Nightbeast

A small alien spaceship is cruising around the Solar System. When it reaches the vicinity of Earth, it is struck by an asteroid and crashes at night in the small town of Perry Hall. Some hunters hear the impact and alert the county sheriff, Cinder. When they go investigating on their own, however, the pilot emerges and kills them with a disintegrator ray. The beast also attacks a couple in their home, and a family out for a drive.

Cinder confronts the beast with his men and some armed residents including a man named Jamie. However, the beast appears invulnerable to bullets and they lose many men to the disintegrator. The next morning, they enlist the help of an expert marksman who shoots off the disintegrator, disarming the beast. However, the marksman's son and another officer perish during the shootout.

The police department begin evacuating the town. However, they are unable to convince mayor Bert Wicker to cancel his party for governor Embry. Meanwhile, a delinquent named Drago abuses his girlfriend, who has been sleeping with Jamie. The police then arrive to give her the evacuation order, and after they leave, Drago returns and strangles the girl. When Cinder's police find out that Wicker's party is in progress, Jamie bluffs that poison gas is escaping from a nearby mine and the partygoers flee in panic. Wicker and his secretary Mary Jane, dispirited by this turn of events, stay home and begin drinking heavily.

At the office of doctor Steven Price, the beast appears and kills a few men. Price and nurse Ruth hide in the basement, and devise a trap to electrocute the beast with some frayed electrical cord. It works, and the beast flees the building. The body of Drago's girl gets discovered and taken to Price; Jamie, suspecting Drago, goes out on his dirt bike and beats him. Soon after, Cinder and his deputy Lisa discover a mutilated corpse, and the beast shows up. Lisa and Cinder make their escape, and the sheriff injures his leg in the process. Lisa takes him to her house to heal, and they have sex.

Meanwhile, Wicker and Mary Jane have gotten very drunk. Price is sent to watch over them until they can be evacuated. However, the beast gets past Price and kills Mary Jane in the basement. Her screams wake Wicker, and the beast rips his head off when he investigates. Cinder arrives afterwards, and Jamie suggests electrocuting the beast with a high-voltage coil from the local power plant. Price, thinking back to his success with the electrical trap, supports this course of action, and the sheriff drives out to the power plant with his men. There, Drago assaults Lisa and Cinder, but is stopped when Jamie shoots him with a shotgun.

Cinder and his crew return to Wicker's house and begin setting up their trap, laying metal wire between the trees and connecting it to the coil, which will discharge when they throw the circuit breakers. The beast takes them by surprise, and Jamie must hold onto the wire to keep it inside the trap. They throw the breakers, and the surge makes the beast explode, and takes Jamie with it as well. The camera pans up to the stars overhead and the film ends.

{{div col|colwidth=25em}}

• Tom Griffith as Sheriff Cinder
• Jamie Zemarel as Jamie Lambert
• Karin Kardian as Lisa Kent
• George Stover as Steven Price
• Don Leifert as Drago
• Anne Frith as Ruth Sherman
• Eleanor Herman as Mary Jane
• Richard Dyszel as Mayor Bert Wicker
• Greg Dohler as Greg
• Kim Pfeiffer as Kim (as Kim Dohler)
• Monica Neff as Suzie
• Glenn Barnes as Glenn
• Richard Ruxton as Governor Embry
• Bumb Roberts as Bill Perkins (as Bump Roberts)
• Don Dohler as Jimmy Perkins (as Don Michaels)
• David W. Donoho as Uncle Dave (as David Donoho)
• Richard Geiwitz as Pete
• Larry Reichman as Berkeley
• Christopher Gummer as Clay / Pool Party Guest / Beast (as Chris Gummer)
• Dace Parson as Wilton
• Richard Nelson as Krebs

{{div col end}}

Nightbeast features opening credit effects by Ernest D. Farino{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/35192/Nightbeast/credits|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310142653/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/35192/Nightbeast/credits|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-03-10|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|date=2016|title=Nightbeast (1983)|accessdate=2015-04-30}} and the creature was created by John Dods.{{cite book|title=Regional Horror Films, 1958-1990: A State-by-State Guide with Interviews|last=Albright|first=Brian|publisher=McFarland & Company|year=2012|isbn=9781476600420|page=240|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=39jxgdy3IhcC&pg=PA240}}

J. J. Abrams worked on the film as a 16-year-old. Abrams became aware of Dohler from the latter's articles in a local film magazine, Cinemagic. After Dohler and Abrams exchanged correspondence, Dohler asked Abrams if he would be interested in scoring the film.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/celebritology/post/jjj-abrams-director-of-super-8-on-how-he-got-his-first-film-gig-courtesy-of-nightbeast/2011/06/07/AGiCkHLH_blog.html|title=J.J. Abrams, director of Super 8, on how he got his first film gig, courtesy of Nightbeast|last=Chaney|first=Jen|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=2011-06-07|accessdate=2015-04-30}} While the film was shot in Baltimore, Maryland, Abrams, who lived in Los Angeles, mailed the tapes to Dohler.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/jj-abrams-the-modern-master-of-mainstream-sci-fi/2011/05/31/AGnhEeHH_story.html|title=J.J. Abrams: The modern master of mainstream sci-fi|last=Chaney|first=Jen|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=2011-06-03|accessdate=2015-04-30}}

Most of the cast of The Alien Factor reprise their roles in Nightbeast.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

Nightbeast was first released on DVD on September 28, 2004, by Troma,{{cite web|title=Nightbeast (1983) - Don Dohler {{!}} Releases {{!}} AllMovie|url=https://allmovie.com/movie/nightbeast-v35192/releases|website=Allmovie.com|publisher=AllMovie|accessdate=27 April 2015}} and was later reissued on DVD on February 24, 2009, along with Blood, Boobs & Beast, a documentary about Don Dohler's life and career.{{cite news|url=http://www.leoweekly.com/2009/02/video-tapeworm-266/|title=Video TapeWorm|last1=Raker|first1=Bill|last2=King|first2=David B.|work=Louisville Eccentric Observer|date=2009-02-18|accessdate=2015-04-30}} since then, the film was released on Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome.

TV Guide panned the film, awarding it one out of four stars, stating, "Although the special effects (including some startling uses of gore makeup) are noteworthy, the actors aren't given much to do other than stand around and talk. The final result is disappointing".{{cite web|title=Nightbeast Review {{!}} TVGuide.com|url=http://www.tvguide.com/movies/nightbeast/review/126271/|website=TV Guide|accessdate=27 April 2015}} Bill Gibron of DVD Talk rated it 2.5/5 stars and called it "an angry middle aged man's cry for attention".{{cite web|url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/35858/blood-boobs-beast/|title=Blood, Boobs & Beast|last=Gibron|first=Bill|work=DVD Talk|date=2009-01-02|accessdate=2015-04-30}} Mark L. Miller of Ain't It Cool News wrote, "All in all, Nightbeast is drive-in, beer-swilling, audience-heckling fun."{{cite web|url=https://aintitcool.com/node/50398#4|title=NIGHTBEAST (1982)|last=Miller|first=Mark L.|work=Ain't It Cool News|date=2011-07-15|accessdate=2015-04-30}}

Nightbeast was featured in the 2013 Halloween episode of Red Letter Media's Best of the Worst. Among other things, the group discussed the film's similarity to Dohler's other work, hokey acting, and improved special effects. Mike Stoklasa called Nightbeast, "just a terrible film."{{cite web |url=https://www.redlettermedia.com/best-of-the-worst/best-of-the-worst-night-beast-trick-or-treat-and-skull-forest |title=Best of the Worst: Night Beast, Trick or Treat, and Skull Forest |website=Red Letter Media |date=November 5, 2013 |accessdate=October 20, 2021}}

In August 2016, Nightbeast was featured on Rooster Teeth's Theater Mode web show.{{cite news |url=http://achievementhunter.roosterteeth.com/episode/theater-mode-2016-episode-11-trailer |publisher=Rooster Teeth |accessdate=August 20, 2016 |title=Episode #11 Trailer}}{{cite news |url=http://achievementhunter.roosterteeth.com/episode/theater-mode-2016-episode-11 |title=Episode #11 |author=Rooster Teeth |date=August 19, 2016 |accessdate=August 20, 2016}}

Nightbeast has become a cult film.{{cite web|url=http://www.scifinow.co.uk/blog/celebrating-nightbeast-jj-abrams-first-film/|title=Star Wars fans have Nightbeast to thank for JJ Abrams|last=Hoare|first=James|work=SciFiNow|date=2013-01-29|accessdate=2015-04-30}} It is briefly seen playing on a television in Panos Cosmatos' 2018 film Mandy.{{cite web |url=https://screenrant.com/nic-cage-mandy-every-80s-movie-reference-explained |title=Mandy: Every '80s Movie Reference in Nic Cage's Revenge Horror |last=Dutta |first=Debopriyaa |website=Screen Rant |date=October 20, 2020 |accessdate=October 20, 2021}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{IMDb title|0086013}}
• {{Rotten tomatoes|nightbeast|Nightbeast}}
• [http://www.timewarpfilms.com TimeWarpFilms.com] – Official site of Time Warp Films
• [http://www.dondohler.com DonDohler.com] – Official Don Dohler Site
• [http://www.bbbmovie.com Blood, Boobs & Beast] – A documentary about Don Dohler's life and career by director John Kinhart

{{Films directed by Don Dohler}}

Category:1982 films

Category:1982 horror films

Category:1980s American films

Category:1980s English-language films

Category:1980s science fiction horror films

Category:American science fiction horror films

Category:American splatter films

Category:Films about extraterrestrial life

Category:Films directed by Don Dohler

Category:Films scored by Robert J. Walsh

Category:Films set in Maryland

Category:Films shot in Baltimore

Category:Horror film remakes

Category:Remakes of American films

Category:Troma Entertainment films

Category:Video nasties

Category:1982 science fiction films

Category:English-language science fiction horror films