Night Creature is a plot similar to one we've seen before. Of all the possible "recurring plots" that may exist in the world, why is this one so common? This is "the big game hunter". Big Game Hunter can go multiple ways... lets see here.
1) Big Game Hunter white man goes into foreign area to help out a local tribe who is hunted by a mysterious predator/ancient god/voodoo curse and he hunts down the creature (usually a lion)
2) Big Game gets a taste for human flesh and starts invading local townsfolk. Several young maidens are usually slain, and savior white man arrives to hunt the bad boy down (lion or tiger)
3) Animal escapes zoo and generally goes on random rampage. Seemingly out for revenge, the hunky hero is called in and when tranquilizers don't work, it's kill time (usually sad and dramatic)
4) And then there's this movie which is very common... In an endless effort of confronting foes/proving manliness/to become the apex predator, crazy white man takes a creature and lets it loose on an island with the intent for it to be man versus nature.
So, again, why? Why would they do this in at least 3 or 4 movies I can mention right now including MST3K vehicle Bloodlust? Night Creature at least has Donald Pleasence in an uncommonly overacted role as a old man whose daughter was killed by a black panther. The black panther is filmed in a super cool way, and this movie was also filmed in Thailand and looks pretty awesome!
Donald Pleasence takes this black panther to an island to hunt it down, but as he is doing so, several other people come to the island as well. Ross Hagen (playing a character named Ross, haha) and Nancy Kwan as Leslie show up with several others. The less important characters are killed off while the three of them, especially Pleasence, mostly talk about the panther.
It's very easy to see that acting saves this movie. It has a certain surreal quality to it, but that alone wouldn't save it if it weren't for Pleasence, Hagen and Kwan. The black panther is similarly a huge benefit to this, and they shot it in super creepy ways. Often, even with the sounds of roaring and such obviously not coming from the filmed animal, it still somehow fits the panther, and it's locked eyes seem to peer deep into the audience. This film captures the feeling of being hunted extremely well.
It gets mixed reviews online. People talk about poor pacing, poor editing, and how Pleasence is basically the only good part of it. I won't disagree entirely. This movie certainly has some flaws, but I liked it. It has a ethereal otherness to it, and ambiguous attraction for me. Lets be honest here, a lot of movies have nothing, and this has 2-3 great things. I still can't give it much over a 3 though...
New stars. I'm givin em a shot.
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