User Reviews

But for all those elements there is too much time spent with the dull lead actress walking silently around and some travelogue footage to pad out the proceedings. She just rarely changes expression and quickly sinks any hope the movie has.

Production values are decent(if you can make them out through a poor copy) the music isn't bad and main element of note is probably John Chambers (Planet of the Apes) make up design for the mutants and final superbeast. They are pretty much just cave man looking things though decently done.

So this is in some ways above average Phillipino production which seems to use mostly production sound, rather than being redubbed in post production. But it just becomes a bore, unless there is gore or nudity cut from the version I saw there's not much in the way of excitement or suspense.

The turning the tables on the bad guy element is pretty lame as well and the final battle doesn't even develop until the last ten minutes. One odd ball dream scene with the lead, still with the fixed facial expression, having a erotic encounter with one beast man, is odd indeed but not erotic.

Okay that quote is misleading, there is nothing fun-filled about this movie at all. It manages not only to confuse you, it also can put you to sleep in twenty minutes or less. After watching this movie several times on cable I still don't know what's going on? Jungle beasts ??? Mad Doctors ??? Hello anyone out there??? guess not. Nothing actually happens until the last half-hour or so but, If you can watch it until then, well I got two words for you, DEEP HURTING. Unless of course you fall asleep before then.

This was an extremely awful movie.It was hard to pay attention to this movie which involved secret experiments in the jungle.The acting was poor.Ed Wood got better performances from his actors.This movie wasn't even enjoyably bad.It wasn't as bad as Kazaam so that's why I gave it a 2.

An unbelievably awful movie, potentially the worst thing I have ever seen. I can´t believe I actually took the time to comment on it. Perhaps I am in a state of shock. I would advise potential viewers to give this a definite miss.

People complain about this movie It was never intended to be a cinematic masterpiece. This B movie was meant to be ran as rhe 2nd movie of a make out session at the drive in. Its suppose to be playing in the background and not actually watched.

If you want to watch a movie with absolutely nothing interesting going for it, then go for Superbeast. Really. The lead just wanders around (and she isn't much to look at) while Phillippino extras act "primitive". Nothing scary, no atmosphere. The acting is atrocious and that's kind of funny, but not enough to make this flick into "so bad it's good". Oh yeah, don't expect to see a Superbeast (or any beast) in this load of 16mm crud.

Borrowing from both "The Island of Dr. Moreau" and "The Most Dangerous Game", the Filipino horror flick "Superbeast" is no great shakes, and one may simply have to be a loyal aficionado of Filipino horror flicks to derive much entertainment from it. Most of the time, it tends to be talky, uneventful, and unremarkable. But it's not completely lacking in assets, which I'll get to in a moment.

Antoinette Bower ("The Evil That Men Do") stars as Dr. Alix Pardee, a renowned pathologist who investigates the case of an animalistic character named Cleaver (John Garwood, "Hells Angels on Wheels") who goes on a robbery / murder spree. After he has died and she has performed an autopsy on him, she goes to the scene(s) of his crimes in the Philippines. Eventually, she discovers a jungle-dwelling mad scientist, Bill Fleming (Craig Littler, "Barquero") who's basically responsible for Cleavers' condition. Involved in Flemings' research is a mysterious benefactor, Stewart Victor (Harry Lauter, "Escape from the Planet of the Apes") who funded Flemings' work on one BIG condition.

"Superbeast" does benefit from great atmosphere and effective prosthetics devised by John Chambers of "Planet of the Apes" fame. The music by Richard LaSalle is good, and the film does have a reasonably suspenseful, sinister finale with one character hunting another - as well as a rather nasty twist near the end. The acting is variable. Bower is MUCH too aloof and bland to be of any use as a protagonist, while Littler and especially Lauter fare better. (This was the final feature credit for Lauter, the prolific, under-rated character actor.) And, of course, this being a Filipino-lensed exploitation-horror movie, you're not a bit surprised that the equally prolific Vic Diaz turns up - and he's a hoot, as always.

You can definitely do better than this if you're in need of a monster movie fix, but there is also worse out there. "Superbeast" (one would assume that Rob Zombie has seen this one, and is a fan) does deliver some mild pleasures if the prospective viewer is not too judgmental.

Five out of 10.

My Ratings: Story 0.75: Direction 0.75: Pace 0.5: Acting 1.25: Entertainment 0.75: Total 4 out of 10.00

After seeing the reviews and the rating on IMDb I was putting off watching this film. However, upon reflection, this was a bad idea. For me, this isn't that bad of a movie. It's not too great and isn't worth a second viewing, but I'm not upset I watched it... and at no time did I think, I've got to turn this crap off.

Firstly, George Schenck (who wrote and directed this picture) had a great story concept. A scientist who has grown dispirited with mankind and their aptitude for violence takes himself into the desolate South America jungle. Here, he's taken it upon himself to find a cure for humanities brutality. Thanks to the help from the local police authorities, he uses violent criminals for his experiments. Unfortunately, his experimentations have drastic side effects, and he has to call in a hunter to rid himself of these errors.

Now, that is a good concept.

Regretfully, Schenck isn't a great, or even good, writer and the story suffers from bad construction and characterisations. There's not enough in this story to keep you engrossed.

And, he doesn't add any visuals to the film to keep your interest piqued, either. I have to admit there were times I found myself dozing. Strange, because the opening escape sequence is well filmed and thought out. But, as soon we get into the jungle, the attention to detail drops.

So much could have been done with this section. Particularly with the hunt scenes. There's one scene where the hunter, Stewart Victor, rushes into Dr Flemings room raving about his latest conquest. It would have been great to see this hunt. Feel the excitement, the fear, the exhilaration. Having said that, when we get to the final climactic hunt I can understand why Schenck chose not to shoot such a scene. Stewart Victor doesn't come across as a great white hunter. He's more of a sweaty, gasping, old git, who's trying not to have a heart attack. This end hunt needed to hold all of the elements mentioned, and then some... but it comes nowhere near, and this is a shame.

And because there's no real atmosphere to the film, it's hard to call it a horror even though it has monsters. I would consider it to be more of a Sci-Fi Adventure movie... without much adventure.

As for the acting, Antoinette Bower as the lead Doctor Alix Pardee is decent in her portrayal. For the first half of the film, she comes across strong and unwavering. I wanted to see how she would develop. But when we get to the jungle, as with the story, her characterisation gets weaker. This is down to the story writing and the direction, and not her acting. She does well with what she's given.

As does, Harry Lauter with his portrayal of the hunter, Stewart Victor. Until he goes out on the hunt, I would think twice about messing with this guy.

In fact, most of the acting is above par, until we get to Craig Littler as Doctor Bill Fleming. Littler doesn't appear until the jungle segments, and though he starts well enough, it soon looks as though he's bored of the whole thing. Unlike his fellow cast members, Littler's acting does drop and adds to the dullness of the story.

I do have to say though, I loved the effects of the beasts. I'm not too sure how they accomplished the effect, but for some of the scenes, it appears the "beast-men"'s face is swollen. I'm not sure if somebody injected them with something, but it looks realistically painful. Then when they add the latex and rubber, they do it in such a way that it's reasonable. In some cases, like with the native "Beast-men", especially the escapee at the start, it looks almost lifelike... almost. I doff my cap to you.

Should you need something to watch to waste a smidgen of your lockdown time, you could do worse than this. And should you be curled up in bed, it may drift you away into dreamland. There are a lot of worse movies than this one. But, don't rush to buy it, or to watch it. If you miss it, you're not missing too much.

Swing on your vines and come see where this Superbeast landed in my The Final Frontier list.

Take Care & Stay Well.

Everything that has been written about this movie here is essentially correct and largely inarguable. Having said that I enjoyed this horror for the appearance of Harry Lauter in the role of the evil Dr Stewart Victor. Harry Lauter may be one of the greatest actors that no one has ever heard of in cinema history. He appeared in more than 156 movies and countless TV shows. He never once flirted with a main billing except for a co-starring role in 'Tales of the Texas Rangers' in 1955-58. He appeared in movies with James Cagney, Gene Autrey, Lee Van Cleef, James Arness and on and on. He was a perennial 'B' movie co-star with my personal favorite being 'Rocky Jones and the Clash of the Moons' in 1954. Superbeast was his last film appearance. He was also a gifted artist and ran an art gallery for many years. Just thought folks might like to know about a great actor that never really attained fame but who was a Hollywood regular for 41 years!

I once saw a pigeon walking around on the sidewalk with a twig in its beak. I thought it was kind of funny but nothing spectacular. Now that I've seen this film, the pigeon looks like the freaking messiah reborn in comparison.

I watched this movie, but it certainly did not make a lasting impression other than that it was rather boring. I think I sort of drifted in and out of sleep while watching it. Saw it on Monstervision with Joe Bob Briggs and he warned that this movie was going to be bad. Bad really is an understatement here, it is not even in the so bad it is good category like so many Italian zombie flicks like "Hell of the Living Dead" or "After Death". The movie's premise is sort of similar to an "Island of Dr. Moreau" which I never cared for that format of movie anyways. To make matters worse, this movie is the worst I have ever seen of that particular format. Add to that, the fact virtually nothing went on in the entire movie and it is not very memorable to boot. I seem to recall the so called superbeast of the title making an appearance near the end of the movie. Suffice to say, I do believe it was a rather brief appearance and not anything that added anything to this yawn fest. The only thing good about the whole movie was the breaks when Joe Bob would make fun of how bad the movie was. I do not even think the gang of Mystery Science Theater 3000 could have made this one tolerable to watch.

This whole movie was absolute garbage. Did anyone else catch the hand-grenade being thrown and then the floor of the plane exploding before it actually hit the ground. One other thing I would have to wonder is, what the hell was the last ten minutes of the movie? I mean I even tried watching it after extensive drinking and still didnt understand it. Weird stuff. Just stay away from it...far away...

60% of this movie is the lead actress traveling on a plane, then in a car, then in a boat, then in a car, then walking a whole lot, then going in a row boat, then again in a rowboat. Another 20% of the movie is the camera man just filming whatever *beep* he sees. Some trees, random people walking, a rock, a car. Then there's a whole lot of talking that doesn't lead to much. In the end the "SuperBeasts" are just really angry ugly people who are a little stronger than average. They should show this movie in prison. No... in Guantanamo. This is the kind of movie that makes me glad abortion is legal, because every time a woman kills her infant, that's one less person who at some time in his or her life may accidentally stumble upon this film and be tormented by it's ungodly *beep* Watching this movie should be a form of therapy for rape victims. The experience will make their traumatic memories of the rape seem less horrific. As soon as I was done watching this crap I ran to the nearest church and begged the priest to baptize me so that I would have the protections afforded to a follower of God and would never have to fear going to hell one day, because in that awful place, they surely force you to watch this movie.

Do not see this movie. It is by all means the worst movie I have ever seen. Bad Acting, bad writing, bad lighting, bad everything. Nothing happens until the last twenty minutes and then you wish even that hadn't happened. If people were suck, this movie would be china. It is a horrid black whole that no human being should endure. Not even chemical help can make this movie tolerable.

What was the point of making this movie at all? They producers must have gotten money from the Philippines, because there is NO other reason for this atrocity to exist. It is a ripoff of "The Island of Dr. Moreau," but is excruciatingly slow and dull, with unbelievably bad performances, except for Harry Lauter, who at least is in there punching, despite the hideous dialogue. Antoinette Bower shows no vital signs...none. She can't even walk convincingly, and instead looks like she was photographed underwater. There is more expression on the face of CPR resuscitation dummies. Craig Littler, meanwhile, is almost as zonked and wooden, but occasionally shows that he has a pulse. The photography is not bad, but all that means is the scenery chews up the actors. The only professional thing in the movie is the music score, which is quite good. Hopefully it was recycled for a real film.

If you ever find yourself tasked with casting the part of a mellow hippie chick Doctor then make certain she is beautiful and not 40 years old. The movie had some talent but it was wasted with a slow pace and a horrendous sound track. The one redeeming quality is that the first half hour or so showed a glimpse of what the Philippines looked like in the early seventy's. I am trying to be nice here so I will just say don't waste your time on this terrible movie.

Really, a tourist advertisement for the Philippines would be more entertaining. This movie moves at a glacial pace towards...nothing. Even movies that are bad sometimes have an interesting idea or twist. This one is just, bland, and uninteresting. Not even a little romance to pick things up.