The Beast (1977)

Once upon a time in the 18th century a beast lived in the woods of an aristocratic estate. And this beast possessed of a giant phallus and an insatiable lust set upon the beautiful young lady of the house. Two centuries later the tale of the beast would return in the dreams of an American heiress contracted to carry the male descendant of the same crumbling aristocratic family and their secret.System Requirements: Includes Director's Cut Widescreen version Theatrical Trailer Stills Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR UPC: 881190003497 Manufacturer No: 900034 Product Description

Where horses come from

Watching this one, it occurred to me that I had never considered how much horse sex was "too much" before. But there I was - the opening just couldn't tear itself away with two horses going at it (and the presumed male lead watching with way too much interest). As for the rest of it, the subtitles gave out pretty early on (and the English-language track was just terrible) so I don't really know the details of the plot, but they didn't seem too important. Woman goes to marry mysterious guy, masturbates a lot and then has a dream about some other woman having sex with a guy in a ridiculous animal suit. You sort of wonder how the mechanics work (i.e., how is that thing supposed to fit anywhere inside her), but not enough to really make it interesting, then there's a big, pointless revelation and you're just relieved they didn't go back to more horse sex.

But I found the secondary characters amusing and it seemed to have a point that it thought was way more interesting than it really was, so two stars. September 4, 2008

great edition, slightly spoiled by a few technical issues

I won't bore you with yet another review of this film, suffice it to say I like this film enough to have splashed the cash on this 3 disk release. Having first seen it back in the 80's (in a slightly cut form) and thoroughly enjoyed it, it was only a matter of time before I sought it out on it's ultimate dvd release.
This is the definitive edition of this movie, containing both the directors cut (with both the original french language or the english dubbed audio) and the very rare "complete version", and as mentioned by other reviewers an awesome extras selection - albeit the majority of which has no audio.
Considering Walerian Borowczyk's involvement with producing the extras it is a pity that there's no directors commentary on any of the disks, and the lack of any audio at all throughout the "Making of.." is a shame - it would certainly have benefited from having the harpsichord soundtrack as a selectable audio track.
Upon purchasing this edition from amazon.com I first watched the "complete version", which although marred by far-from-perfect image quality and an obtrusive black-band containing the english subtitles (apparently to mask out the dutch subtitles that were imbedded in the original source print) it's almost worth the asking price alone.
Many months later (long after the period in which I could've returned it to amazon) I came to watch the directors cut... I prefer to watch movies in their original language with subtitles where possible, so selected the French audio with English subs. All was fine up to around twenty minutes into the film, but all of a sudden the subtitles stopped playing. They then pick up from the dialogue they stopped at around an hour later. It's the same on every player I've tried it on, and I even resorted to extracting the sub/idx files on my pc to see if I could figure out what the problem was, to no avail. I don't know if I just got unlucky with the disk amazon sent me, but it certainly seems to be an issue with the actual mastering of the data on the disk rather than being just a dodgy disk.
It is unfortunate that this problem has rendered the viewing of the directors cut in it's original language unwatchable, and I instead had to watch it with the English dubbed audio.
I fully intend to contact Cult Epics with regards to this issue and hopefully they will send me an error free disk as a replacement - although as a UK resident I'm partially expecting them to not bother (if I have to pay to mail the disks overseas, and potentially have to pay for the shipping on a replacement, it may even be cheaper to actually buy it again).
No one else seems to have had this issue, or perhaps no one else has watched disk 1 with the subtitles selected - but it's worth bearing in mind if you're considering buying this release. September 2, 2008

A classic with an undeserved reputation - 2.5 stars

"La Bete" has a reputation as a classic erotic art film, but I'm not entirely convinced that it is in fact art. Walerian Borowszyk got his start in animation and I believe that's where he built his reputation. Later in life, he began direction films, but they tended to be fairly straightforward European softcore films that may possess artistic pretension, but not necessarily artistic quality.

Borowszyk's films sometimes evoke the feelings of classic literature with a degree of sophistication. During some of the more explicit scenes, one sometimes gets the same sense of high-brow decadence found in the more scandalous, but classic literature. Unfortunately, Borowszyk doesn't know when to stop and frequently shows up things that are unnecessary. Certain images are powerful, but then he'll cheapen the effect by showing us things from a different angle, if you understand what I'm saying. We can deal with these taboo issues, but we don't need to see them in the type of detail Borowszyk is often happy to provide. I get the sense that he's trying to make an art film, but is just too self-indulgent to abide by the bounds of good taste.

I understand that this story is deeply perverse and deals with "unspeakable" acts of transgression. That part doesn't offend me. It's the manner in which Borowsczyk approaches these issues. The Beauty and the Beast idea is almost skillfully developed in the first two thirds of the film, but inevitably we must actually witness an encounter between the two and it is there that we see the beast is actually a guy in a cheesy, generic, hairy monster costume with one important (and pronounced) addition. If that's not enough, we then witness the two in a variety of positions borrowed straight from much lesser films.

Ultimately, I see Borowsczyk in the same way I see Tinto Brass. Brass will develop a very sensual environment, but then he'll indulge himself by showing more detail than necessary, or by showing something from either an improbable angle, or from an improbable situation. Borowsczyk has a similar problem with restraint, as if he doesn't know when to stop. There's no doubt - Tinto Brass is an auteur with a consistent stylistic output, but he's not a master or a great filmmaker by any stretch. If Borowsczyk ever had an artistic sense, he has since discarded it in favor of pursuing his obsessions.

The three-disc set would naturally seem like the way to go since more is better, right? In this case, more is not better. The middle disc contains the special features including the massively long "Beast Bis", billed as a behind-the-scenes documentary. It's actually just an collection of all sorts of behind-the-scenes film that plays continuously with no chapter index, no explanations of what we're seeing, and no sound. That's right, no sound at all. The footage is grainy, often out of focus, and dull. The cameraman is often filming nothing but the set while things are supposedly happening elsewhere. Maybe we get to see some rehearsals and out takes, but who can say? There's no sound to help us understand what we're seeing! I highly doubt anyone can sit through it. There's also a brief interview with Walerian Borowczyk, but it's mostly him talking extremely slow and not saying much that we didn't already know.

The third disc contains the "complete version", as opposed to the director's cut on the first disc. The complete version hasn't been remastered and it looks just awful. The frames jump around and grit obscures the images. It's pretty painful to watch, and seeing as there's only a four minute difference, most viewers will decide it's not worth their time. Besides, it's not like anything was trimmed to get an "R" rating in the director's cut. From what I can tell, there's a little extra dialogue, and a few of the more boring scenes go on just a little bit longer. The director cut these four minutes for a reason.

"La Bete" has some deep flaws, but it's also worth seeing at least once, provided you're okay with some of the images contained within. This not a film for everyone and those with delicate tastes would do well to avoid this. It's interesting look at one of the classic acts of transgression, but even if its motives are entirely pure, it doesn't quite work. I would recommend renting this before you consider buying it. If you do decide to add it to your collection, I would also recommend the single disc version since the extra features and alternate edition have essentially nothing of interest. July 28, 2008

Nasty, nasty and junk

Sometimes you never know until you open the package and start playing one of these dvd's. Well I found out and believe me when I say it was at times nasty, funny and I don't believe what I'm watching. Unless there's another one like this out there, I can honestly say that I've now seen it all in adult movies. June 24, 2008

bestiality: a continuous lust for pleasure

Dealing with inheriting issues in the France of the middle of a last century, Catholic father is more than happy to baptise his far-from-young-age son and arrange son's marriage to a foreigner of the UK.

During a course of one-night-stay, French aristocratic family "closet secrets" are being embedded from a notion of contemporary sexism, and bestiality occurred generations back.

An Australian-made set reviewed concludes two disks: a Director Cut's 94-min feature and Extras disk presenting director's interview and biography, mute sixteen-millimetres doco "Making the Beast" and a photo gallery.

Reviewer believes, there is a vast room for improvement quality of a produce both technically, and contextually as A$35 ($32) have been asked for just a specific movie only.

In the time when interracial affairs were unlawful even in the FIRST WORLD countries, a parallel between young handsome Afro-servant's extra-curriculum services at a castel with an event mentioned above occurred ages ago, is obvious, and this young-man-a-few-scenic-words character is in a surely winning position for his demonstrated natural male capabilities and beauty.

Perhaps, his qualities some-how justify a produced locally DVD price in Australia.
April 18, 2008

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