The Beast Must Die (1974)

Plot Outline: Tom Newcliffe is a millionaire game hunter who has hunted almost everything and now wants the ultimate sport - to hunt a werewolf. He invites 6 guests to his huge country estate, all with previous links to cannibalism of some kind, and has rigged up a high-tech security and surveillance system to keep track of everyone. With the full moon approaching, someone is going to turn into a werewolf. But who?

The Review: First of all let me clear up something - this is not a Hammer film despite some of the names involved. This film and numerous others around the time (including I, Monster were produced by Amicus, a rival company set up to cash in on the horror craze. Amicus' films were never as good as Hammer's and this is a perfect example. The Agatha Christie style of guessing who the werewolf is was a great idea - but this is completely underplayed. We're hardly given any clues as to who the werewolf is and there is one guy who is given so much screen time that it's so obvious he isn't the werewolf! The film opens with a voice stating the nature of what is going to happen and tells you in advance to look for clues carefully. Then towards the end of the film, it freezes and a voice comes on asking the viewer who they think the werewolf is. It quickly runs down the suspects and a little clock comes on giving you 30 seconds to decide who it is. This is a little cheesy and would have worked better had there been more clues (and more suspects) but it's still a nice little touch which could have been done better. The film then moves on to the finale which is really reminiscent of the blood test scene from The Thing as each suspect takes it in turns to put a silver bullet in their mouth (remember silver kills werewolves). The actual werewolf is a rather poorly made-up dog which looks really unconvincing, especially when it licks it's mouth and wags its tails at it's victims as if it wants to play! The cast is alright but not enough of them are given anything worthwhile to do. Cushing, Gray and Gambon are all wasted - had this been a Hammer film then at least they'd have had bigger parts. But like the cast, the film seems to be based on a decent premise but just doesn't deliver the goods. It's fairly suspenseful at times but there is a lot of talking and a lot of accusations flying around.

Final Verdict: The Beast Must Die isn't a bad film. It's got a great idea but doesn't capitalise fully on it. Something like this would make a great remake, complete with the cheesy "Guess who" moment.

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