This 1974 mystery thriller sets it's stall out very early on with a reasonably nerve-jangling beginning as a stranded motorist is murdered in a grisly manner on a mist-shrouded,isolated road by someone or something lurking in woods of rural Los Angeles.
The plot quickly develops as the baffled police turn to an ex-game hunter (Peter Graves) to assist them with the search of an "animal", who leaves both four-legged and two-legged tracks (never seen by the viewer, by the way, and indicative of the budget restrictions that prevail in this film). One ex-game-hunter goes to an old friend who is still plying his trade as a hunter (Clint Walker) but he oddly backs off and refuses to help anybody track down the killer.
At just over 75 minutes running time, the whole thing virtuously floes at a brisk pace, but saying that the early part of the film is rather repetitious in portraying the murders. Furthermore, some sequences are too short and/or choppily edited so the overall smoothness of what is being viewed is compromised.
Budget restrictions place a heavy emphasis on mystery and suspense, rather than horror and gore, and with Dan Curtis (of Night Stalker fame) at the production/directorial helm, the whole thing was potentially in safe hands. Nevertheless, there is only decent nail-biting scene in the rest of the film: at the home of the leading character's girlfriend's house where the murderer tries to strike.
The script also spends an inordinate amount of time building and playing on the cold-hearted, egocentric and humourless characterisation of Clint Walker's role: whilst Walker carries this off very effectively it becomes rather mind-numbing and tiresome as the film shifts towards its conclusion, even within the confines of the aforementioned running time. What this does is imply considerable guilt on the part of this character and puts all the film's "eggs in one basket." When the conclusion comes it comes with twists that are perfectly explicable in terms of what the viewer has seem beforehand, if not entirely satisfactory.
Overall the performances of Peter Graves and Jo-Ann Pflug are merely adequate, but Walker merits more praise for his consistently poker-face portrayal of his character. The film itself carries an element of intrigue that makes it worth watching but many aspects of the script don't translate particularly well to the screen, so it's lasting impact is unfortunately rather Luke-warm.
The plot quickly develops as the baffled police turn to an ex-game hunter (Peter Graves) to assist them with the search of an "animal", who leaves both four-legged and two-legged tracks (never seen by the viewer, by the way, and indicative of the budget restrictions that prevail in this film). One ex-game-hunter goes to an old friend who is still plying his trade as a hunter (Clint Walker) but he oddly backs off and refuses to help anybody track down the killer.
At just over 75 minutes running time, the whole thing virtuously floes at a brisk pace, but saying that the early part of the film is rather repetitious in portraying the murders. Furthermore, some sequences are too short and/or choppily edited so the overall smoothness of what is being viewed is compromised.
Budget restrictions place a heavy emphasis on mystery and suspense, rather than horror and gore, and with Dan Curtis (of Night Stalker fame) at the production/directorial helm, the whole thing was potentially in safe hands. Nevertheless, there is only decent nail-biting scene in the rest of the film: at the home of the leading character's girlfriend's house where the murderer tries to strike.
The script also spends an inordinate amount of time building and playing on the cold-hearted, egocentric and humourless characterisation of Clint Walker's role: whilst Walker carries this off very effectively it becomes rather mind-numbing and tiresome as the film shifts towards its conclusion, even within the confines of the aforementioned running time. What this does is imply considerable guilt on the part of this character and puts all the film's "eggs in one basket." When the conclusion comes it comes with twists that are perfectly explicable in terms of what the viewer has seem beforehand, if not entirely satisfactory.
Overall the performances of Peter Graves and Jo-Ann Pflug are merely adequate, but Walker merits more praise for his consistently poker-face portrayal of his character. The film itself carries an element of intrigue that makes it worth watching but many aspects of the script don't translate particularly well to the screen, so it's lasting impact is unfortunately rather Luke-warm.