The Beast Must Die

"A rich sportsman invites eight guests to his house with the knowledge that one of them is a werewolf. He has devised a game of suspense wherein the guests must guess whom is the wolf. At the full moon, the game will end as the werewolf unwittingly reveals himself, and the others hunt him down to add his pelt to the sportsman's trophies. The film features a special "guess-who" sequence at the end, in which the viewer is given thirty seconds to decide "who done it."

The Beast Must Die is a whodunit with a difference, the difference being as the movie intro states "This film is a detective story in which you are the detective. The question is not 'who is the murderer?' but 'Who is the werewolf?' After all the clues have been shown you will get a chance to give your answer."

Tom Newcliffe is a rich businessman has clawed his way to the top by sheer hard work and determination. With his great passion for hunting he has set his heart on a new prize. Tom wishes to bag himself a werewolf no less, and for this he has rigged up his country mansion for the task. The mansion and grounds bristle with oodles of new fangled gadgetry specifically for tracking a would-be werewolf, ensuring that one cannot get in undetected, but more importantly, that one cannot escape. Eight guests have been assembled all because a lady loves... No hold on, what was I thinking? Anyway, eight guests have been assembled because Tom suspects that there is amongst them a werewolf in sheep's clothing, but which one? There will be a short break in the movie for you to make up you mind before the culprit is finally revealed.

This movie shrieks sheer cheesy seventies-ness, rolling along with a jazzy soundtrack that may inadvertently get your foot tapping. It is a bit ridiculous really, what with Dr. Christopher Lundgren (Peter Cushing) going off on one whenever the case sees fit "this gland is the vital element in the condition that creates a werewolf" Yeah, yeah whatever, here have a bone. What was that accent anyway Peter? Paul Foote (Tom Chadbon) wonders if he should shave the backs of his hands. Arthur Bennington (Charles Gray) acts in his usual manner, but without being able to get his hands on a pussy. Tom Newcliffe (Calvin Lockhart) spends a great deal of time running around like a lunatic, cultivating wolfbane and handing around silver candle sticks in the belief that these will detect his prey, while the rest of the cast are doing all sorts of 'suspicious' things purely for the sake of keeping us guessing. Although the movie is not especially that scary it is very 70s and good amusing fun to boot.

Reviewed: 09/04/07

Post a Comment

• Movies

Ten Little Indians (1965)
Ten Little Indians (1989)
And Then There Were None (1945)
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Werewolf of London (1935)
The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
The Werewolf (1913)
Legend of the Werewolf (1975)
The Wolf Man (1941)
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
Suspicions (1995)
Desyat negrityat (1987)
The Howling (1981)

• Literature

There Shall Be No Darkness, James Blish
Ten Little Indians, Agatha Christie