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The Beast Must Die

 
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The Beast Must Die

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The Beast Must Die
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  • Director: Paul Annett
  • AMG Rating: starstar
  • Genre: Mystery
  • Movie Type: Supernatural Horror, Creature Film
  • Themes: Murder Investigations, Werewolves
  • Main Cast: Carl Bohun, Sam Mansaray
  • Release Year: 1972
  • Country: UK
  • Run Time: 92 minutes

Plot

In this little horror film, a wealthy sportsman (Calvin Lockhart) invites a house full of guests to a big-game hunt that he's devised. He's sure that one of the guests is a werewolf, and he intends to stalk it, find it, and kill it. As a film viewer, you are alerted at the outset that a mystery awaits and that clues will be unveiled that can point to the identity of the werewolf. In fact, near the conclusion, the film has inserted a 30-second interlude during which you must decide, once and for all, who the hunted beast is. This film is based upon a story by James Blish titled There Shall Be No Darkness. ~ All Movie Guide

Review

The non-anthology output of Amicus Productions tended to be hit-and-miss, but The Beast Must Die is an interesting if lightweight horror-mystery hybrid from the studio. The script derives its inspiration from The Most Dangerous Game, Ten Little Indians, and any number of werewolf films to create its own offbeat hybrid of thrills and chills. It is sometimes a bit too reliant on talk over action, but the amusing, often dishy dialogue helps (the story also boasts an endearingly kitschy "werewolf break" gimmick that is right out of the William Castle playbook). Director Paul Annett's work isn't quite stylish enough to capitalize on the film's offbeat mix of genres, but he unfurls the storyline at a steady clip and makes great use of a stellar cast. Said cast is probably the film's biggest hook; Calvin Lockhart delivers an engagingly hammy performance as the film's master hunter, while Peter Cushing lends a subtle but charismatic presence as the story's resident scientist, and Tom Chadbon steals a few scenes as the wiliest of the guests. Charles Gray, Anton Diffring, and Marlene Clark are given less to do, but all do solid work and their presence is likely to up the interest level for B-movie fans. In short, The Beast Must Die is modest but entertaining stuff. It might be a little too old-fashioned for younger viewers, but veteran horror fans are likely to be amused. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide

Cast

Eric Carte - 2nd Hunter; Tom Chadbon - Paul Foote; Marlene Clark - Caroline Newcliffe; Peter Cushing - Dr. Christopher Lundgren; Anton Diffring - Pavel; Michael Gambon - Jan Jamokowksi; Charles Gray - Bennington; Calvin Lockhart - Tom Newcliffe; Andrew Lodge - Pilot; Ciaran Madden - Davina Gilmore; Carl Bohun - 1st Hunter; Sam Mansaray - Butler

Credit

John Stoll - Art Director, Richard Jenkins - First Assistant Director, Paul Annett - Director, Peter Tanner - Editor, Douglas Gamley - Composer (Music Score), Jack Hildyard - Cinematographer, John Dark - Producer, Max Rosenberg - Producer, Milton Subotsky - Producer, Ken Ritchie - Sound/Sound Designer, Michael Winder - Screenwriter, James Blish - Short Story Author

Similar Movies

The Howling; Ten Little Indians; Silver Bullet; Vampire Circus; The Most Dangerous Game
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Wikipedia: The Beast Must Die (film)
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The Beast Must Die
Directed by Paul Annett
Produced by John Dark
Max Rosenberg
Milton Subotsky
Written by Short story:
James Blish
Screenplay:
Michael Winder
Music by Douglas Gamley
Cinematography Jack Hildyard
Editing by Peter Tanner
Distributed by Amicus Productions
British Lion Films
Release date(s) 1974
Running time 92 min.
Language English

The Beast Must Die is a 1974 horror film directed by Paul Annett. The screenplay was written by Michael Winder, based on the short story "There Shall Be No Darkness" by James Blish. The film starred Calvin Lockhart, Peter Cushing, Marlene Clark, Michael Gambon, Charles Gray, Anton Diffring, Ciaran Madden, and Tom Chadbon.

Plot summary

The millionaire Tom Newcliffe (Calvin Lockhart) invites a group of people to spend some time in his mansion, along with his wife Caroline (Marlene Clark) where he reveals that one of them is a werewolf, and therefore must be killed. The group is composed of:

They all stay in the mansion where they are submitted to various tests to force them to transform into a werewolf. The entire house is under surveillance by Tom and Pavel (Anton Diffring), who doesn't believe in werewolves. The only way to determine the identity of the werewolf is submitting the one to the full moon while the wolfsbane is mixed in the air. Tom makes them grab silver objects to provoke allergic reactions, but this proves unsuccessful. One night, Pavel is killed by the werewolf, which makes Tom more and more obsessive in finding the werewolf, driving his wife crazy. Tom focuses his suspicions under Paul Foote, who reportedly was arrested because he has eaten human flesh. Foote denies he is the werewolf. During one night, the werewolf kills the helicopter's pilot, Caroline's dog and Arthur Bennington in his bed.

Tom submits the remaining group to one final test: put a silver bullet in the mouth. Caroline puts the silver in her mouth and starts to transform into the werewolf. She (fully transformed) attacks Tom and he kills her, making him very distraught because Caroline was alongside him when the werewolf killed her dog. Prof. Lundgren deduces that she contracted the werewolf disease while taking care of her dog's wounds. Tom gets angry and promptly thinks Foote is the werewolf, but Foote is also found dead. To avenge his wife, he enters the woods surrounding the mansion to hunt the werewolf. He finds the beast and kills it. The werewolf is revealed to be Jan, the pianist.

Tom returns to Prof. Lundgren and Davina, and he realizes he was bitten by the werewolf, thus making him the next victim. Not wanting to be another creature, Tom locks himself in the mansion and shoots himself in the head with a silver bullet.

The viewer is invited to unfold the mystery along with the characters. Near the ending, there's a 30 second break called "The Werewolf Break", where the audience is asked to guess who's the werewolf, based around the events of the movie.

Remarks

Due to the small production budget, the "werewolf" was played by an Alsatian.

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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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