I love this film! It was`nt really meant to be taken that seriously back in 1974 when it first appeared, almost 30 years on, it can only get better! The parts that are meant to be funny are good, the parts that are NOT are even more hilarious! You can't help but think that everyone on set had a great time making this film and it shows. Highlights include; Peter Cushing's dodgy accent, meant to be German but frequently sounding Indian, Calvin Lockhart's accent and mannerisms, The werewolf who looks more like an Alsation dog, the dodgy (but funny) bad acting in general, groovy 70's tunes plus fab clothing and to cap it all the legendary 'Werewolf break'. You`ll have to watch the film to know what I'm on about. All in all, a great comedy/horror with groovy 70's funk capped with a copious amount of cheese, making for an entertaining and hilarious night in front of the box. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN
Review: I recently purchased this film on DVD purely as a matter of nostalgia.

This flick first caught my attention one dark, lonely night when I was five or six years old and suffering from my seasonal allergies and asthma attack. This movie both entertained me and scared me to death. It has been twenty-three years since I last saw it and, to my surprise, I still think it's a really good movie, though for very different reasons.

Sure they put a fur coat on a black dog and expect us to buy it as a wolf. Sure the soundtrack seems better suited to "Shaft in Merry Ol' England" as opposed to a modern gothic horror film. Sure the acting is heavily stylized and, at times, just plain goofy. Sure the "Werewolf Break" in which the audience is given thirty seconds in which to dissect a fairly uncomplicated mystery is way out in Goofyville, but who cares?! Anyone who finds fault with the above is, quite obviously, someone who should not be watching this film in the first place. Like many films made in the long ago and far away, you have to accept a certain level of culture shock. Like many horror films you have to be willing to suspend your disbelief nigh on to the breaking point. Like many British films you have to put up with acting that seems more suited to Stratford on Avon than Dogma 95. Accept these as simple facts of life or don't rent it, folks. It's just that simple.

I've read several negative reviews for this particular film which stress the above elements over and over again. Surprisingly, many of these are written by avowed horror hounds who would probably love the movie if it had nudity and/or more gore. I'm certainly no prude and would turn away from neither should a "Director's Cut" of "The Beast Must Die" ever surface. Then again, sometimes it really is nice to see a horror film like this or any of the Amicus vignette films of the sixties and seventies ("Tales From the Crypt," "The Vault of Horror," "Asylum," et. al.) They have an innocense and a joviality that you just don't find often enough. Though some recent horror fare (most notably the "House on Haunted Hill" remake and any episode of HBO's "Tales From the Crypt") attempt to emulate the feel of a picture like this, they always seem to miss the mark. Perhaps its because they are much more willing to let fly with the gore and nudity. The resulting product hence becoming muddled somewhere between childishness and exploitativeness. (For a further discussion of this see the write-up of Stephen King's "Maximum Overdrive" penned by the good people at Jabootu.com).

In closing, if you like seventies kitsch or Brit horror of the period or if you just find yourself in the mood for a watchable mystery, you could do a hell of a lot worse. I mean, "Murder, She Wrote" could still be on the air.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A laugher from start to finish
Review: If you are looking for a movie to catagorize the poor films of the 70s, here it is. A rediculous plot and poor acting go right with hilarious special affects, including the dog falling through the sun roof and the dude being electracuted by a chain-link fence. It was worth it for me, because me and my friends needed to rent 1 more movie to get a discount, and the comical title and our lack of time forced us to hurridly pick this turkey. Plus it was fun to rip on everything in a MST3K-style manor with my buddies that night, but certainly dont spend 25 bucks on this disasterpiece.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A laugher from start to finish
Review: If you are looking for a movie to catagorize the poor films of the 70s, here it is. A rediculous plot and poor acting go right with hilarious special affects, including the dog falling through the sun roof and the dude being electracuted by a chain-link fence. It was worth it for me, because me and my friends needed to rent 1 more movie to get a discount, and the comical title and our lack of time forced us to hurridly pick this turkey. Plus it was fun to rip on everything in a MST3K-style manor with my buddies that night, but certainly dont spend 25 bucks on this disasterpiece.


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