The Beast Must Die (1974)

Eight people are shrouded with the mystery behind the werewolf, and only one of them is! It's up to the viewer to find out!

Director:

Paul Annett

Writers:

Michael Winder (screenplay), James Blish (story),

Stars:

Calvin Lockhart, Peter Cushing, Marlene Clark

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Calvin Lockhart	...	Tom Newcliffe
Peter Cushing	...	Dr. Christopher Lundgren
Marlene Clark	...	Caroline Newcliffe
Charles Gray	...	Arthur Bennington
Anton Diffring	...	Pavel
Ciaran Madden	...	Davina Gilmore
Tom Chadbon	...	Paul Foote
Michael Gambon	...	Jan Jarmokowski
Sam Mansary	...	Butler (as Sam Mansaray)
Andrew Lodge	...	Pilot
Carl Bohen	...	1st Hunter (as Carl Bohun)
Eric Carte	...	2nd Hunter

Storyline

Tom Newcliffe, a rich businessman and expert hunter summons six guests to his huge country estate which he has rigged up with video cameras and a high-tech security system. He tells them and his surprised wife that they are all to stay over a weekend and that all of them will be kept on the estate during that weekend. For each guest, dead bodies have followed in their wake and the way that the dead have been murdered means that one of the guest is a werewolf and Tom has summoned his guests here to discover who it is and to hunt it down... The film has a clip at the beginning asking people in the audience to try to identify the werewolf and near the end there is a 30-second "Werewolf Break" for the audience to think over the evidence...

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Plot Keywords:

werewolf | guest | hunt | lycanthropy | exploding helicopter | 

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Taglines:

One of these eight people will turn into a werewolf. Can you guess who it is when we stop the film for the WEREWOLF BREAK? See it ... solve it ... but don't tell!

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

April 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

Black Werewolf

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amicus Productions, British Lion Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to director Paul Annett the role of Caroline Newcliffe was intended for Shirley Bassey. However she proved unavailable and Marlene Clark was hired at the suggestion of Calvin Lockhart.

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Goofs

Truly awful use of "day for night" shots makes it painfully obvious that the "night" shots were done during the day.

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Quotes

Pavel: She looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth
Tom Newcliffe: Maybe... She prefers MEAT

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Crazy Credits

After the end credits are over, there is a blue light flashing over the black screen at short intervals, revealing what seems to be a face in the dark. This goes on for about a minute.

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Connections

Featured in Century of Black Cinema (2003)

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Soundtracks

"Moonlight Sonata"
(uncredited)
Music by Ludwig van Beethoven
Arranged by Douglas Gamley

User Reviews

Nice formula…but it ignores the ‘horror' a bit

Amicus was a neat little production company that specialized itself in creating extremely enjoyable omnibus horror films. Especially in the early seventies, they satisfied a large thrill-seeking audience with terror-anthologies like `Asylum', `The Vault of Horror', From Beyond the Grave' and even the original `Tales from the Crypt' Also, you have to admit that they constantly tried to be imaginative and innovating…and The Beast Must Die is the perfect example to state this. It presents a rather original and new format that involves the viewer. At the beginning and near the end, this film specifically requests the public to join a search. Pretty clever, since this is only a simple method but it does demand the viewer's immediate attention! The particular search is a werewolf-hunt! Six persons – four males and two females – spend the weekend at a huge ranch. The moon is full, all the necessary scenery is present and at the end of the weekend, the werewolf has to be exposed! Personally, I rather enjoyed this formula…it's a nice change and very entertaining nonetheless. Unfortunately, The Beast Must Die lacks a bit of professionalism to be listed among the better horror titles. It's all pretty cheap and especially the make-up and creature effects disappoint. The werewolf isn't the least bit impressive and there are too few shock-sequences to make the film memorable. Actually, aside from the werewolf theme and the presence of horror-regular Cushing, The Beast Must Die has very little to do with horror! It merely is action/adventure with just a tint of mystery and horror. Regarding the cast, it is veteran Peter Cushing who impresses the most as the specialist-professor in the field of ‘Lycanthropes'. The rest of the cast is rather unknown with the exception of Anton Diffring, here in a delightful little role. If you like classic horror and you're not familiar with Anton Diffring, I advise you to run out to the nearest videostore and rent `Circus of Horrors'.