The Beast Must Die (film)

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The Beast Must Die
The DVD cover
Directed by	Paul Annett
Produced by	John Dark Max Rosenberg Milton Subotsky
Written by	James Blish (short) Michael Winder
Music by	Douglas Gamley
Cinematography	Jack Hildyard
Editing by	Peter Tanner
Distributed by	Amicus Productions British Lion Films
Release date(s)	1974
Running time	92 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

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. The film starred Calvin Lockhart, Peter Cushing, Marlene Clark, Michael Gambon, Charles Gray, Anton Diffring, Ciaran Madden, and Tom Chadbon. 93 minutes, rated PG.

Tagline: One of these eight people will turn into a werewolf. Can you guess who it is when we stop the film for the WEREWOLF BREAK? See it ... solve it ... but don't tell!

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Calvin Lockhart stars as Tom Newcliffe, a wealthy business tycoon with an obsession for big game hunting. Newcliffe has invited a group of friends and acquaintances to his sprawling country estate for what is assumed to be a pleasant weekend gathering. Soon enough, however, he reveals his intentions for assembling the group. It seems that each of the guests has a sordid secret in his or her past, and bad things tend to happen to people who are around them. It is Newcliffe's firm belief that one of the guests at his house is a werewolf, and it is not only his goal to prove the existence of such a beast, but to stalk it and kill it as the ultimate quarry. The moon is full, the wolfbane is in bloom, and Newcliffe has his firearms loaded with silver bullets. But who is the werewolf?

[edit] Additional information

The film features "the werewolf break," in which there is a 1-minute intermission and the audience is allowed to guess who the werewolf is. This gimmick was taken from the 1965 remake of Ten Little Indians.
Alternate video version is titled Black Werewolf.