Horror Movie Review: The Being (1983)

Written and directed by Jackie Kong and starring Martin Landau, José Ferrer, Bill Osco and Dorothy Malone. The Being is a 1983 creature feature/horror film set in Pottsville, Idaho where the citizens begin to disappear.

Detective Lutz (Osco) is investigating the strange events that have befallen the town but is getting pushback from the Mayor (Ferrar) who doesn’t want bad publicity (sound familiar?). The Mayor wants to stop whatever is happening so hires Gordon Jones (Landau), a chemical safety engineer to also investigate.

The only clues to the mysterious events are puddles of green goo that are found at the crime scenes.

Lutz is suspicious of Jones’ involvement but can’t get a straight answer out of him. That is until Lutz and his girlfriend are attacked by a monstrous and hideous creature. Clearly the perpetrator of the disappearances, Lutz confronts Jones and discovers that the town has been used as a nuclear dump site. The creature was once human but has since mutated after exposure to the radioactive materials.

Will Lutz be able to save the town and stop the monster before it kills again?

Yes. Yes, he will. 80’s monster horrors often follows a set path and The Being doesn’t deviate from it at all. That doesn’t make it a bad story, it just makes it an alright story. Not likely to stick long in the memory but fairly entertaining especially with its oddball quirky moments of which there are quite a few.

The faults with The Being don’t come from the story. They come with its visuals, acting and effects. A horrid and muddy looking film, it’s so dark and grim to look at. The acting is borderline embarrassing with awkward, clumsily written dialogue delivered in unenthusiastic fashion. As the lead, Landau looks like he’d rather be anywhere else and his character lacks charisma.

Then we have the monster effects. Oh dear, the monster. Cheap looking, it’s everything bad about 80’s horror. It doesn’t frighten, instead coming across laughable.

Hard to recommend purely because there are far better movies of this ilk. So go watch one of them instead!

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