Track of the Moon Beast

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Movie
Original title Track of the Moon Beast
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1976
length 81 minutes
Rod
Director Richard Ashe
script Bill Finger
Charles Sinclair
production Ralph T. Desiderio
music Robert G. Orpin
camera R. Kent Evans
occupation

Track of the Moon Beast is an American horror film directed by Richard Ashe in 1976.

action

During excavations, the young mineralogist Paul G. Carlson meets his friend, the anthropology professor John Salinas, known as Johnny Longbow. He's traveling with two of his students - Janes and Budd - and photographer Kathy Nolan. Two days ago an asteroid hit the moon. In the evening, a meteor shower is said to fall on the earth, but it is said to be harmless to humans. Paul and Kathy go to a cave on Mount Sandia Crest to watch the shower. Paul is hit by a meteorite that turns out to be a moonstone. He takes the stone with him. Kathy, who has fallen in love with him, follows him home where she wants to treat him. She is startled when she sees that he has a large lizard as a pet.

Paul feels bad for the next few days. When he goes to a rock museum with his moonstone and looks at another moonstone, he is hit by an electric shock and collapses. Kathy happened to capture this moment with her camera. Paul is more likely to go to a concert a little later because he has a severe headache. The following night there is a full moon. Paul cannot sleep and eventually turns into a monster. The drunk Sid Harris is attacked and killed by him on his doorstep. The police are puzzled, as the tracks point to an oversized lizard man. A little later, a group of card players is attacked by the monster. Witnesses describe the creature as a giant lizard.

Because Paul is still standing next to him, Johnny takes him to the hospital. A brain tomography shows that a piece of the meteorite is in Paul's brain. Johnny also finds the photo that Kathy took while being electrocuted at the museum. He brings Paul's moonstone to the museum, where the stone reacts electrically with another stone. Johnny also remembers an old Indian legend in which an Indian was hit by a meteorite, mutated into a monster lizard and finally went up in flames after a while. He suspects that Paul is the monster and tells him what he thinks. Paul agrees to spend the next night in a cell-like hospital room; Johnny and the police can safely follow his nocturnal transformation here. Two experts are flown in to remove the meteorite splinter from Paul's brain. However, it turns out that the splinter is an unstable element and has disintegrated into smaller pieces. This makes an operation impossible, especially since the energy of the parts will lead to a large discharge over time, which will kill Paul. Paul secretly hears the medical diagnosis and flees the hospital. While the police, Johnny and Kathy are looking for him, Paul transforms again at night. He kills two policemen before Johnny shoots him, who is no longer human, with an arrow with a meteorite part. The meteorite part speeds up the discharge process and Paul dies.

production

Track of the Moon Beast was filmed in 1972 in Albuquerque and on the Sandia Crest . The monster was designed by Joe Blasco . Frank Larrabee appears in the film with the song California Lady .

Track of the Moon Beast first appeared on June 1, 1976, after four years no distribution for the film could be found. In 2001 the film was released on DVD for the first time in the USA as part of the Classic Creature Movies series . The comedy television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) presented the film on June 13, 1999, where it was commented on in the style of the series humorous.

criticism

Steve Miller included Track of the Moon Beast in his 2010 book 150 Movies You Should Die Before You See . The worst thing about the film, he counted the wooden play of the actors, the gruesome dialogues and the incompetent camera work.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Track of the Moon Beast . In: Steve Miller: 150 Movies You Should Die Before You See . Adams Media, Avon 2010, p. 272.
  2. ↑ Trivia on IMDb.com
  3. ↑ Track of the Moon Beast on rottentomatoes.com
  4. ↑ Track of the Moon Beast . In: Steve Miller: 150 Movies You Should Die Before You See . Adams Media, Avon 2010, pp. 271-272.