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The Beast Must Die (1974) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
5.7/10   900 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 22% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Michael Winder (screenplay) and
James Blish (story)
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Beast Must Die on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
April 1974 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
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!
Plot:
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! full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
User Reviews:
Decent werewolf mystery. more (47 total)
US TV Schedule:

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
Calvin Lockhart ... Tom Newcliffe

Peter Cushing ... Dr. Christopher Lundgren
Marlene Clark ... Caroline Newcliffe
Anton Diffring ... Pavel
Charles Gray ... Arthur Bennington
Ciaran Madden ... Davina Gilmore

Tom Chadbon ... Paul Foote

Michael Gambon ... Jan Jarmokowski
Sam Mansary ... Butler
Andrew Lodge ... Pilot
Eric Carte ... 2nd Hunter
Carl Bohen ... 1st Hunter
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Black Werewolf (USA) (video title)
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Runtime:
93 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Canada:G (Quebec) | USA:PG

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
This is the first movie in which a dog actually tackles and fights a werewolf. The more famous example is Eric Red's Bad Moon (1996), but this is the first. Sadly, the dog-character dies; the actual dog lived a long life, happily. more
Movie Connections:

FAQ

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10 out of 10 people found the following review useful.
Decent werewolf mystery., 8 May 2005
5/10
Author: Noel (Werewolf-Moviesdotcom) from Bromsgrove, England

"This is a murder mystery in which you are the detective ... but instead of 'who is the murderer?', the question is 'who is the werewolf?' ..." And so we have an eccentric millionaire who gathers together a group of six people, including his wife, in his mansion and states that one of them is a werewolf. How does he know this? Well, we don't question such things. There is a newly-reunited couple, an ex-United Nations delegate, an eccentric biologist, and an expert on werewolf folklore. Over a period of three terrifying nights, he narrows down the list of suspects to discover who the beast is ...

The movie opens with Calvin Lockhart running through his estate, being pursued by commandos and monitored by the new high-tech security system which he is testing. That opening sequence goes on and on, and there are many such tedious 'chase' scenes in the movie which make it something of a chore to watch. Ultimately it took me three attempts to finally get through this whole movie, and that's never a good sign. It's a shame, because there are some really great scenes as well ... the climax inparticular is suitably thrilling. We have pretty much an all-star cast in this movie, so if you're a fan of Peter Cushing, Sir Michael Gambon (currently playing Dumbledore), Charles Gray or 'blaxploitation' actors Calvin Lockhart and Marlene Clark, then you'll probably want to see this. Thanks to this casting, the acting is slightly above average for a B-movie, but nothing spectacular. It almost fits into the blaxploitation category itself, thanks to the jazzy, funky soundtrack and the alternative marketing title "Black Werewolf".

As for the 'guess the werewolf' element, as far as I can tell you can only narrow it down to three characters before the 'werewolf break' comes along, and then it's just a case of guessing between them. I guessed wrongly (although the character I chose would have made for a better ending), but as I suspected, the werewolf break was something that was added later by the producers and it wasn't the director's idea. The film wasn't made with this in mind, so it's actually impossible to guess for sure who the werewolf is. In fact, Paul Annett hated the idea of the 'werewolf break'.

Overall this is a fairly entertaining werewolf B-movie, and werewolf enthusiasts will probably enjoy it, but it could have been better.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Beast Must Die (1974)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Oh, that 70's music and clothes... NJAngler
Who shot the arrow? Wiseblood24
Less a horror flick ... fiftyfootqueenie
Robert Guillaume as Calvin Lockhart? saturnchick
won a bet on this madsaru72
Controller to Hunter(spoiler)... NJAngler
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