By Geno McGahee
Toxic waste has done a lot for the monster business. Without it, where would the Toxic Avenger be? C.H.U.D. would have never existed. It would be a sad world without the existence of toxic waste, and yet, you have these tree huggers that want to get rid of it. You get rid of the waste, you get rid of the horror movie monsters you stupid hippies!
THE BEING is another toxic waste – created monster that takes no prisoners, and is a pretty good monster movie. We have a kid that gets turned into “the Being,” a creature that is incredibly intelligent, strong, and psychotic. It is killing left and right and must be stopped.
Garson Jones (Martin Landau) is responsible for the toxic waste and he is easy to see as a villain. I loved how he protested the development of a pornography store in town, but was dumping toxic waste all over the map. He teamed up with some religious fanatical folks and pushed to get porn out of the world, while doing damage to the planet. It was pretty amusing.
Detective Lutz (Bill Osco) is investigating the deaths in town and isn’t getting much help from the mayor. When he presents evidence that there is a monster in town, the mayor laughs it off and walks away shaking his head. I swear that Lutz would be taken more seriously if he wasn’t so dirty and his pants weren’t so tight. They left nothing to the imagination. Come on Lutz! Put on pants that fit you!
An unlikely partnership comes together as Garson and Lutz team up to take down the Being, but they have their hands full. We had one cat launched at them, which made Garson laugh hysterically. It was dubbed in and the laugh was so over the top that it didn’t match his laugh when they initially filmed. It reminded me of PLANET OF THE APES when Charlton Heston laughed at the planting of the American flag. The laugh was so horribly dubbed and over the top that I just prayed that filmmakers would do it more. It’s a riot!
THE BEING is a good monster movie. It doesn’t break new ground, but it doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Most reviews that I have read have trashed it. It is certainly worth a watch and fun. I recommend it.
Rating: 6/10
