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The Beast Must Die (1973)
By lngway2go | April 16, 2008
(aka Black Werewolf)
Director: Paul Annett
Producer: Robert H. Greenberg, Max J. Rosenberg, Milton Subotsky
Starring: Calvin Lockhart, Peter Cushing, Marlene Clark, Anton Diffring, Charles Gray, Ciaran Madden, Tom Chadbon, Michael Gambon
By 1973 the British horror was in a pretty dire position, something which it would almost failed to ever recover from. It has only been in the last decade that things have started to look up for British horror - thankfully. In 1968, when George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead emerged onto the scene it dragged horror into the 20th Century. With a modern and edgy approach it left most European countries at a loss, apart from Italy that is, who embraced the change and took a bloody step away from the Gothic horrors of the 60’s.
Amicus, who produced some of the greatest British horror films of the 60’s and 70’s, set themselves apart from Hammer Films by setting a lot of their films in a modern day setting, and although they succeeded on many levels, their output was still stuck firmly in the 60’s Gothic horror tradition. The Beast Must Die is a prime example of horror being produced by a country trying to come to terms with modern horror, and failing to deliver.
Tom Newcliffe (Calvin Lockhart) is a wealthy hunter who has more money than sense. He has rigged up his entire body of land with ‘high-tech’ surveillance equipment so that he can make visual and audio contact with anything that moves. The computer system that has been installed can even distinguish man from beast, which can surely only take the fun and challenge out of hunting. Tom though, has a special prey in mind.The film opens with a man in black trying to escape a group of men with guns. His every step is tracked by Pavel (Anton Diffring) with the camera’s that are mounted in the trees and microphones buried in the ground. The equipment makes sure his every step is known. When they approach the man with guns drawn though, they let him go so they can continue to chase him, and it’s not until he winds up on the lawn of a large house that they shoot him.
The man isn’t dead though. The man was Tom, and he was testing out his equipment to make sure it’s fail safe, to be sure that his new toy is worth the money he paid. It obviously is because he’s pretty anxious to get down to the real hunt, the hunt for the ultimate beast. A werewolf.
Tom has invited a group of people to his mansion in an effort to discover which of them is a werewolf. In his obsessive need to discover the identity of the werewolf he eventually holds them prisoner on his land. All the guests seem to have a strange pasts, at some point or other they’ve either tasted the flesh of humans or people die mysteriously around them. This, I guess, obviously leads to the assumption of lycanthropy within the group, and Tom is full of resolve to discover and kill the werewolf as the full moon approaches.
The cast of actors that make up this group of suspects is actually pretty impressive. It includes Amicus regular and horror icon, Peter Cushing, who graces the screen with his ever welcome presence, as does Charles Gray (The Devil Rides Out, Rocky Horror Picture Show). Anton Diffring (Fahrenheit 451, Faceless) also makes an appearance as Tom’s assistant, monitoring the surveillance system. The lead, surprising given to black actor, Calvin Lockhart, is an obvious move to cash in on the the popularity of blaxploitation and give the film a modern or hip flavor.
Unfortunately any modern credentials The Beast Must Die gathers is killed from the very start by the use of the old William Castle gag to lure punters into the cinema… Viewers are blessed with the opportunity to guess the identity of the werewolf, and towards the end of the film there is an intermission of sorts so the audience can be directed to guess who they think the werewolf is. A decade earlier this would have been funny, but its kind of desperate at this point. It’s nothing like 1970’s Mark of the Devil, the marketing campaign for which gave audience goers vomit bags for when the film got a little too stomach turning. The Beast Must Die has nothing to offer there though, it’s much more like an episode of the Avengers than an out and out horror film.
There isn’t too much to the plot from here on out, the concept has been set up and we are left to watch and wait for the guests’ numbers to dwindle as the film progresses, each one being killed by the werewolf amongst the group. The murders all pretty much occur off screen so there really isn’t that much to look forward to. What’s perhaps more interesting is Tom’s ability as a hunter, not to mention that he’s off his rocker! We assume that Tom has hunted everything under the sun, it’s what has made him rich. Yet, when he comes face to face with the werewolf (a large black fluffy dog) numerous times, he does nothing but miss. Even with a machine gun he doesn’t seem to be able to hit his target, but he does accidentally shot a helicopter in an effort to save the pilot who is being mauled by the werewolf. By the time the “guess the werewolf” gag comes about, you really don’t care who the werewolf is, not that there is much logic in the guess. You may as well close your eyes and point.
So, The Beast Must Die is not the best example of British horror that there ever was, but its not horrendous either. As with many British horror films of this era, is it well made, which is probably one of it’s saving graces. The direction and look of the film is very solid, the plot just leaves a lot to be desired. The plot is rushed and empty, and there is a severe lack of characterization. With not much else going on we could really have done with getting to know the characters a bit better, but then the identity of the werewolf might then have been obvious, and cinema gag we would not have. Oh, the priorities!
As usual, Dark Sky films have done a fine job on this disc, perhaps more than they should have. They’ve loading the disc with extras, releasing a really nice print of this substandard British horror. But, any film featuring Peter Cushing deserves special treatment, and so Dark Sky should definitely be commended for their efforts.
Specifications: 16×9 Anamorphic Widescreen; Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono.
Special Features: Commentary by Paul Annett; Theatrical Trailers; Still Gallery; Cast and Crew Biographies; “Directing the Beast” featurette.
Topics: British Horror, Werewolf Films |