1974 brings with it an amazing film of beastly proportions. Take an ageless set up involving a group of people stuck at a mansion with one of them being a killer. Toss in a dash of blaxploitation and a helping lycanthropy, or as I like to call it, Dude you're a werewolf and you get the 1974 cult classic THE BEAST MUST DIE.
Now, don't get excited. Peter Cushing has a super small role in it. Calvin Lockhart, a mainstay of BADMOVIEART lovin' and Dynasty guest star, takes center stage. He owns a mansion where he likes to hunt things and he has a new obsession and that is hunting down a real life werewolf. The problem with wanting to hunt down a real life werewolf is WERE (get it!) do you find one. EASY! assemble a group of people that have all had to eat human flesh before and cover the dining room with WolfBane and wait...wait for the full moon. Certainly, one of the party guest will turn into a werewolf. At some point....
The premise is promising. An agatha christie story with some bite to it. Sadly, the idea is much more fun than the delivery. We sit waiting and waiting for someone to turn into a werewolf. We sit waiting for someone to get offed by a werewolf. We sit and wait as characters run around in day for night shots over and over. We sit and wait for THE WEREWOLF BREAK!!!
Yes, there is a werewolf break. 30 seconds for the viewer to take one last look at all the party guest and decide who they think is the werewolf. The narrator tells us to shout out our guesses. I shouted out, "BORIS!" since he is the closest I have ever come to a real life werewolf, that I know of....tick, tock goes the screen counter and then the BIG REVEAL!! It isn't very exciting and the werewolf is just a big german shepard with fur tied around its body. Not very impressing for the wait time on THE BEAST MUST DIE.
What really angers me about THE BEAST MUST DIE is that is uses one of the lowest forms of exploitation known to man. Kill the dog. You only kill the dog to upset people. You can be enjoying a fun little trashy movie and then they up and kill the dog. Such a shitty move I think.
THE BEAST MUST DIE is howling for a remake. If done with style and a bit of fun to it, the idea of a Werewolf Break is very good one. Sadly, there was no sequel. THE BEAST MUST DIE HARDER.
Of note: This film does have a killer scene with a guest member taking a sliver bullet and placing in their mouth to prove they are not a werewolf. The guest opens their hand and says, "Time to take my pill." GENIUS.
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