Director: Wes Sullivan
MPAA Rating: NR
Film Pulse Score: .5/10
Wes Sullivan’s Nightbeasts is the type of B movie that would probably be considered a cult classic, had it come out sometime in the ‘80s. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case and there just isn’t a lot to like about this sub par monster flick. That is unless you’re intrigued by the idea of the guy from Gremlins (Zach Galligan) playing a southern neon sign salesman who gets attacked by Bigfoot. It’s poorly written, poorly acted, and completely unoriginal in every way. Somehow it’s still an entertaining watch, though probably not in the way the filmmakers intended.
Galligan plays Charles Thomas, a good ole boy taking his son to the woods for a weekend of hunting and a little father-son bonding session. Unfortunately, their trip gets interrupted when a bunch of Sasquatches start killing people. Now it’s up to Charles to team up with the local Native American tribe to take them out and get to safety.
Everything about this movie is as bad as it sounds. The editing is sloppy, the decisions made by the characters are illogical, and the monsters just look like dudes in suits. The dialogue is comprised of classic lines such as “You look like you’ve been eating submarine sandwiches.” Makes sense to me.
The thing about Nightbeasts though, is that it’s not trying to be anything more than it is. When you have a film featuring a rapping Native American and Lloyd Kaufman playing a park ranger, there’s a certain lowered expectation to be had. It revels in its B movie-ness, from the God awful acting to the ridiculous set designs, with fog billowing in from every off camera angle possible.
Although all of these elements made the film feel so bad it’s good, it doesn’t feel like that was the intention of the movie in general. Recently there have been a number of throwback films that give a wink and a nod to classic genre cinema of the ‘80s, but where films like The House of the Devil or Hobo with a Shotgun succeed, Nightbeasts fails. It may be derived from ‘80s B monster movies, but it doesn’t bring anything new or interesting to the table.
Nightbeasts is a complete mess of a film that is only worth watching after you’ve already seen The Room, Troll 2, and Birdemic. If Sullivan and co. were setting out to make a crappy B movie, they’ve certainly succeeded. It’s unintentionally hilarious, and should be proud of the .5/10 score it receives; those don’t get handed out very often.
