A passable creature feature.
Borrowing from both "The Island of Dr. Moreau" and "The Most Dangerous Game", the Filipino horror flick "Superbeast" is no great shakes, and one may simply have to be a loyal aficionado of Filipino horror flicks to derive much entertainment from it. Most of the time, it tends to be talky, uneventful, and unremarkable. But it's not completely lacking in assets, which I'll get to in a moment.
Antoinette Bower ("The Evil That Men Do") stars as Dr. Alix Pardee, a renowned pathologist who investigates the case of an animalistic character named Cleaver (John Garwood, "Hells Angels on Wheels") who goes on a robbery / murder spree. After he has died and she has performed an autopsy on him, she goes to the scene(s) of his crimes in the Philippines. Eventually, she discovers a jungle-dwelling mad scientist, Bill Fleming (Craig Littler, "Barquero") who's basically responsible for Cleavers' condition. Involved in Flemings' research is a mysterious benefactor, Stewart Victor (Harry Lauter, "Escape from the Planet of the Apes") who funded Flemings' work on one BIG condition.
"Superbeast" does benefit from great atmosphere and effective prosthetics devised by John Chambers of "Planet of the Apes" fame. The music by Richard LaSalle is good, and the film does have a reasonably suspenseful, sinister finale with one character hunting another - as well as a rather nasty twist near the end. The acting is variable. Bower is MUCH too aloof and bland to be of any use as a protagonist, while Littler and especially Lauter fare better. (This was the final feature credit for Lauter, the prolific, under-rated character actor.) And, of course, this being a Filipino-lensed exploitation-horror movie, you're not a bit surprised that the equally prolific Vic Diaz turns up - and he's a hoot, as always.
You can definitely do better than this if you're in need of a monster movie fix, but there is also worse out there. "Superbeast" (one would assume that Rob Zombie has seen this one, and is a fan) does deliver some mild pleasures if the prospective viewer is not too judgmental.
Five out of 10.
Antoinette Bower ("The Evil That Men Do") stars as Dr. Alix Pardee, a renowned pathologist who investigates the case of an animalistic character named Cleaver (John Garwood, "Hells Angels on Wheels") who goes on a robbery / murder spree. After he has died and she has performed an autopsy on him, she goes to the scene(s) of his crimes in the Philippines. Eventually, she discovers a jungle-dwelling mad scientist, Bill Fleming (Craig Littler, "Barquero") who's basically responsible for Cleavers' condition. Involved in Flemings' research is a mysterious benefactor, Stewart Victor (Harry Lauter, "Escape from the Planet of the Apes") who funded Flemings' work on one BIG condition.
"Superbeast" does benefit from great atmosphere and effective prosthetics devised by John Chambers of "Planet of the Apes" fame. The music by Richard LaSalle is good, and the film does have a reasonably suspenseful, sinister finale with one character hunting another - as well as a rather nasty twist near the end. The acting is variable. Bower is MUCH too aloof and bland to be of any use as a protagonist, while Littler and especially Lauter fare better. (This was the final feature credit for Lauter, the prolific, under-rated character actor.) And, of course, this being a Filipino-lensed exploitation-horror movie, you're not a bit surprised that the equally prolific Vic Diaz turns up - and he's a hoot, as always.
You can definitely do better than this if you're in need of a monster movie fix, but there is also worse out there. "Superbeast" (one would assume that Rob Zombie has seen this one, and is a fan) does deliver some mild pleasures if the prospective viewer is not too judgmental.
Five out of 10.
- Hey_Sweden
- 1 oct 2022