The Beast Must Die [Black Werewolf] *** (1974, Calvin Lockhart, Peter Cushing, Marlene Clark, Charles Gray, Anton Diffring, Tom Chadbon, Michael Gambon) – Classic Movie Review 3092

‘One of our guests is a werewolf, I know it.’ – Tom Newcliffe.

Director Paul Annett’s 1974 reasonably enjoyable British werewolf B-movie thriller for producer Milton Subotsky’s Amicus studio is a tough and quite effective Seventies horror-style update on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. It is notable as the first movie in which a dog fights a werewolf.

Calvin Lockhart stars as Tom Newcliffe, a wealthy hunter who summons six weekend guests, including his wife Caroline (Marlene Clark), to his heavily guarded house to find out the one of them who is a werewolf. ‘This is a murder mystery in which you are the detective but, instead of who is the murderer?, the question is who is the werewolf?’

The corpses then pile up as the cast disappear dead one by one and there’s a campy, semi-jokey 30-second spot-the-killer ‘werewolf break’ pause before the climax (apparently added later by producer Milton Subotsky and not the idea of the director who objected to it) for the audience to consider the evidence.

Lockhart overplays his hand in a frenzied OTT turn and instead should have modelled his acting on Peter Cushing’s performance of calm authority as lycanthrope expert Dr Lundgren. Charles Gray, Anton Diffring, Tom Chadbon, Michael Gambon are also assets in the above-average cast.

Michael Winder’s screenplay is based on James Blish’s novel There Shall Be No Darkness.

Original choice Robert Quarry was replaced by Calvin Lockhart at the last minute to capitalise on the blaxploitation craze. The role of Caroline was intended for Shirley Bassey, who proved unavailable. Marlene Clark was hired at the suggestion of Calvin Lockhart, but dubbed by Annie Ross. The werewolf is played by a German Shepherd dog.

[Spoiler alert] Tom’s dog dies in the movie but the actual one lived a long life. With characters dropping like flies, the dog is one of seven casualties in the film.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3092

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