Director: Jackie Kong
Cast: Martin Landau, José Ferrer, Dorothy Malone, Ruth Buzzi, Marianne Gordon, Bill Osco
Screenplay: Jackie Kong
82 mins. Rated R.

I’ve often said that I prefer a goopy monster movie with a guy in a rubber suit over CGI scares any day. The landscape of practical effects in the 1980s was expanding and folding in on itself in an exponential way throughout the decade, but I’m even fond of the obvious creature splatter flicks…to an extent. Writer/director Jackie Kong (Blood Diner), recently graduated from college, must’ve also been a fan when she made 1981’s The Being, a creature feature not too different from our recently discussed Italian flick Panic, where a monster roams around a small town and the government is too inept to do anything about it.

Pottsville, Idaho, is a small seemingly quiet town, but its citizens have begun to disappear. Several residents have been slain by an unseen force, but each crime scene has become notable for the appearance of a green slimy substance. Mayor Lane (José Ferrer, Lawrence of Arabia) has brought in chemical engineer Garson Jones (Martin Landau, Ed Wood) to investigate, while Detective Lutz (Bill Osco, Night Patrol) has begun his own investigation, believing that Jones knows more than he’s telling.

I love the dedication that Jackie Kong brings to her goopy and splattery little horror tales, and I can see she has an appreciation for the monsters and effects work, and for all their silliness, the effects do match her energy. That being said, she doesn’t have much for storytelling, her films relying far too heavily on the cheap monster effects at the expense of an entertaining plot. This was the case with Blood Diner (a nonsensical sendup of films like Blood Feast that features amazing effects with a boring set of characters) and the same is true of The Being.

Unlike Blood Diner, though, The Being has a few high-caliber casting choices that are honestly working their asses off. Landau is giving the same dedication and attention to Garson Jones as he was playing Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood, and José Ferrer is channeling some JAWS MAYOR energy and giving it his all. No Oscars to be given here (the screenplay wouldn’t never allow something like that), but I can appreciate that neither actor is settling for a paycheck performance here.

There’s a great cheesy monster here that appears far more than I would’ve expected, and when its lit well and you can really see the design at work, The Being becomes a much better monster movie, or certainly a more exciting one. For all the good work of Landau and Ferrer, the movie is only really working in the monster sequences, and when its not onscreen, there’s just not much here.

The script is the real problem here, and when the effects aren’t on display, it becomes notable as characters amble around town, “investigating” the murders and disappearances, almost praying to find the creature so that something exciting will happen again. These are flat, stock characters in a lifeless story searching for substance, and it just isn’t there. Throughout the run time, the story and players are almost good enough but never able to stand on their own. THE BEING is the star, but it’s not enough, which is still a step up from the purely annoying tone of Blood Diner.

The Being is on the verge of BEING good, but the story and characters are given noting to do, and all the energy that Kong, Landau, and Ferrer give is just not enough to distract from a flimsy product that left me wanting more in all the worst ways. Given the stage of Kong’s career, it’s actually pretty shocking what’s onscreen here and how much works from a visual and stylistic standpoint, but that script needed another pass.

2½/5
-Kyle A. Goethe

For more Jackie Kong: Blood Diner