La bestia debe morir

Others commenting here seem to have been distracted by the "game" aspect of the movie, which was, of course, a gimmick added after the movie was finished.

Although the story really required a larger budget, this well-cast, intelligent horror thriller is well worth watching. The story is reasonably suspenseful, the direction good enough most of the time, and it is unusual in depicting the central villain as someone who LOVES being a werewolf. It's based on a good novel, which was given reasonably respectful treatment.

Tom Newcliffe (Calvin Lockhart) is a man of wealth who has enjoyed hunting just about every animal possible. He has invited a group of friends to his house for a hunting party. But this is no ordinary hunt. Newcliffe has it in his head that one of his friends is a werewolf. He's not sure which friend he will be hunting, but over the three night full moon cycle, he's sure the werewolf will show himself. Unfortunately for Newcliffe and the rest of his party, a werewolf proves to be the most cunning and dangerous game he's faced.

I'll never list The Beast Must Die among my favorite films, but it's certainly enjoyable enough. The concept is original. I can't remember seeing anything similar. Much of the film is presented not so much as a horror movie, but as a mystery. These elements of The Beast Must Die worked for me. I found myself playing along as I tried to decipher the clues to the werewolf's identity. And in the end I was able to pat myself on the back for at least being half right. The Beast Must Die even gives the viewer a chance to stop and thing things over before the identity of the werewolf. William Castle would be proud of the Werewolf Break. Sure, it's gimmicky, but it's a fun, interesting touch.

There are a few things I would have liked to see done differently. I've never been much of a fan of werewolves that are more wolf than man. The werewolf in The Beast Must Die has no human characteristics. It's a wolf (okay, it's really a dog, but you get the idea). Also, I wasn't overly impressed with the lead actor Calvin Lockhart. He's just a little too over-the-top and outrageous to be effective.

This low-budget horror film had an innovative concept, mixing rather successfully a traditional Agatha Christie-type murder mystery with a "gory" werewolf flick; the result does hold your attention but is marred by wooden acting (except for the excellent Peter Cushing) and a few overextended chase scenes. As another reviewer noted, no real clues are given to us to help us figure out the identity of the werewolf, so it's strictly a matter a guessing, but there is some fun in the game... (**1/2)

An odd little horror flick-slash-whodunit that is part "Ten Little Indians," part "The Most Dangerous Game," part haunted house thriller, and all low-budget (but supremely entertaining) fun. An eccentric millionaire harboring a fascination for werewolves invites guests to his countryside mansion, where he intends to prove that one of them is, indeed, a werewolf. There are plot holes galore, but the excellent British cast, the William Castle-esque "werewolf break" (during which the audience is asked to guess wolfie's identity), the unexpected triple-whammy (and deeply ironic) ending, and the use of the "Jeopardy" theme (!) make up for it. The "clues" aren't nearly as plentiful or as clear as advertised, and the soundtrack is straight out of a 70s-era action flick, but no matter. A little-known gem that is most definitely worth seeing.

"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.