Horror Movie Review: Nightbeast (1982)

I tend to approach ‘cult classics’ with a sense of trepidation because the term often goes hand in hand with ‘so bad it’s good’ and that’s a term I find is overused. You can like a film for being bad, and that’s fine, but don’t dress it up as something it’s not. Which is very much the case with Nightbeast, given the lofty titles of ‘cult classic’ and a ‘so bad it’s good’ film. Does it deserve them though?

Written and directed by Don Dohler, Nightbeast combines sci-fi with action and horror as an alien monster crashes on Earth and goes on a rampage through the small town of Perry Hall, Maryland. It’s up to local sheriff to stop it, but he’s hindered by a mayor not willing to cause a panic in town, least it affect his attempt to wine and dine the local governor.

It’s a tale as old as time, and inevitably, the alien causes such a ruckus that the sheriff, his deputies, and some of the locals have no choice but to band together to defeat it. To pad the film out, we have a couple of subplots, and some of the most awkward scenes outside of an adult improv group who only met five minutes before going on stage. Nightbeast might also have the most cringe-inducing sex scene I’ve ever seen in a horror film.

If that doesn’t make it worth watching, I don’t know what does, but I’ll certainly try to explain some of the other ‘joys’ you can experience should you give the film your time.

It’s not the story, which is diabolically dull and a carbon copy of countless sci-fi/horrors before this. It’s not the dialogue, delivered in unnatural fashion by a cast who really can’t act. Nor is it the effects, which are hilariously cheap, even if there is style. No, what makes Nightbeast a joy is all of this combined and a director that believed in what he was creating.

Don Dohler is a talented director and clearly loved making films like this, so he throws his all into it, for better or worse. This is a love letter to sci-fi alien horror and Dohler does everything possible to make it live up to its promise of alien-based mayhem. That means it ends up being a bit of a breathless watch as the pace is kept hyper, and the film always has forward momentum. In fact, there’s rarely a time when nothing is happening on screen.

That is what makes Nightbeast special, even though, again, it’s impossible to ignore all the individual problems, and there are so many.

Throughout my watch I think my expression probably changed countless times. From boredom to shock to disgust to respect to amusement to awkwardness, it’s a film that delivers a range of emotions. So bad it’s good? A cult classic? I think I’m going to have to agree with the majority here.