Don Dohler's Nightbeast comes from Amazing Film Productions, which might be pushing it a bit (okay... a lot). A classic example of low-budget regional B-movie sci-fi/horror schlock, the film opens with an ugly alien with lots of teeth crash-landing in small-town U.S.A. where it proceeds to kill and mutilate anyone it meets. Why? 'Cos it's hangry!
The hero of the piece is Sheriff Cinder (Tom Griffith), who sports a greying afro perm, a droopy moustache, and large sunglasses; he's joined by several other locals in trying to destroy the monster, including deputy Lisa Kent (Karin Kardian), whose hair is almost as bad as the Sheriff's. As well as shockingly nasty hair, Nightbeast also features terrible performances all-round from the presumably amateur cast, some gratuitous female nudity, an out-of-nowhere sex scene between Cinder and Kent (two unattractive people bumping uglies is the real horror!), and a healthy dose of gore, including disembowelment, a severed arm, a clawed face, decapitation, and a guy fried to a crisp by high-voltage.
These gore effects are cheap but satisfyingly messy; the visual effects, on the other hand, are just cheap, from the terrible alien craft in space to the really naff sparkly laser-gun blasts, this is laughable stuff indeed. Dohler's direction is basic and the film does tend to drag between the splattery death scenes, but if you're into cheesy '80s drive-in trash, I guess you could do worse.
The hero of the piece is Sheriff Cinder (Tom Griffith), who sports a greying afro perm, a droopy moustache, and large sunglasses; he's joined by several other locals in trying to destroy the monster, including deputy Lisa Kent (Karin Kardian), whose hair is almost as bad as the Sheriff's. As well as shockingly nasty hair, Nightbeast also features terrible performances all-round from the presumably amateur cast, some gratuitous female nudity, an out-of-nowhere sex scene between Cinder and Kent (two unattractive people bumping uglies is the real horror!), and a healthy dose of gore, including disembowelment, a severed arm, a clawed face, decapitation, and a guy fried to a crisp by high-voltage.
These gore effects are cheap but satisfyingly messy; the visual effects, on the other hand, are just cheap, from the terrible alien craft in space to the really naff sparkly laser-gun blasts, this is laughable stuff indeed. Dohler's direction is basic and the film does tend to drag between the splattery death scenes, but if you're into cheesy '80s drive-in trash, I guess you could do worse.