A few seconds of Raine Brown covered in bubbles getting out of a bath tub and about five minutes of her kicking ass and getting her ass kicked. Topless chicks getting their faces blown off, plenty of gore, and Joe Zaso with hair. Those are some of the things that make this film what it is. That’s beside the story of course, which is not half bad either.
BEAST is your basic werewolf film with a few little twists here and there. To sum it up. The story begins with a brutal slaying of a few people at the hands of a werewolf like beast. We soon find out that there are teams of people throughout the world that track and kill werewolf’s, and that two particular hunters (played by Timo Rose and Joe Davidson) are on the trail of man who happens to be a werewolf. Meanwhile, Alex (Joe Zaso) returns home from a long trip in which his girlfriend was killed, by supposed wild dogs. He puts his trust in his sister Amy (Raine Brown) a young women who spends most of her time a talented phone sex voice for perverts and the sexually deprived to call. Soon they will all meet when the hunters take the brother and sister hostage, and that’s when the real truth behind the mystery will come out and the blood and gore will flow.
The script for BEAST comes off more like a horror talkie. There is a lot of dialogue in the film and it’s more of a film that relies on the characters to tell the story rather than the action. It’s not a bad script, as it does have some pretty impressive dialogue, some of which is really funny and if you know the backgrounds of some of the actors there is a few inside jokes thrown in there as well. At times the story did drag, but there is a lot of character development, maybe a bit to much.
The films strong point is mainly with it’s cast. While the acting is at times a bit flat we do get good performances from Joe Zaso and Raine Brown. Joe Davidsone and Timo Rose make a great combo as the werewolf hunters and seem to have this great love/hate and sometimes comedic relationship with one another. The supporting cast is not bad and they do a decent job in their respected roles. There are also a few cameo appearances by Judy O’Dea (Night of the Living Dead), Monique Dupree (Cottonmouth), and Gravedancers director Mike Mendez. I also have to mention that the film does include actress Eileen Daly of Razor Blade Smile fame as well. While here role is only that of supporting one, she does make a big splash with her performance in this one;.
The production value for the film is really nothing more than just alright. There are some good visual effects and there is some over the top make-up effects which involve a lot of gore. There are also some decent visual involving some transformations that are similar to that of AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. There were a few digital blood splatter and gun shots that looked cartoon like, but other than that the visuals were decent. My beef with the film is it’s look. I’m not sure if this film was shot on digital or on film but the lighting is terrible. The look was very dark, almost to dark. Some of the scenes it was hard to make out the characters faces, while others looked blown out. This made me wonder if anything was lit at all in some scenes. The editing was also a bit jumpy and I even noticed a few jump cuts here and there. But besides those few things the film is at least easy to watch. There is also a great score by Marco Werba.
For fans who love their gore and really enjoyed Timo Rose’s BARRICADE, I think this is another one that going to be right up your ally. There are plenty of gore filled splatter scenes that are really over the top. The story is decent and there is also a good laugh thrown in here and there. One thing that I can really appreciate about BEAST is that it pays respects to some of the classic werewolf films such as AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, THE HOWLING and the classic 1941 WOLF MAN film.
Overall, the film has it’s flaws but is a film that’s not half bad. It has some good moments that mix comedy and gore along with the classic werewolf mythos. The DVD includes audio Commentary with Joseph Zaso and Raine Brown, a making of Documentary, subtitles in English, German, Spanish and Italian, and a slideshow.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
