Charles (Zach Galligan) takes his son Tim (Chad Trager) on a trip to
his cabin in the woods, since he feels the need to teach the boy hunting
and to bond with him since Tim lives with Charles's estranged ex-wife
(Holly Wilson). However, some kind of bear seems to be prowling the
countryside, and he breaks into Charles's cabin once when he's out ... and
a few days later, people turn up brutally slaughtered. All evidence points
to "the bear" - thing is, it might not be a mere bear ... It
doesn't take Charles long to notice whatever's going on is not entirely
the ordinary way of things - but he has heard some Indian legends that
would tie in with what's happening, so he and Tim visit the local Indian
tribe, to learn that their chieftain (Sonny Skyhawk) has struck a deal
with "the Ancient Ones" - Bigfoot-like beasts - that they leave
their land in peace in exchange for a human sacrifice every now and again
... but now that the Ancient Ones have grown in numbers pretty much under
the protection of the tribe, they decide to strike, and the chieftain is
very adamant to keep all non-members of the tribe off his village to not
provoke the beasts. Fortunately, the tribe's new shaman Freebird (Apesanahkwat)
is less of a coward and turncoat ... and somehow, Charles, Tim, Freebird,
the sheriff (Donn Angelos), his deputy (Kevin Glashan), and for some
reason even Tim's ex-wife end up in his hunting cabin that's surrounded by
Ancient Ones, and our heroic motley crew has little to no idea who to
defeat them ... Now Nightbeasts is most certainly not
the best movie ever, probably not even a monstermovie classic - but in all
honesty, it hasn't set out to be. What you get instead though is a very
enjoyable piece of genre entertainment. Sure, the film might be formulaic
and testosterone-driven, but it's also light-footed in approach, features
its fair share of irony without ever becoming a mere spoof, fun monster
costumes that are charmingly reminiscent of pre-CGI monster entertainment,
practical gore effects, gunfights, carchases and whatnot. To sum it up in
a word: Fun! If this review has gotten you at all interested,
you might want to rent the movie here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/nightbeasts
or http://indieflix.com/indie-films/nightbeasts-37117/ Also,
do find it on DVD at: www.createspace.com/399874
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