The Beast Must Die (1974 film)
| The Beast Must Die | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Paul Annett |
| Produced by |
John Dark Max Rosenberg Milton Subotsky |
| Written by |
Short story: James Blish Screenplay: Michael Winder |
| Music by | Douglas Gamley |
| Cinematography | Jack Hildyard |
| Edited by | Peter Tanner |
| Distributed by |
Amicus Productions British Lion Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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92 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Beast Must Die is a 1974 horror film directed by Paul Annett. The screenplay was written by Michael Winder, based on the short story "There Shall Be No Darkness" by James Blish which was originally published in Thrilling Wonder Stories. The film starred Calvin Lockhart, Peter Cushing, Marlene Clark, Michael Gambon, Charles Gray, Anton Diffring, Ciaran Madden, and Tom Chadbon.
The story is, in essence, a conflation of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (aka, Ten Little Indians) and Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game, with elements of the werewolf mythos stirred in for good measure.
It revolves around the search for a werewolf on a far off island by a group of serious minded people out to find it. The viewer is invited to unfold the mystery along with the characters. Near the ending, there an inserted 30-second break called "The Werewolf Break", where the audience is asked to guess the werewolf's identity, based on clues from the movie. In the interview with director Annett on the DVD release, Annett says he hated the addition of the werewolf break. It was not in Annett's version of the film; he attributes the idea to producer Milton Subotsky. He does admit that some, including critic Leonard Maltin, liked it.
An alternate version of the film was released under the title Black Werewolf. This cut omits the "werewolf break" near the climax.
The millionaire Tom Newcliffe (Calvin Lockhart) invites a group of people to spend some time in his rural English mansion, along with his wife Caroline (Marlene Clark) where he reveals that one of them is a werewolf, and therefore must be killed. The group is composed of:
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