The Being

The Being

DVD cover
Directed by Jackie Kong
Produced by Bill Osco
Written by Jackie Kong
Starring Martin Landau
José Ferrer
Dorothy Malone
Ruth Buzzi
Marianne Gordon
Bill Osco
Music by Don Preston
Cinematography Hanania Baer
Robert Ebinger
Edited by David H. Newhouse
Production
company
Cybelle Productions[1]
Distributed by Best Film & Video Corp.
New World Pictures
Aquarius Films
Crest Films[1]
Release dates
  • November 4, 1983 (1983-11-04) (US)

[1]

Running time
 82 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Being is a 1983 horror film written and directed by Jackie Kong and Martin Landau, José Ferrer, Dorothy Malone, comedian Ruth Buzzi, Marianne Gordon and exploitation film producer Bill Osco, who is billed as "Rexx Coltrane".[2][3][4] It focuses on a detective who is trying to solve a string of grisly murders and disappearances. It was first film directed by Kong, who went on to direct several other films of the same type, including Blood Diner,[3] which has become a cult favorite.[2][5]

Plot

In the fictional town of Pottsville, Idaho citizens begin disappearing. Young Michael Smith, son of Marge Smith (Dorothy Malone) is the first to vanish. A young man is decapitated while fleeing from an unseen assailant, and patrons in a drive-in theater are brutally murdered inside their vehicles. At each scene a pile of green slime is found. Wanting to get to the bottom of the disappearances but afraid that the publicity might damage the town’s potato business, Mayor Gordon Lane (José Ferrer) hires Chemical safety engineer Garcon Jones (Martin Landau) to investigate. Also investigating the disappearances is Detective Mortimer Lutz (Bill Osco), who senses that something terrible has befallen the town.

Meanwhile, more and more people disappear, with a puddle of green slime found at each site. With this new string of disappearances Lutz begins to suspect that Jones knows more than he is willing to tell. His suspicions grow when he is attacked by something monstrous while at home, with Lutz barely managing to escape from his attacker. Lutz confronts Jones about the incident but is told that there is nothing wrong in the area. The following night while Lutz his waitress girlfriend Laurie (Marianne Gordon) home they are suddenly attacked by a hideous creature. After holing themselves inside a diner they manage to lock it inside a freezer. The couple then contacts Mayor Lane, however when he arrives they discover that the creature has vanished, leaving behind a puddle of green slime.

In light of this recent attack, Lutz confronts Jones again who then admits that a highly radioactive creature is responsible. It’s revealed that the town is home to one of 2,000 nuclear dump sites in the U.S. and the creature (who is implied to be young Michael Smith) is the resulting mutation due to repeated exposure to the site’s radioactive materials. The mutant, while intelligent, is completely psychotic and sensitive to light and is inactive during the day. Arming themselves with shotguns the two eventually manage to track the creature down to an abandoned warehouse where they are stalked by the hungry mutant. Jones is soon attacked and disemboweled by the creature, leaving Lutz alone to fend off the creature. Donning a gas mask, Lutz attempts to kill the creature with poison gas but it seems unfazed by the poisonous fumes and tosses Lutz around like a ragdoll. As the creature advances Lutz manages to toss a beaker of acid into the creature’s face momentarily stunning it. Taking advantage of the creature’s distraction, Lutz grabs a nearby axe and hacks the creature to death, ending the creature's reign of terror. However a new mutation is seen bursting from the ground as the credits roll.

Cast

Cast notes:

Production

The Being is notable as the first film made by schlock horror film writer and director Jackie Kong. Filming began in 1980 under the title "Easter Sunday", before being put on the shelf for three years before finally being released on November 18, 1983[5] with the tagline "The Ultimate Terror has Taken Form".[6]

Reception

The film has been met with negative reviews. On the review website Rotten Tomatoes it has had few but mostly negative reviews.[7] On IMDb it currently has an 3.3/10 reviewed from 647 viewers.[8] Scott Weinberg from DVD Talk was among the film's detractors calling the film "Grungy, muddy-looking" he also called it a "blatant Alien ripoff".[9] J. Read from Monstersatplay.com called it "cheap, rushed, and an incongruous mess" stating it as a perfect example of all the bad movies that came out in the 1980s.[10] Allmovie called the film "abysmal", with "clumsy, ham-fisted" direction,"lack of focus", "goofy" effects, and a "leaden, noncharismatic" performance from lead actor and producer Bill Osco. Nevertheless, the reviewer calls it "worthy of note for cinematic trash-fiends", because of its cast, flashes of humor and "oddball qualities".[11] TV Guide gave the film a negative review awarding it a score of 1 1/2 out of 4, stating, "The biggest mystery about this mystery-horror film is how the producer ever managed to persuade two Oscar winners (Dorothy Malone and Jose Ferrer) to appear in such cinematic Valium".[12]

Robert Firsching from New York Times panned the film, calling it, "abysmal".[5] Leonard Maltin awarded the film 1 1⁄2 stars out of 4 stating that humor was the film's only saving grace, stating that "it wasn't enough to overcome its Z-grade script and production".[13] Jack Sommersby from eFilmCritic.com gave the film a negative review, writing, " it's not the worst of its type but not quite good enough to warrant a recommendation".[14] Brett Gallman from Oh, the Horror! wrote, "The Being manages an odd, offbeat quality despite its familiarity. It’s a film that features an amorphous killer alien but also takes the time to consider Pottsville’s other plights, such as the impending arrival of a massage parlor that has the moral majority in a tizzy. Osco’s voiceover narration and interior monologues abruptly stop midway through the film, and even the Easter setting is entirely incidental".[15]

Home video

The Being was released on DVD on September 13, 2005 by Shriek Studio in widescreen format with no special features. Shriek Studio released it again on July 31, 2007 as a part its Mutant Monsters Triple Feature which combined it with The Dark and Creatures from the Abyss. It was last released by Code Red as a double feature alongside Cop Killers.[16]

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 The Being at the American Film Institute Catalog
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Overview" on Allmovie.com
  3. 1 2 Scott Aaron Stine (8 July 2003). The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1980s. McFarland. pp. 39–40. ISBN 978-0-7864-1532-8.
  4. ↑ Michael Weldon (1996). The Psychotronic Video Guide To Film. St. Martin's Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-312-13149-4.
  5. 1 2 3 Firsching, Robert. "The-Being - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - NYTimes.com". New York Times.com. Robert Firsching. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  6. ↑ John Kenneth Muir (24 October 2012). Horror Films of the 1980s. McFarland. pp. 297–299. ISBN 978-0-7864-5501-0.
  7. ↑ "The Being". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2013-09-14.
  8. ↑ "The Being (1983) - IMDb". IMDb.com. IMDb. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  9. ↑ Weinberg, Scott. "The Being". DVDTalk.com. Retrieved 2013-09-14.
  10. ↑ Read, J. "The Being (1984)". Monstersatplay.com. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
  11. ↑ Guarisco, Donald. "Review" on Allmovie.com
  12. ↑ "The Being Review". TV Guide.com. TV Guide. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  13. ↑ Leonard Maltin (2 September 2014). Leonard Maltin's 2015 Movie Guide. Penguin Group US. pp. 197–. ISBN 978-0-698-18361-2.
  14. ↑ Jack, Sommersby. "Movie Review - Being, The - eFilmCritic". eFilmCritic.com. Jack Sommersby. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  15. ↑ Gallman, Brett. "Horror Reviews - Being, The (1983)". Oh, the Horror.com. Brett Gallman. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  16. ↑ "The Being (1983) - Jackie Kong". AllMovie.com. AllMovie. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
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