1971 / Written and Directed by Eddie Romero / Starring John Ashley, Mary Charlotte Wilcox, Leopoldo Salcedo, and Eddie Garcia
Hasn’t anyone learned by now that making a deal with Satan is never worth it? Joseph Langdon (Ashley) is saved from death by Satan, but in exchange he must become one of his devoted proselytes and carry out his evil bidding. This includes transforming into the eponymous beast and wreaking havoc on the unsuspecting Filipino public. Langdon then realizes he’d rather die than continue to perpetrate these horrors (duh). The film is low budget, yes, and there are certain expectations that one has regarding special effects (which are laughable) and set design (practically nonexistent). However, I’ve seen much better done for much less in other horror films. Some of the photography is so dark that the actors are barely visible – and one of the major reasons to watch Werewolf/man-to-beast films is to witness how the filmmakers depict the “change.” Beast, however, only gives us one lousy transformation, and not until close to the end of the film. The Philippines location seems incidental, when it could have been a good means of playing up the atmosphere. The are some good ideas in the script and I don’t fault it for being shot with little money – in fact, some of the best horror films are low budget because it forces the talent involved to be more creative than just acting opposite a piece of blue tape (which will later become a CGI dinosaur/critter/hobgoblin). In his career, Romero has churned out some gory, campy trash that always had an element of fun, making up for the lack of story and/or decent acting. Beast, however, lacks a great deal of what makes a Video Nasty so appealing – instead of reveling in its badness, it just falls flat. *
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