A group of militants head to a Hungarian castle to get a sample of werewolf blood from the apparent tenant. Despite one of the men being killed in the process, the mission is a success. Back in the U.S., military scientists are studying the blood under the supervision of Colonel Miller (Barry Bostwick) and the militant who secured the blood in the first place, Butler (John Marzilli). The latter tires of waiting for the scientists to do their thing, so he foolishly decides to inject himself with the remaining blood. It isn't long before he turns into a werewolf and mauls two of the scientists, but Miller puts him down with some silver bullets and has him cryogenically frozen. 20 years go by as Butler remains on ice. The same military installation is now home to a research group working on a synthetic skin called bio-ferrin. Metallic in nature, the skin is meant to help burn victims. Miller gets wind of their work and decides that it's time to thaw out Butler and have these scientists fit him with the skin, in turn making an indestructible killing machine for use on the battlefield. As usual in these types of films, things do not go according to plan.
I rented this film back in the mid-90's and found it to be an entertaining shot in the arm to the then all but dormant werewolf sub-genre. I recently revisited it for the first time in over a decade, and I'm happy to say that it still holds up as an enjoyable treat amidst the sea of bad werewolf pictures. The idea of creating a super soldier is hardly original, but who cares? Where else are you going to see a werewolf with armored skin? Lycanthropes are threatening to begin with, but this film takes it a step further with it's metallic monstrosity. It's a hulking behemoth of a creature too, as it should be with Kane Hodder wearing the monster suit. We also get some pretty good half man, half wolf make-up following Butler's first escape from the lab. Most of the killings are partially offscreen, but they're juicy enough.
The gorgeous Kim Delaney plays Dr. Anne De Carlo, head of the bio-ferrin research group. Delaney is a personal favorite of mine, and a sorely under-appreciated actress to boot. Despite appearing in popular TV shows like "NYPD Blue" and "CSI Miami", she also did her fair share of horror films such as this one, "The Drifter" and a few others. Her character here immediately clashes with Miller, who naturally keeps the scientists in the dark about his true intentions. As Miller, Barry Bostwick chews the scenery and relishes the slimy nature of his role, that of a man who takes time to touch up his hair while being mauled by the titular "metalbeast". The rest of the cast members are nothing to write home about, but Delaney and Bostwick do more than enough to carry the picture.
While "Project: Metalbeast" certainly isn't a masterpiece of the genre or anything like that, it succeeds at being an entertaining little monster flick, which is exactly what it set out to do. Yes, Delaney runs a little too easily for someone who just had a metal rod run through her foot and the werewolf's impenetrable skin isn't milked to it's fullest, but whatever. This thing makes for a damn good time while delivering a new spin on lycanthropy. Watch it if you like low budget monster romps. And someone get this out on DVD already!
