Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

manchester_england2004 THE BEAST MUST DIE is based on a short story called "There Shall Be No Darkness", written by James Blish.The plot is as follows - a big game hunter who owns a massive country estate invites a group of people to his house for the weekend. He believes that one of them is a werewolf but doesn't know which. They all have skeletons in their closets that fascinate the guy a lot. The hunter has had a state-of-the-art security system recently installed, with cameras and microphones all over the place, plus tracking devices. He's confident the werewolf won't be able to escape as he intends to hunt it down as his "biggest game of all".This film has everything going for it - interesting characters, great acting, an air of mystery, a fast pace, chase scenes, suspense, tension, memorable lines of dialogue... you name it. And the producers don't mess it up either.The casting of Calvin Lockhart may have been intended as a gimmick to try cashing in on the "Blaxploitation" craze sweeping across America in the early 1970s. But the truth is that Lockhart makes the role of the hunter his own. He is very believable in the part and compelling to watch. I know that Robert Quarry was originally intended for the role and, good as Quarry might have been (probably playing the role with a more sinister edge to fit his style), Lockhart was the better choice. What makes the film work is that you root for Lockhart to succeed even though the character isn't exactly the nicest man in the world. And at the same time, you're never sure whether he will or not. The film keeps you guessing. It owes a lot to a great script.Peter Cushing plays a familiar yet different character in the shape of Christopher Lundgren, a German doctor. His German accent is pretty good in my opinion and he never ceases to hold our attention. Cushing is the man who could read a phone book and keep you listening, as someone else on IMDb mentioned previously.It's great to see Michael Gambon in an early role and the rest of the cast do a great job too. I particularly like Ciaran Madden as Davina. I don't know why; I just do. Something about her makes her interesting to watch. Charles Gray isn't given enough to do in the film, though, and that's really the only minor gripe I have with it.The chase scenes are exciting and not drawn out or boring as some suggest. They move along fast and the camera-work is excellent.The film is brimming with atmosphere in all scenes set at night. You're never sure what may spring out at any moment. It's a film that really keeps you guessing as previously mentioned. There are some great moments of suspense and tension, particularly in a key sequence about halfway through the film. I won't say anything about it because it would give too much away. But you'll know what I mean when you see it.And finally, while some may not like the infamous "werewolf break", I love it!For me, THE BEAST MUST DIE is probably the best werewolf film of all time. It's certainly the best one I've seen to date. Very different in style to films such as THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF or the Paul Naschy films for example, it has a style all of its own, with a very 1970s vibe to it. And it's by far and away the best non-anthology film Amicus produced.

morrison-dylan-fan Talking to a family friend about articles in the UK film mag The Dark Side about British Horror studio Amicus,I was presently caught by surprise,when he passed me 2 Amicus titles on DVD.With it being the last production that the two studio heads worked on,I decided that it was time to discover why the beast has to die.The plot:After hunting down some of the most dangerous animals in the world, Tom Newcliffe decides to go for the ultimate "big cat":a werewolf.Gathering up 6 guests (and his girlfriend) at the mansion,Newcliffe reveals that he knows that one of the guests is a werewolf,and that they are all to stay at his mansion whilst the full moon is out for 3 days,so that Newcliffe can play a game of uncovering the werewolf.As Newcliffe begins gathering up weapons to hunt down the wolf,the wolf sets its sights on making Newcliffe the big game.View on the film:Whilst he puts on a weird sounding accent, Peter Cushing gives a good performance as Dr. Lundgren,with Cushing covering the rather dry exposition with a real smoothness,whilst Michael Gambon's Corner gives the movie a gruff bite as the uneasy Jan. Swaggering across the screen, Calvin Lockhart appears uncomfortable over the movies mix of Horror & Blaxploration,as Lockhart shows signs of being unsure if he should deliver the lines with a Blaxploration cool or a horror menace.For Amicus riff on The Most Dangerous Game,the screenplay by Michael Winder opens by telling the audience that they will be given the chance to solve the identity of the werewolf themselves.Whilst director Paul Annett gives the dining room scenes a stylish sheen,Winder fails to build up an atmosphere of suspense,with Winder barely offering any clues to the identity that the viewer could pick up in repeat viewings,which leads to this title not being as beastly as it should have been.

Rainey Dawn Like all mystery movies there is a tendency from the viewer to guess 'whodunnit' (who it is) before the ending of the film. So this movie is not any different except the stopping of the film before the ending to give you one more chance to think about before it is revealed - that is the only difference. The ending of this film would have been just the same with or without the "werewolf break". So if one guessed wrong then they would have guessed wrong anyway, again, with or without the "werewolf break" - it still ended the same.Reading the wiki, there is an alternative to this film called "Black Werewolf" - and it says the ONLY difference is the "werewolf break" is omitted.It's worth watching if you like trying to solve a movie mystery and werewolves.7/10

TheRedDeath30 I'm a giant horror nerd and my favorite subgenre is without a doubt the werewolf film. Sadly, there have been so few really quality werewolf movies made that I'm always on the search for a hidden gem, which brought me upon this Amicus release from the 70s, recommended in the book HIDDEN HORROR. Amicus was the chief rival to Hammer Studios for British supremacy in this era, known mostly for anthologies based on EC comic books. Like their rival Amicus almost always featured one of the giants of Brit horror, Lee or Cushing, and this movie does feature the incredible Peter Cushing, although in a supporting role.The movie centers around a wealthy big game hunter who has run out of exciting things to kill and, so, decides to tackle a legend. He equips an isolated island with cameras and motion sensors and invites a few guests along, all of whom have ties to some grisly murder in their past. He announces to his guests that one of them is a werewolf and he will find out which and kill them.The movie invites us to go along with the mystery with a gimmick that's probably what this movie is most known for today. In a rather William Castle like move, the film starts with a introduction informing us that this will be a mystery. We are told that we are to guess who the werewolf is and will be given a "werewolf break" in the movie to announce our deduction before the big reveal. The movie, then, settles firmly into established mystery movie territory, which is the biggest drawback in this fright flick. There is really very little action to speak of until the final few minutes. The majority of the run time is, essentially, a dinner party where our host, the hunter, shouts at his guests, making accusations and threatening to kill one of them before they can escape. We get a discourse from Cushing on the the symptoms of lycanthropy and some "witty banter" between the guests, but for the most part this movie features nothing more than the guests talking to each other, while the host continues to shout his lines to the heavens. At times, it felt far too much like the 70s detective shows my grandparents used to make me watch as a kid.There are really 3 ways that a werewolf movie can go in terms of the effects. Few go all out and give us a true, rampaging man-wolf hybrid (ala THE HOWLING), which is understandable given the budgets. Some go for the man covered in fur look (such as THE WOLFMAN). To me, personally, as a werewolf aficionado the worst thing they can do is give me the lame cop-out of putting a dog on screen and calling it a werewolf. Giving me a lyncanthrope who only takes canine form is lame and lazy. Here it is, literally, a German Shepherd with extra fur attached. So, we spend 90 minutes winding up to this mystery of who the werewolf is and we're finally treated to a few minutes of someone's family dog jumping at people.This movie is, also, far too stuck in the 70s. From the clothing to the wah pedal guitar and horn section soundtrack, there is just never any sort of atmosphere or mood created because the moments of most tension are ruined by a porn movie soundtrack. In the end, this movie offers little new to the werewolf genre and doesn't even make for a very good murder mystery. It's easy to see why this was one of the last movies produced by Amicus before they closed their doors forever.