Track of the Moon Beast

1976 "The Rising Moon Creates a Monster"
2.3| 1h30m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 01 June 1976 Released
Producted By: Brandon Films
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Professor "Johnny Longbow" Salina, a man who really knows his stews, introduces Paul Carlson to the practical-joking Kathy Nolan. Paul and Kathy seem to hit it off rather well but, during a meteor storm, a meteorite fragment strikes Paul, burying itself deep in his skull, which has the unpleasant side-effect of causing Paul to mutate into a giant reptilian monster at night and go on murderous rampages. It turns out that this sort of thing has happened before, when Professor Salina rediscovers ancient Native American paintings detailing a similar event many centuries ago. Kathy, however, still loves Paul, and tries to save him.

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Cast

Director

Richard Ashe

Production Companies

Brandon Films

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Track of the Moon Beast Audience Reviews

JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!
ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre
Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.
FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
azathothpwiggins An asteroid (aka: a flaming marshmallow) hits the moon (aka: a flashlight)! Pieces thereof shower the Earth, where Paul Carlson digs in the desert. That night, while watching the ensuing meteor display, Paul is hit in the head by something. He also finds a glowing, pulsating rock fragment. So, he does the smart thing and grabs it barehanded, to take home! This gives Paul a chance to introduce his new girlfriend, Kathy (Leigh Drake) to his lizard. Kathy is shocked by the gesture. Paul begins to suffer odd headaches, especially during a concert where a nondescript, hippie combo warbles, "California Laaaaaadyyyyyy" on and on, eternally, so it can eat its way into our souls like acid! Paul's headaches turn into somnambulistic events, scaring his lizard to no end! Paul transforms into... ?? A night of murderous marauding takes place! Still, anything's better than the aforementioned song! Police are baffled, calling in Paul's friend, Johnny Longbow. Longbow is a cooker of chili and teller of Navajo stories. He's also an anthropologist, worried about his lizard-owning friend. Kathy's worried too. Dear lord! Paul's lizard has escaped! Kathy is agog. Is Paul's lizard up to no good? Hmmm. Johnny Longbow is puzzled and deeply concerned. Kathy wears awesome shorts outfits! Is Paul going bananas from being lizard-less? More bloody deaths occur. TRACK OF THE MOON BEAST is prime, 1970's super-cheddar! It features Kathy's immortal utterance, "Moon rock?! Oh, wow!". There's also the hideous transformation sequence, where Paul turns into a toothy raisin! Johnny Longbow looks on, flummoxed, but unbeaten...
Platypuschow I didn't realise when I put this on that at time of writing it's presently down as IMDB's 60th worst movie ever and that's quite a feat.This 1970's b-movie sci-fi tells the story of a man hit in the head by a moon rock, this causes him to become the titular moon beast when the moon rises. Once changed he each time goes off on a killing spree and it's up to the authorities to stop him.As you can imagine this is deeply cheesy stuff and the monster looks like it was made by the crew of Blue Peter, the effects are naff and the whole thing couldn't be anymore hammy.I can confidently say that this isn't in my bottom 100 movies, likely wouldn't be in my bottom 250. Yes it's bad, but there is a lot worse out there.This creature feature is one for big fans of the genre only.The Good:Neat cover artThe Bad:Monster looks direDaft premiseSFX at the end are laughableThings I Learnt From This Movie:People need to see more movies if they think this is one of the worst, want bad? Watch Zombinator (2012)
Tom van der Esch Oh.. my.. god...I was warned by IMDb about this movie. It takes quite a lot of effort for a movie to end up in the 100 worst movies ever list.And STILL I decided to download and watch this movie.It was everything I had expected... and worse.Track of the Moon Beast tells about a man getting hit one night by a meteorite (or moonstone to be exact). Some parts of the stone lodge inside the man's brain. (HOW I don't know, but it's just there...). Later that night, the man is plagued by an unsettling feeling and wouldn't you know it? He transforms into a moon beast! YIKES! Except the moon beast looks really, really, REALLY silly...Now I understand where the Power Ranger monster suits came from. Seriously, if you have ever watched Power Rangers as a kid, you will recognize this monster from one of the episodes. I am almost 100% positive.Back to the movie: what to say about the acting? It's just plain awful. I don't know if I should be happy or sad that I didn't cry about the acting. Normally I get annoyed or just laugh about characters in bad movies. But I didn't with this film. It's almost as if the characters are so plain, so shallow that I just didn't care about them.What else is there to mention? Not much really... The plot and ending are both really ridiculous. I'm not even gonna bother about explaining exactly what happens. You really should see it yourself to believe.Track of the Moon beast is one of the silliest movies I have seen of it's era. And I have seen a LOT of films of the 80's.2 out of 10. It's 1 star for the somewhat creative spirit behind the movie and one other star because I can't vote any lower...
MartinHafer Considering that this film is #19 on IMDb's list of lowest ranked movies ever, it certainly isn't a surprise that I scored it a one. It also isn't a surprise that I watched it, as sometimes I like to watch terrible films because they give me a good laugh. However, unlike some bad films, this one isn't particularly worth watching for camp value. Some bad films are great to watch with your friends so you can guffaw at the silly dialog and overall dopiness. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and IMPULSE immediately come to mind when it comes to the bad films many of us love. Sadly, TRACK OF THE MOON BEAST is just bad...unfunny, unlovable, boring....bad!! The film begins with our ill-fated hero in the middle of the desert doing some archeology. You can tell he's supposed to be some stud because he's doing all this shirtless--a great idea in the desert sun, by the way. Soon, an American-Indian friend, a couple dopey teens and a not particularly attractive lady who is trying to be sexy come by for a chat (I assume this over-aged lady is the director's sister or wife). In world record time, the older lady who dresses like a 16 year-old glomps onto the shirtless stud and throughout the movie they are closer than Frankie and Annette--even though they really just met.On one of their fun outings, the shirtless wonder and his aging lady friend watch a meteor shower. Amazingly, one of the meteorites actually hits the guy in the head with a glancing blow. Naturally, this makes him turn into a Velociraptor every time the moon comes out, which, incidentally happened to a cousin of mine, but I digress. Despite shirtless man become a laughably silly yet dangerous dino-man, the new lady friend is in complete denial and even helps him escape protective custody...and, surprise, surprise, he kills again! All this leads to one of the silliest finales in film history, as this unstoppable terror is killed with an arrow--and not one of those exploding "Rambo arrows", but a run of the mill Indian arrow. Never has killing an unstoppable monster been THIS easy!!Apart from having a dopey premise and a ridiculous love story, the film gets my award for having the dumbest scientific explanation of why this guy becomes a dino-man as well as how quickly everyone (but the dumb girlfriend) believes this. The American-Indian professor seems to know almost instantly what is happening (since he is, after all, a wise and stereotypical Indian who has "inside knowledge" about dino-man) and why and all the doctors he consults are in almost instant agreement as well. Not one bothers to say "what the crap?!?!" or show any disbelief that such an occurrence is possible! Overall, this is a completely brainless movie with bad acting, bad writing and a story that is so amateurish that it boggles the mind to imagine anyone thinking this would make a good film. Not surprisingly, the film makers could not find a distributor and the film sat on the shelf for four years. What is truly amazing is that some company eventually did release this giant pile of dino-poo.