Superbeast

Everything that has been written about this movie here is essentially correct and largely inarguable. Having said that I enjoyed this horror for the appearance of Harry Lauter in the role of the evil Dr Stewart Victor. Harry Lauter may be one of the greatest actors that no one has ever heard of in cinema history. He appeared in more than 156 movies and countless TV shows. He never once flirted with a main billing except for a co-starring role in 'Tales of the Texas Rangers' in 1955-58. He appeared in movies with James Cagney, Gene Autrey, Lee Van Cleef, James Arness and on and on. He was a perennial 'B' movie co-star with my personal favorite being 'Rocky Jones and the Clash of the Moons' in 1954. Superbeast was his last film appearance. He was also a gifted artist and ran an art gallery for many years. Just thought folks might like to know about a great actor that never really attained fame but who was a Hollywood regular for 41 years!

This only film from a producer who suddenly tried to be a director is not that bad, only gently lousy, typical of those early seventies, a period where everything, everyone was totally loose, where scripts, acting, directing techniques were really free, there was no rules, restrictions...or so few. And from the Philippines - an American colony for a long time - you have understood that it was a paradise for low budget movies, those crazy independant features, that had nothing to do with Hollywood. This was only cheap and quick business. This story is a mix up of ISLAND OF LOST SOULS - DR MOREAU - and I guess also a bit of MOST DANGEROUS GAME. I repeat, don't take it too seriously, just waatch it with a "generous" glance.

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.

But for all those elements there is too much time spent with the dull lead actress walking silently around and some travelogue footage to pad out the proceedings. She just rarely changes expression and quickly sinks any hope the movie has.

Production values are decent(if you can make them out through a poor copy) the music isn't bad and main element of note is probably John Chambers (Planet of the Apes) make up design for the mutants and final superbeast. They are pretty much just cave man looking things though decently done.

So this is in some ways above average Phillipino production which seems to use mostly production sound, rather than being redubbed in post production. But it just becomes a bore, unless there is gore or nudity cut from the version I saw there's not much in the way of excitement or suspense.

The turning the tables on the bad guy element is pretty lame as well and the final battle doesn't even develop until the last ten minutes. One odd ball dream scene with the lead, still with the fixed facial expression, having a erotic encounter with one beast man, is odd indeed but not erotic.

People complain about this movie It was never intended to be a cinematic masterpiece. This B movie was meant to be ran as rhe 2nd movie of a make out session at the drive in. Its suppose to be playing in the background and not actually watched.