Rent The Beast Must Die (1974)
3.0 of 5 from 98 ratings
1h 28min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Wealthy businessman and skilled huntsman Tom Newcliffe (Calvin Lockhart) summons a selection of guests to his home for the weekend, one of whom is a werewolf with a taste for blood. It's up to the others to seek out the monster before the full moon reveals the culprit.
- Actors:
- Calvin Lockhart, Peter Cushing, Marlene Clark, Charles Gray, Anton Diffring, Ciaran Madden, Tom Chadbon, Michael Gambon, Sam Mansary, Andrew Lodge, Carl Bohen, Eric Carte, Annie Ross
- Directors:
- Paul Annett
- Producers:
- Max Rosenberg, Milton Subotsky
- Narrated By:
- Valentine Dyall
- Writers:
- Michael Winder, James Blish, Paul Annett, Scot Finch
- Studio:
- Warner
- Genres:
- Classics, Horror
- Collections:
- A Remembering Summer Special: June - July, Remembering Michael Gambon
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 29/06/2020
- Run Time:
- 92 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.66:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Audio commentary with director Paul Annett and author Jonathan Sothcott (2003)
- Interview with Max J Rosenberg (2000, 48 mins): archival audio recording of the famed producer in conversation with Sothcott
- The BEHP Interview with JackHildyard (1988, 92 mins): an archival audio recording, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, featuring the Oscar-winning cinematographer in conversation with Alan Lawson
- The BEHP Interview with Peter Tanner-Part Two, 1939-1987 (1987, 81 mins): an archival audio recording, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, featuring the celebrated editor in conversation with Roy Fowler and Taffy Haines
- Introduction by Stephen Laws (2020, 4 mins): appreciation by the acclaimed horror author Directing the Beast (2003, 13 mins): archival interview with Annett
- Super 8 version: cut-down home cinema presentation Image gallery: publicity and promotional material
- Original theatrical trailer
- Kim Newman and David Flint trailer commentary (2017, 2 mins): short critical appreciation by the genre-film experts
- UK premiere on Blu-ray
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Reviews (2) of The Beast Must Die
Shaggy Dog Story - The Beast Must Die review by Count Otto Black
There are some movie genres of which it's said that if you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. In the case of British blaxploitation werewolf whodunits, that's literally true. Which is a rare achievement. Offhand, I can think of two dinosaur westerns.
Of course, like so many other films labeled "classics" by this site, it's so much not a classic that they might as well have said it was a pepperoni pizza. But you know what? It definitely falls into the "so bad it's good" category in the best possible way! By which I mean that it's atrocious in just about every department, apart from having a decent B-movie budget and a cast some of whom are actually good at their jobs, and yet there's never a dull moment, and when it fails, it does so in ways that are bizarrely entertaining.
Fun fact: Calvin Lockhart was the first black actor to get top billing in a British horror movie. And for a very long time he remained the only one. Frankly, looking at his performance here, I can understand why they were disinclined to repeat the experiment. He's absolutely appalling! His choice of costumes doesn't help, since it gets progressively weirder until he ends up in what looks like full-on bondage. By the time things get that silly, he's blazing away at the poor old werewolf with a fully automatic weapon loaded with silver bullets from a helicopter, and if your sympathies aren't with the hapless lycanthrope who didn't want to be there in the first place, you haven't got a heart!
And what a cast! You've got Charles Gray, the original Blofeld, Anton Diffring, who played evil Nazis in just about everything (including Doctor Who), a pre-fame Michael "Dumbledore" Gambon before he was even the Singing Detective, and... well, I hate to say this, but the usually wonderful Peter Cushing gives one of his rare lousy performances as some nut with a ludicrous accent who is absent from so many scenes that I guess they could only afford to hire him for one day. Though when he does get to talk, the rubbish he talks is almost Ed Wood-level priceless! In its own daft way, this movie is tremendous unintentional fun. Watch out for the scene that was blatantly ripped off by "Alien". And don't forget to shout out the name of your chosen suspect during the 30-second "werewolf break". I wonder how many people did that utterly pointless thing during its cinematic run? Not many, I suspect. But now, in the privacy of your own home, you can finally do it without embarrassing yourself. Go on. You know you want to.
3 out of 4 members found this review helpful.
Dog Days - The Beast Must Die review by Steve
Surely if anyone remembers this at all, it's for the gimmicky 30 second 'werewolf break' in which the audience is encouraged to identify which of the six weekend guests at the country estate of a big game hunter is a shapeshifting canine. Though it would have to be a guess as really there's no logical means of working this out...
It blends plot features from The Most Dangerous Game (1932) with And Then There Were None (1945). But with a werewolf... which is disappointingly played by a large dog. It's a low budget thriller, and the horror barely registers. There is some curiosity- for 1974- in the hunter being portrayed by a black actor (Calvin Lockhart).
This presumably explains why the music score is the sort of urban funk more typical of US blaxploitation, even though this is shot at a mansion in Surrey. The concept of the werewolf hunt is viable, except the director usually made tv costume dramas and doesn't create any suspense or big fright moments and the script is dull.
The last horror ever from Amicus studio is a disappointment. There's no atmosphere, it's over-lit and the cast can't generate any intrigue or danger from their underdeveloped roles. Peter Cushing- as a Swedish expert in lycanthropy- gives the worst performance of a 60 year career. I didn't even guess right during the werewolf break.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.