Review of Nightbeast

Nightbeast (1982)
4/10
This film really starts with a bang!
25 May 2020
I first looked at this page and saw that it had a four rating before I had watched it, so when I started watching it, I am like this is so cool, why is the score so low? Well, unfortunately, the film slows down immensely and becomes standard low budget monster on the loose with plot points and characters that add absolutely nothing to the movie except padding. Which is a shame, because it is great when it first begins as it is nonstop action and killing which distracts one from the bad acting. When this great opening slows, you notice it way too much as you just wish the monster would hurry up and kill someone else!

So, the story has a ship in space hitting a meteor which causes it to plummet to Earth. An alien gets out and its ship explodes leaving it stranded on Earth. Instead of doing the E.T. thing of trying to phone home, this one decides, hell, I'm going to kill everyone I see! Yes, he uses a blaster to start disintegrating everyone, even children! If you get in close to him, he kills you with his hands! A sheriff tries to stop him and manages to get a person capable of shooting the monster's laser gun out of the monster's hand. It is at this point the movie goes downhill as we have to watch a character named Drago challenge the sheriff's authority and strangle a woman and the mayor of the town worrying about the governor of the state coming for a visit. The monster just appears to infrequently after the super great start so you notice that the film has horrible actors and just is not as fun anymore as that whole Drago thing went nowhere as far as having anything to do with the plot.

The first portion of the film is a highlight, and I understand that you cannot go at that fast pace for a super extended time; especially, when you have such a low budget, but save it till the end! It was so cool watching the monster just blast everyone that it is such a drastic tempo change after the monster looses his gun, I kept hoping he'd fix it and maybe blast up the party the mayor was having, but no, the monster does not show up making for a long line of scenes having nothing to do with the alien. Drago was the worst, here was one guy you want to see get ripped to shreds, and he gets killed in a normal manner.

So, this movie does start out on fire and I do find the makers did a good job with the monster on the very small budget. There are also some nice shots of the monster in the shadows looking ominous. The film slows down to a snail's pace once the monster no longer has his weapon which is a shame. Still a couple of nice kills to be seen, but nothing like the craziness that is the first 15 or so minutes. Also a warning to anyone who watches this film as it contains a sex scene that most of you will not want to see! I saw it coming and was like "NOOOO!"
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