Nightbeast

Don Dohler MUST have grew up during the fifties/early sixties and been a tremendously big fan of the monster-movies of that period! How else could you justify the handful of cheesy Sci-Fi horror movies that he unleashed upon the world during the first half of the 1980's? His movies all revolve on the exact same storyline of an alien monster invading a remote little redneck-town and killing the locals. "Nightbeast" is by far superior to "The Galaxy Invader" and "The Alien Factor", but still a pretty inept and laughable movie. The monster, which resemblances a hairless gorilla with fangs, lands on earth, takes out his laser gun and starts shooting random people so they disappear into thin air. He occasionally also rips hillbillies' heads off or their guts out, but he never seems to attempt to take over our planet or anything. Why is he here? Nobody knows and nobody even bothers to wonder about it. Thanks to the monster's arrival, the local sheriff also realizes that he's in love with his deputy! How convenient is that? Most of the time, you get the impression that the players completely worked without a script! They all just do and say what they feel is best, and Don Dohler doesn't mind because he's happy already for making another cheesy monster movie! There's some outrageous gore and gratuitous nudity, so I don't assume any 80's horror fan will complain. Heck, even the title can't be taken seriously, as the intergalactic King Kong eliminates as many people during the day as he does at night! It's true what the other reviewer said: they just don't make 'em like this anymore.

I first looked at this page and saw that it had a four rating before I had watched it, so when I started watching it, I am like this is so cool, why is the score so low? Well, unfortunately, the film slows down immensely and becomes standard low budget monster on the loose with plot points and characters that add absolutely nothing to the movie except padding. Which is a shame, because it is great when it first begins as it is nonstop action and killing which distracts one from the bad acting. When this great opening slows, you notice it way too much as you just wish the monster would hurry up and kill someone else!

So, the story has a ship in space hitting a meteor which causes it to plummet to Earth. An alien gets out and its ship explodes leaving it stranded on Earth. Instead of doing the E.T. thing of trying to phone home, this one decides, hell, I'm going to kill everyone I see! Yes, he uses a blaster to start disintegrating everyone, even children! If you get in close to him, he kills you with his hands! A sheriff tries to stop him and manages to get a person capable of shooting the monster's laser gun out of the monster's hand. It is at this point the movie goes downhill as we have to watch a character named Drago challenge the sheriff's authority and strangle a woman and the mayor of the town worrying about the governor of the state coming for a visit. The monster just appears to infrequently after the super great start so you notice that the film has horrible actors and just is not as fun anymore as that whole Drago thing went nowhere as far as having anything to do with the plot.

The first portion of the film is a highlight, and I understand that you cannot go at that fast pace for a super extended time; especially, when you have such a low budget, but save it till the end! It was so cool watching the monster just blast everyone that it is such a drastic tempo change after the monster looses his gun, I kept hoping he'd fix it and maybe blast up the party the mayor was having, but no, the monster does not show up making for a long line of scenes having nothing to do with the alien. Drago was the worst, here was one guy you want to see get ripped to shreds, and he gets killed in a normal manner.

So, this movie does start out on fire and I do find the makers did a good job with the monster on the very small budget. There are also some nice shots of the monster in the shadows looking ominous. The film slows down to a snail's pace once the monster no longer has his weapon which is a shame. Still a couple of nice kills to be seen, but nothing like the craziness that is the first 15 or so minutes. Also a warning to anyone who watches this film as it contains a sex scene that most of you will not want to see! I saw it coming and was like "NOOOO!"

Nightbeast, although never able to rise above it's limited budget, still manages to leave a sweet taste in your mouth.

Reeling from a collision with a meteor, a spaceship crashes in the forest of a small town. The alien (which strangely resembles the 'Predator') comes stumbling out, angry and lost. He goes on a killing spree which includes some campers. The sheriff decides to ask the locals to help him go after the creature. The towns-people, mostly farmers, hunters and loggers, reluctantly agree. A violent, gory battle quickly ensues.

As I was watching Nightbeast I kept thinking to myself 'this is Mayberry vs The Predator'. Even the sheriff, reminded of Andy Griffith. I hated to admit it but I kind of enjoyed this film. There are some great moments, for example, there is a scene where an elderly hunter, who manages to shoot a weapon out of the creatures hand, falls to his knees and begins to weep. Plus, the creature is often shown fleetingly, like an apparition, and it is apparent that Dohler was hinting at something here but I couldn't figure it out.

Sadly, Nightbeast suffers from it's all too small budget. The special effects appear amateurish and the gore scenes look fake. The film also has problems with the plot, there are too many sub-plots. There is like three separate stories going on all at once and you are constantly jumping back and forth amongst them. Also, there is a rather weird sex scene between the sheriff and his deputy, that seems totally out of place here, as if it was inserted afterwards.

Outside of all these minuses, there is something I liked about Nightbeast. Maybe it is because of all the minuses that I keep coming back for more, the same reason I keep coming back for Plan Nine From Outer Space.

I purchased a NIGHTBEAST video for less than a price of a rental, even if I knew nothing about it and I have to say that I'm glad I did. This is a somewhat fun (funny?) horror/sci-fi movie that's rarely dull. The body count is HIGH. One of the highest I've ever seen. The alien starts killing people left and right, with its laser or with its hands and huge toothy mouth. The beast even kills two kids. Now you've got to love that in a B-movie. Many of the killings are gory. The action is really fast and furious at the beginning but gradually peters out halfway through the film.

Anyway, the acting is spectacularly amateurish and the music often sounds like the one in FRIDAY THE 13TH. So much so that I wonder why haven't the producers of FT13 sued yet? The script is all over the place. As if the alien wasn't enough, the script also includes several competing plotlines, including a story-line about a criminal on a killing spree. And then there's the hilarious love story that blossoms right in the middle of the action between the sheriff and his female deputy. With the alien killing people all over town, the sheriff tries to stop a pool-side party held by the mayor for a state politician (the scene when the people lounging at the pool leave in a panic is hilarious. It's a priceless B-movie moment). The sheriff makes a big deal about the party, saying that there's no time for frivolities when people are dying all over the place and the town should be evacuated BUT the sheriff and the deputy do have time for some lovemaking. Nice to see where the sheriff's priorities are. Anyway, the love scene with the afro-haired sheriff and the blonde deputy with the perky breasts has got to be one of the funniest moments ever put on film. The same could be said for the conclusion of the film. Major guffaws.

I like these kind of b-movies which were produced by some local folks with no budget starring nobodies with no expectations but to entertain bored people seeing this in a rundown movie theater in the middle of nowhere. We don't see these kind of unassuming (and goofy) films being made and released anymore. It's unfortunate because they're often more fun to watch than anything released on video these days.

Economically deficient bubble-gum sci-fi hokum can be every bit as enjoyable as any entry in the big-budget ALIEN franchise, so long as you find it in your will to accept it on its own minimalist terms. A ridiculous looking alien from the abyss of space(picture a fat man with the head of a deformed walrus and an enormous, fang-bearing rictus)arrives on Earth near a rural U.S. town and instantly begins a hunt for human snacks. Despite the primitive appearance and behavior of the monster, it apparently is of a highly superior intelligence, as it's armed with a ray-gun which blasts its targets into a scatter of atoms. A cast of nondescript nobodies must find a way to stop this hungry predator before it makes a casserole of their entire white-trash community.

NIGHBEAST has gore...it has boobs...it has the most unappealing love scene in film history...all the essential ingredients are here for a perfect cheese-wiz monster-mash. Do check it out...that is, unless you deem yourself "too sophisticated" for such things.

5.5/10...Dohleriffic!