|
|
 |
Beast Must Die (The)
R0 - America - Dark Sky Films Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak and Stevie McCleary (1st March 2007). |
|
The Film
 "The Beast Must Die" Yup, that sure seems like the thing to do. One of these eight people will turn into a werewolf. Can you guess who it is when we stop the film for the WEREWOLF BREAK? See it ... solve it ... but don't tell! Excited? Let's roll. "The Beast Must Die" comes to us from way back in 1974 and centers on this basic premise: Tom Newcliffe (Calvin Lockhart) a millionaire game hunter has lured a group of people to his mansion because he is convinced one of them is a werewolf. His evidence is...um, people tend to die when they're around. Oh and one of the group once ate human flesh on a dare with the rest of his Med school friends. So, obviously, he's a supernatural creature of the night. Over the three nights of the full moon he endeavors to discern which of his guests is...the werewolf. Because he needs to kill it, as it has never been killed by man before. Even though the Professor (Peter Cushing!), who is a wealth of werewolf knowledge, knows how to kill this creature that he has never been seen nor killed. Nevertheless, the beast must die, sounds fair. I'm sure it's quite a bother. This movie is tremendously fun to watch. Mainly because it is pretty bad but with enough to keep you entertained throughout. The film begins with a glorious voiceover that states that this is no ordinary movie. This is a detective story. And at a certain part of the film there will be a 'werewolf break' where you get a minute to think over who might be the werewolf. All in all, this was a pretty cool idea to make the movie more original. But it's not as interesting as the voice of the guy doing the narration. He is worth the price of admission alone. The movie begins proper next, with a black man being hunted in the woods. I flipped over the DVD case to check I hadn't accidentally grabbed a copy of "Birth of a Nation" (1915). I did notice that they have a picture on the back of most of the party-goers and a werewolf. "I wonder who the werewolf is" I did wonder. Anyhoo, it turns out that it's all a big ruse and the man being chased actually owns the place. That'll teach ignorant people of the 1970's to jump to stereotypical conclusions! It turns out he's the one that brought them here, for the aforementioned 'the beast must die' reasons. So far the film has played out like every 1980's TV show I used to watch, which really indicates how far behind TV was back then. The millionaire, named Tom, discusses the sensors he has set up around the place with his security head. He mentions that the microphones sticking out of the ground are quite good. But "What if they get knocked or trampled on?" The security head assures him that won't be a problem, because they also buried a whole lot of microphones. And they most certainly won't get knocked. So...why are any of them above ground? Yeah, that's pretty much the level of logic the whole film uses. He says there are video monitors located everywhere. Which there are, right up until the moment when he needs to see the werewolf. Then suddenly there's 'no visual'. Tom also claims to be a hunter, yet all he seems capable of doing is shooting and missing. Right up until he starts hunting with a machine gun. Worst. Hunter. Ever. He certainly causes some damage with that gun, just not to anything he was aiming for. The most glorious part is when he tries to save his pilot, who is being eaten by the werewolf, by shooting at him. Shooting at him with the machine gun. Shockingly, he somehow manages to miss both the wolf and his friend. He sure does hit the helicopter right behind them though ... Tom also displays the greatest hunter logic ever. He thinks one of these people is a werewolf, right? So, does he pull out the plot from "The Thing" ((1982) and chain everyone up during the full moon while waiting for someone to turn? Or does he just let them go off wherever they want to and then need to run around constantly wondering where each person was when the werewolf attacked? Oh, you know it's the second option ... Tom also begins to suspect his wife Caroline (Marlene Clark) might be the werewolf. This makes sense considering she's always been with him at this remote getaway and couldn't be the werewolf. Still, I think Tom might be slowly losing his mind. It's hard to tell. One thing is for certain though; he's tremendously fun to listen to as he gets weirder and weirder as the days go on. Plus, he eventually utters the title of the film. I was hanging out for that and it does happen. So how are the werewolf effects, you ask? They painted a small German shepherd black. It's like a third of the size of a human being. That's just stunning logic there. Nothing looks as intimidating as a dog with its tongue hanging out, happily panting. And it looks so happy when it's chasing people. Aw, that's sweet. This isn't a great movie. But if you're a fan of this genre/style of film, then it's definitely fun and worth a watch. Cushing is hilarious as the knowledgeable professor. The rest of the cast do a solid job. It even has Dr Scott (Jonathan Adams) from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975)...that's quality right there. Plus the 'werewolf break', while very cheesy, is a fun experiment. You could do much worse. Just make sure you watch it with a group of friends and some booze. You probably can't go wrong there.
Video
Presented in a widescreen ratio of 1.76:1, this anamorphic transfer is a fine effort, mastered from its original 35mm negative the image is generally sharp although some shots appear soft. Film grain can be seen throughout most of the print and some colors appear muted but generally colors are balanced quite well. I found that skin tones are natural and blacks are also bold. A few speckles and dirt pops up but nothing that impairs the transfer.
Audio
A single English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track is included, the track is very good considering it's a mono effort and presents the dialogue cleanly and without distortion, music is well represented and blares through the front speaker. Depth is limited but otherwise there isn't much else to complain about, overall it's a very good track that suits the film. Optional subtitles are included in English.
Extras
First up we have a feature-length audio commentary with the film's director Paul Annett which is moderated by Jonathan Sothcott. Sothcott's role is questionnaire as he poses the director with a few as the track progresses. Annett talks about how he got involved with Amicus and his experience in working with the producers who gave him free reign over the production. He comments on shooting on the Shepperton lot as well as providing some interesting trivia about the casting and how he originally wanted Shirley Bassey in one of the roles. Other topics of conversation include casting a black male as the star and taking advantage of the blacksploitation trend going on at the time, even though this film is not in that genre. He also talks about the photography, production design and how stylized it was, the costumes and working with the cast among other things. Next is "Directing the Beast" a featurette that runs for 12 minutes 57 seconds and is basically an interview with the director, this clip has a lot of repetition as the majority of what's covered here was covered in the commentary. Although we do get a rather humorous story of how he originally met Peter Cushing and Vincent Price for the first time. A photo gallery is next and includes 24 images of lobby cards, stills and posters. Following that is a selection of biographies for: - Paul Annett which includes 3 text pages. - Peter Cushing which includes 12 text pages. - Anton Diffring which includes 8 text pages. - Charles Gray which includes 5 text pages. - Calvin Lockhart which includes 4 text pages. - Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotski which includes 7 text pages. The film's original theatrical trailer is included and runs for 59 seconds. Bonus trailers are also included for: - "And Now The Screaming Starts" which runs for 56 seconds. - "Asylum" which runs for 1 minute 26 seconds. Rounding out the extras is a 2-panel booklet that features some liner notes.
Overall
|
|||||
|