THE BEAST MUST DIE (1974)
Amicus Productions were best known for their horror anthologies. The rest of their output? Not so memorable. Perhaps it's because they were still in the mindset of making short stories, and simply padded everything else out to feature length. How else to explain why each cast member involved here is used so sparingly? Like the similarly bizarre mash-up of ideas in Scream and Scream Again there are some famous faces here. But they've been wasted for reasons that are never clear. Why not structure your film around them? This is a film that provides more questions than answers, which is a shame when many elements are fun and irreverent.
Maybe this would work better with its own chapters? Tom Newcliffe (Calvin Lockhart) is a self-made millionaire obsessed with hunting. There are pieces of The Most Dangerous Game here, but they're given a fresh coat of 1970s technology. His estate includes a mansion and grounds covered in cameras and microphones. Hidden within is a control room operated by Pavel (Anton Diffring) who has escaped the usual villain type-casting. Tom's mission is to unmask and hunt a werewolf, which he plans to arrange by holding a strange dinner party. Given the amount of subterfuge involved you'd think his scheme would be smarter, but he just invites them over and tells them everything.
The anthology format would have suited the guest list. Each one has supposed links to unsolved murders or violent episodes. Why not show those prior incidents? With a cast like this it would have been something to see. Peter Cushing and Charles Gray are the most obvious missed opportunities. Michael Gambon is also here. But instead of showing any past mysteries they're simply talked at by Tom, who makes wild accusations that seem to hold little water. There isn't even a lot of suspicious behaviour, they all just look annoyed. In fact most of the story is taken up by people chatting about werewolf clichés and losing their patience with this whole affair, much like the audience.
The big plan is to simply wait and see who transforms when the full moon rises. There are no rigorous tests, beyond passing some silverware around. Tom doesn't have any clever tricks outside of serving a gruesome meal. There are no restraints to make sure that all the guests are locked in a single room. There's also a surprising lack of real surveillance considering all the hardware involved. And what here is gets totally wrecked during the first, and only interesting, monster attack scene. It does at least foreshadow the Alien tracking device sequence five years later, but there's not much innovation elsewhere. When the control room is destroyed the central gimmick is lost and there's little else of note, especially the wolf effects.
The werewolf is, if I'm being generous, clearly just a dog running about. Which is strange when Tom keeps a pet dog himself, and there's no red-herring. There's not even a scene in which his guests consider that Tom might have just lost his mind. There are ways around a low budget that can still be interesting after all. I'm not even sure on how must money might be saved doing it this way, instead of making a simple Wolf-Man style face and hands. But the results are pretty disappointing when this is the major plot hook. Who is the werewolf? Essentially nobody if this is the way it's done. There's such a small amount of wolf action, so the potential pacing of a thriller in which characters die one by one is absent.
It doesn't help that the film is so strangely murky to look at. Even a new transfer for cult home video label Indicator is mired in heavy blues and greens. This is appropriate, at least some of the time, during the better day for night scenes. There is some atmosphere to be gained by giving a film this sort of visual feeling. But a lot of the time it's just too dark. Elsewhere the film just looks bad, when the day for night is at its worst. Can Tom's helicopter really cast a shadow that's so clear in the small hours? Was that a full moon, or just the sun shining through some clouds with a coloured filter? The famous 'werewolf break' scene adds a touch of eccentricity, but it's sorely lacking any style elsewhere.
Tom Newcliffe himself at least dresses in a way that exudes period cool. If only his tactics didn't amount to wandering around in the bushes or firing wildly from the chopper. He talks about being the best, but his actions don't tell the same story. Again some flashbacks would have been nice, something to show his skills or why he believes in werewolves so strongly. But this is another sliver of a great idea wasted in the execution. It's often an entertaining movie thanks to his lead performance, as both hunting antagonist and detective. The rest of the cast just aren't suspicious or sinister enough to warrant being held prisoner. There are glimpses of what could have been in a shorter form or a revised script. But it's often just a slog, even with so much 1970s music and fashion.
2/5
BONUS REVIEW
AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS! (1973)
Elsewhere, here's another story in which Peter Cushing is mostly wasted. Herbert Lom is also on the call sheet, but he's got even less screen time. Again this feels like a chapter from a horror portmanteau stretched beyond it's effective length. And yet again there's a great title that the film itself can never live up to. The familiar elements don't stop there with the appearance of a ghostly severed hand that shows up to cause havoc every so often. Haunted houses and slowly moving appendages have been done better elsewhere by this production team. The results are a creeping, but never creepy, tale involving supernatural nightmares and family curses.
Charles Fengriffen (Ian Ogilvy) and his new wife Catherine (Stephanie Beacham) arrive at the family estate in which they plan to raise their first child. But soon visions of missing hands, and missing eyes, make Catherine regret staying in the countryside. A sinister woodsman hanging around the property also isn't helping. What is going on and what is the connection with Sir Henry Fengriffen, (Herbert Lom) Charles' grandfather? The reasons aren't too shocking but they are revealed incredibly slowly, as Catherine sees one strange vision after another. If only she had some chemistry with her husband. It would make her choice to obey him and stay in the house understandable.
Eventually Doctor Pope (Peter Cushing) shows up and there's some intriguing discussion of mental illness and demonic entities. Is Catherine's child a result of her marital union or the family curse? Is Charles complicit? Unfortunately the results are just too melodramatic instead of ever being suspenseful. There's a strange lack of decisive action, despite several ghostly visitations. So many suspicious people turning their heads when deaths start to occur also becomes irritating. When Sir Henry shows up, finally in a brief flashback, it's too little too late. Perhaps the story should have been set in his time, to show his change from debauched noble to cursed madman? But telling instead of showing is another all too familiar problem.
2/5
