Bad Company

We often forget the script is what it's all about. Throw in a couple of Hollwood-veterans and some good shooting and you get a real cracker. The script is so well though-out you never imagine the ending. It's amazing! It's one of these rare cases where you get an American film (a TV-production no less!!) with a totally unpredictable conclusion. The acting is top-notch and beats anything out there, very powerful. The scenes are often mystical and nocturnal, the only qualm I would have is that there was plenty of space for extra creative camera-work, just to heighten the suspense even further. If a remake of this was done by a more revolutionary director (e.g. Michael Mann), this could definitely account for a new Hollywood blockbuster (and no doubt keeping the two main actors as well).

"Eric Roberts and Lance Henriksen star in this intense psychological thriller about a businessman drawn into a bloody game of cat and mouse by a mysterious drifter. With the police searching for a serial killer on a murderous rampage, and a million dollars missing from a Las Vegas casino, both men have something sinister to hide. But as the lies are peeled away and their true nature is revealed, it becomes clear that one of them is a madman. The question is which one…" asks the DVD sleeve description.

Writer/director Victor Salva makes it like a psycho on wheels, with plenty of gay subtext. Picture "The Hitcher" with both driver and passenger playing psychopaths. Devilishly charismatic Mr. Roberts (as Adrian) was born to play this role, and a psychologically bent Mr. Henriksen (as Jack) matches him at most every turn. The production is inexpensive but effective; it keeps you either interested or riveted, but fails, in the end, to tie its interesting threads together. And, Henriksen's girth was unnecessary.

******* The Nature of the Beast (10/24/95) Victor Salva ~ Lance Henriksen, Eric Roberts, Brion James, Sasha Jenson

+There May be Spoilers+ There's a serial killer on the loose striking motorists on the desert highway between Nevada and California. In this violent setting two men meet up as if it were by fate. One a paper goods salesman from Las Vegas Jack Powell, Lance Henriksen, and one a drifter Adrian, Eric Roberts, from God's only knows where and you sense right away that one is the murderer but which one is he?

Suspenseful movie about murder and madness that goes the whole nine yards and even more in shocking the living hell out of the audience. The scene towards the end of the movie between Jack Powell and Sheriff Gordon, Brion James and his deputy Little David Brewer, Tom Tarntini, outside Powell's cabin is so electrifying charged and nail biting that it had me want to turn off the VCR because my nerves just about had it from the almost unbearable tension watching it.

There is admittedly some uneven scenes in the film but overall they don't take anything away from the jolts in it that in some cases leaves you paralyzed from shock. The ending is a bit confusing but it's just for that very reason that make it so effective. Nothing in the movie seems to be what you think that it is even the murderer.

Solid performances by the two top stars Lance Henriksen & Eric Roberts who despite the very capable supporting cast carry the movie all by themselves.

Although underrated, "The Nature of The Beast" is a very good thriller. Its tense and bleak atmosphere keeps you in a nail-biting state throughout the film, with its best part being its end, when a brilliant plot twist really brings everything upside down.

The story begins with Jack (Henriksen), a typical, middle-class executive on a business travel, who bumps onto a murder scene; the policemen in charge advise him to be careful on his way, as there is a serial killer in the area hitch-hiking for his next victim. Keeping this advice in mind, he avoids somebody he encounters who asks for a lift; unfortunately, he is not so lucky, as he soon finds the guy in a diner some kilometers ahead. The guy loses no time to introduce himself as Andrian (Roberts), and he soon becomes a thorn on Jack's side, who in turn realizes that it will be very difficult to get away from this menace...

Featuring two great performances, the movie is virtually a two-man show: Both Roberts and Henriksen are really great in their roles, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that the film's value is based on them. The other characters have short appearances which simply supplement the duo.

A film worth having a look. 7/10.

"Nature of the beast" is one of those "Never-ever-pick-up-a-hitchhiker"-thriller/horror-movies and it's probably a good example of this genre. The cast is terrific (you just can't go wrong with Henriksen and Roberts, even Brion James is in this for two minutes) and the movie is pretty exciting and fun to watch... until the last 5 minutes, when the writer/director manages to gloriously mess it up with an incredible stupid and forced twist-ending, that isn't just unlogical, but annoying as hell, too. Pretend it doesn't happen...