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Track of the Moon Beast
USA 1976
produced by Ralph T. Desiderio, Frank J. Desiderio (executive) for Brandon Films, Derio, Lizard Productions
directed by Richard Ashe
starring Chase Cordell, Leigh Drake, Gregorio Sala, Patrick M. Wright, Francine Kessler, Timothy Wayne Brown, Crawford MacCallum, Jeanne Swain, Alan Swain, Fred McCaffrey, Tim Butler, Gary Kanin, Frank Larrabee, Joe Blasco
written by Bill Finger, Charles Sinclair, music by Robert G. Orpon, special makeup effects by Joe Blasco
review by Mike Haberfelner
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During a meteor shower, Paul (Chase Cordell) is scratched by a falling
piece of moonstone - and soon, every night when the moon is up, he turns
into some kind of lizard-like monster that goes on a killing spree. When
he finds out what he has become, he decides to kill himself to not put any
more people at harm - but his girlfriend Kathy (Leigh Drake) just won't
let him. She needn't have bothered though, as it turns out that Paul is
imortal anyways. Enter Paul's best friend Johnny (Gregorio Sala), who is
not only a scientist but also Native American, and he soon links Paul's
predicament to some ancient native legend, forges an arrow out of
moonstone and uses it to kill Paul, just when Paul's about to kill Kathy
...
You know, it's kind of refreshing to see a native American hero in a
film who is not just a proverb-sputtering weirdo whose favourite pastime
it is to walk naked across deserts, but an actual scientist.
That unfortunately is about the only nice thing I can say about Track
of the Moon Beast, because apart from that the film is one big
disappointment: It's made on a budget way too low for its own good, the
creature makeup is almost pathetic, the actors are uniformly wooden, the
directorial effort is bland and boring, the plot is silly at best, and
there is no build-up in tension and suspense to speak of. In short, a
major disappointment, and not even a film that's so bad it's good.
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