The Beast Must Die! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

The Beast Must Die! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 30, 2020

The Beast Must Die! was the outlier in terms of technical merits in Severin's box set from 2018 entitled The Amicus Collection (a set which already seems to be out of print and/or sold out and is listed for a pretty exorbitant sum on Amazon). I even mentioned at the time of that release that fans of Amicus who were thinking of picking up the set might want to consider that version of The Beast Must Die! as a "bonus disc" considering the deficits of the video presentation in particular (it was also notable that The Beast Must Die! was the sole film from that set that Severin did not also grant a standalone release, which I took to indicate that even Severin realized the quality of the transfer left something to be desired). Well, lo and behold, the film is back now with a new 4K restoration, and the results are rather spectacular.

For those interested in a plot recap of the film, I refer you to my The Beast Must Die! Blu-ray review of the first Blu-ray release from Severin. That review can also serve as a good source for screenshot comparisons (let me just cut to the chase and jokingly say that there is no comparison). This release repeats the supplements from the first release and adds a couple of new ones. For those who are interested in such things, my review copy came from Amazon, and did not include a slipcover, which I am assuming was part of the initial limited release by Severin.

The Beast Must Die! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Beast Must Die! is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. This is culled from a 4K restoration done by StudioCanal (whose logo is at the head of this presentation) and the difference between this transfer and the previous one is like night and day, or day for night (as the case may be). Just taking a look at some of the screenshots I've tried to duplicate from the first review will hopefully easily reveal the clear upticks in detail levels, the much better clarity (why that first transfer was so positively blurry some of the time is a real head scratcher to me), better suffused palette and much more nicely resolved grain field. The restoration has delivered a presentation free of any major signs of age related wear and tear that I personally noticed. There are still a couple of niggling qualms I had, though because this transfer is so much better than the previous one I'm prone to think at least some of the anomalies are "baked in". These include blacks continuing to skew slightly toward purple in some scenes, and some still noticeable crush in passing moments. But I can't imagine fans of this film not preferring this version by a wide, wide margin.

The Beast Must Die! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Beast Must Die! features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix that to my ears sounds identical to the track on the previous release, and so some of my comments from the original review are repeated here. The track is actually rather surprisingly boisterous, with good fidelity throughout all frequency ranges and some above average dynamic range. Douglas Gamley's score, obviously influenced by Isaac Hayes, struts through the soundfield with some authority, and both sound effects and dialogue are presented without any problems.

The Beast Must Die! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• And Then There Were Werewolves (1080p; 18:35) is an appealing audio essay by Troy Howarth which plays to a wide array of stills of folks like Agatha Christie and lots of ad campaign material from various films, along with a brief clip from this film at the end.


• Audio Commentary with Director Paul Annett is moderated by Jonathan Sothcott.


• Directing the Beast (1080i; 12:57) features Paul Annett again.


• The Beast Must Die! Trailer (1080p; 00:59) offers an optional commentary by "genre scholars" Kim Newman and David Flint.


• Interview with Milton Subotsky (1080p; 6:48) is an audio supplement featuring Subotsky interviewed by Philip Nutman. This plays to a still of the film's poster.


• Producer Max J. Rosenberg Interviewed by Jonathan Sothcott (480p; 47:24) is another audio supplement that plays to a variety of stills.

The Beast Must Die! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In a perhaps instructive (to me, anyway) manner, seeing this film with this new, hugely improved video really made the entire experience more enjoyable for me. There are still some gaping holes in the screenplay here, and if it had simply hewed to that time honored tradition in Agatha Christie's own work where you get stories about the characters so as to give you context, I think The Beast Must Die! could have been a good deal more involving and fun. One way or the other, the technical deficits of the previous release have been addressed pretty authoritatively here, and this release also offers a couple of new supplements in addition to the ones on the first Blu-ray outing from Severin.