The Beast Must Die! Year: 1974 Director: Paul Annett Written by: Michael Winder Threat: Werewolf Weapon of Choice: Gun Based upon: Story "There Shall Be No Darkness" by James Blish Color/B&W/3D: Color Language: English Country of Origin: U.S.A. IMDb page:

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Rish's Reviews
There have been several gimmicks created to stir up interest in movies over the years (besides the obvious motion, sound, colour, and nudity, that is)--for example, William Castle was famous for his showman's draws: insuring against death by fright, the ghost-seeing glasses in 13 Ghosts, the skeleton that swung down into the audience in House On Haunted Hill, and most famously, the Tingle-Vision in The Tingler. A friend of mine told me recently about Sense-Surround movies of the early 70's, everybody's seen a movie in 3-D before, and there was even Clue not too long ago, with the gimmick of different possible endings.
It was a unique gimmick advertised on the poster and DVD release that made me pick up The Beast Must Die! Without it, I might never have given it a second glance. And rightly so, as a pal of mine and I found out one summer night.
Famous hunter Tom Newcliffe, a handsome, swaggering African man, is introduced showing off the unbelievable surveillance of his palatial estate. He has hired a renowned security expert to ensure that no one can move through his property without being heard or seen. The reason for such measures is later revealed--Newcliffe has invited several guests to his home for the weekend (under mysterious pretenses), on the first day of which he announces the motivation for his actions--he believes that one of them is a werewolf. He has set up the perfect conditions--wolfsbane, silver, three nights of full moons--to witness the transformation and hunt down the most elusive of animals. But who is the werewolf?
You see, that's where the gimmick comes in. We are told at the beginning (and on the art) that at a point late in the film, there will be a Werewolf Break, during which it's up to audience members to decide who the lycanthrope is. Clues are supposedly dropped so that astute audience members will be rewarded for their Holmesian attributes (that's SHERLOCK Holmes, not John, boys and girls). Is the monster Doctor Lundgren, played with Germanic poise by Peter Cushing? Is it the prancing, effeminate European guy with hairy knuckles? Is it the cultured Brit or his Seventies babe girlfriend? Is it the guy from The Rocky Horror Picture Show that looks like a Bond villain? Is it Professor Plum, with the candlestick, in the boys' shower room? Or is it the arrogant hunter's blacksploitation princess wife?
Your guess is as good as mine. You see, the Werewolf Break is just a gimmick, folks, and whether you've paid close attention and taken notes, or just snuck in after seeing a Russ Meyer film, you've got as good a chance at figuring it out. We came up with a couple of theories, but we ended up being wrong, because we bothered to actually believe there was a method to it all. Nope. When it is revealed, there's no sense to it, it feels random, and obviously it IS random. Gimmicks can be cheap and underhanded tricks, but this one I found personally insulting.
Beyond that, the movie was extremely lame. It was extraordinarily cheap, and much, much duller than it had any right to be. From the beginning, with its Seventies blacksploitation music (and choice of lead actor), I was waiting for the horror to begin, and it never actually did. All the full moon evenings are shot day-for-night, and very poorly at that, never creating atmosphere or scares. Cushing was totally wasted, although he does get in a scientific explanation for werewolfism that's at least interesting (and from the source story). The main black dude (Calvin Lockhart) was an arrogant, unlikable ponce who overacted like a Muppet. There's a flaw in the whole idea, in the idea that he could know ONE of his guests (and only one) was a werewolf, yet not know which one. Also, if you were a werewolf, and you knew you would transform and kill on a certain night, would you accept a party invitation for that date? Worst of all, when the werewolf rears its fuzzy head, it's nothing more than a big black Alaskan Malamute with tongue lolling and, in one embarrassing shot, its tail wagging.
No, I take it back, that WASN'T the worst thing. The worst thing was that this idea-- getting a group together in an inescapable compound with a famous hunter and one of them's a werewolf--is a good one, with enormous potential. My pal and I talked about how we wanted the film to go, how it might have ended, what would have been scary and make more sense, and it's terribly frustrating to see good in something that ends up being horribly bad. Maybe someday we'll remake it right . . . so it needs no gimmick.
Reviewed: August 29, 2001

Total Skulls: Not Available