The Beast Must Die (1974)

“One of our guests is a werewolf, I know it.” Directed by Paul Annett and based on the 1950 short story “There Shall Be No Darkness” by James Blish, The Beast Must Die is the only movie I’m aware of that features a “Werewolf Break,” a 30-second interlude that gives the audience a chance to guess who the beast is out of the cast of potential lycanthropes. Okay, so it’s a little cheesy but fun as hell! Calvin Lockhart stars as big-game hunting millionaire “Tom Newcliffe,” who invites a diverse group of visitors – “Arthur Bennington” (Charles Gray), “Jan and Davina Gilmore” (Michael Gambon and Ciaran Madden), “Paul Foote” (Tom Chadbon) and “Professor Lundgren” (Peter Cushing) – to his secluded estate convinced that one of them is a werewolf. Tom is obsessed with the idea of hunting down and killing the beast once he discovers its identity. Tom has hired “Pavel” (Anton Diffring) to maintain surveillance over the estate. Marlene Clark portrays Tom’s cynical wife “Caroline.” For the record, I guessed wrong about the identity of the werewolf. Good luck! Gray portrayed “Blofeld” in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), while Gambon portrayed “Professor Albus Dumbledore” in the final six Harry Potter movies.  

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