Yeah it scared me for all the wrong reasons. "BEAST BENEATH" is something you might catch on late-night cable -- a feeble experience in terror. You know the kind which eventually puts you to sleep. Technically it's surprisingly sound for such a cheapie, yet this is an all-flat, long-winded ghost/creature-feature, of sorts. When I say, of sorts, you don't get much and when you do, you only see flashes of the beast (a cheap, scruffy looking werewolf costume) and those few attack scenes we do witness quickly cuts away from the full carnage. There are a few nasty looking facial / neck scratches (with better than expected latex work) and body limbs popping up here and there. And the odd eye ball too. But this fun is short-lived.
Being plot-heavy should be a positive, but when it's half-baked in its ideas, boringly acted (although a real test of patience is the over-the-top mugging of Bertie Higgins -- father of the director) and all this lethargic investigating about a curse and treasure taking up so much of the running time. It begins to take a toll, becoming a padded-out history lesson of a trip down memory lane. The fragmented story starts off as a modern-day wraparound campfire tale with a father telling his douche-bag teenage son the legend of a family curse, ancient map and a hidden ancestral treasure that was discovered in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. The same park they're camping in. And our beast just happens to be the protector of this treasure. Some say, it still haunts the area. So just wait around for one of *THOSE* endings.
Being plot-heavy should be a positive, but when it's half-baked in its ideas, boringly acted (although a real test of patience is the over-the-top mugging of Bertie Higgins -- father of the director) and all this lethargic investigating about a curse and treasure taking up so much of the running time. It begins to take a toll, becoming a padded-out history lesson of a trip down memory lane. The fragmented story starts off as a modern-day wraparound campfire tale with a father telling his douche-bag teenage son the legend of a family curse, ancient map and a hidden ancestral treasure that was discovered in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. The same park they're camping in. And our beast just happens to be the protector of this treasure. Some say, it still haunts the area. So just wait around for one of *THOSE* endings.