Wuchak Leigh Scott's "The Beast of Bray Road," released in 2005, is a very loose telling of the legendary "dogman" of SE Wisconsin. In reality, the beast has only been sighted and has never killed anyone. In the film, however, numerous people bite the dust in extremely gory scenes, heads getting torn off, the beast eating their innards, etc.In the beginning it's unclear what type of beast the "dogman" is, is it a bigfoot? A werewolf? A cryptozoologist appears and helps the police pinpoint the probable nature of the creature.POSITIVES: I liked the main protagonists, the police chief (Jeff Denton), the cryptozoologist, the beautiful bartender Kelly (Sarah Lieving) and the other police personnel.The story is generally compelling and moves right along.The killer creature looks excellent and you get quite a few good looks at it; no CGI.The story turns out to be a mystery. The beast may be a human being that transforms into the bloodthirsty creature. If so, who is it? If you've seen films like "The Howling V: The Rebirth" you know what to look for.NEGATIVES: Although the story takes place near Elkhorn & Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the film was shot in friggin' California, near Los Angeles, likely to keep expenses down; they did fine, however, making sure the scenery didn't look too much like typical Southern California. It sorta passes for SE Wisconsin, I guess.The film is filled with gorgeous women from beginning to end but Mr. Scott fumbles the ball and doesn't truly take advantage (and I'm not talking about top nudity or sex scenes at all; the film has some of both). Scott does much better in this area in 2008's "Flu Birds" and 2009's "The Dunwich Horror." Until the last act the film has a we're-not-taking-this-too-seriously vibe. It wasn't so bad to ruin the horror experience, but it was there. This is a minor cavil, however; all-in-all the filmmakers did a decent job balancing camp with serious horror.Every Wisconsin yokel, male or female, is portrayed as a hip, dour, alcohol-guzzling sex-fiend.BOTTOM LINE: "The Beast of Bray Road" is a worthwhile killer beast flick but contains enough negative elements to prevent it from being truly good. The non-CGI monster looks great, however, and is worth the price of admission, not to mention this is a must if you're a gorehound (I'm not; I can take gore or leave it; all I care about is that the story & cast be interesting and entertaining).The film runs 80 minutes.GRADE: Borderline C+ or B-

sddavis63 Fact 1: over the years, there have been a number of reported sightings of a strange creature seen along Bray Road near Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Fact 2: in spite of the claim that this movie is "based on actual events" nothing in this movie (except that it's set on Bray Road near Elkhorn, Wisconsin) is even remotely similar to any of the sightings. Based on the reports of those sightings (which are intriguing in a fun sort of way) the most this creature is reported to have done is chase a couple of cars and maybe killed some cattle. The producers of this movie used those reported sightings as the opportunity to produce a gore-fest with a smattering of topless women thrown in for good measure. If you like heads being ripped off, and bodies being torn open (and topless women!) then you'll like this. If you prefer the sort of horror movie that leaves that stuff to the imagination then you probably won't. I like horror movies - but more for the atmosphere than the violence. This one failed on that count, and on several other counts as well. Let's point a few failings out.(1) I figured out about halfway through the movie who they were going to identify as the werewolf, even though it made absolutely no sense because the person (who shall remain nameless in this review for fear of spoiling the "suspense" for others) did seem otherwise occupied during several of the attacks. (2) Where did the grizzly bear that was shot and killed come from? There ain't no grizzlies anywhere near Wisconsin! (OK, yes, even the characters in the movie were confused about that.) (3) The cryptozoologist becomes convinced that this is a werewolf (and that it would take silver bullets to kill the thing) on the evidence of one piece of video? True, the video was pretty clear, but surely a real scientist (even a cryptozoologist) would have been more skeptical than to use the old Sherlock Holmes line "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever's left ... etc. etc." Surely they hadn't reached a point where a supposed scientist would conclude that a werewolf was the only possibility. (4) Why didn't the werewolf attack the woman in the house after finishing off her husband? That was never explained. (5) At the end of the movie, as we're set up for the sequel (say it ain't so!) the cryptozoologist says that there's another full moon in 15 days. OK. The werewolf is linked to the full moon, as often is the case. Well, the werewolf has been out and about up to this point, so there must have been a full moon. And now there's going to be another full moon in 15 days? Has the moon's rotation around the earth become faster? (6) Finally - I mean, there are more, but I'll stop with this one - the folks of rural Wisconsin aren't portrayed in a very positive light - thus the closing "dedicated to the great state of Wisconsin" seems a bit ironic.Did I like anything here? Actually, I thought the werewolf makeup and overall film quality was not bad, and the acting from a little known group of actors was overall pretty decent with a couple of exceptions. Still - 3/10

cannibalcam You can see a very good direction that this team is heading in. With this movie especially. A great flick all the way through. A monster film to keep your pants on. A fantastic time waster, and I mean that in a good way.A new Sheriff is in town, not familiar with the back woods. The locals per say. Then strange things begin to happen, people are missing and there are no clues. Nothing but blood and parts. A Cryptozoologist comes to town after a string of rumors pops up on the internet. Rumors of a Werewolf devouring savage. Here to seek and destroy. People keep turning up dead, in grizzly fashion. The deputies band together to fight this deadly menace. They'll do whatever it takes to finish this nuance once and for all. The finale ends ??????????? I never give the ending away, what would be the point of you even renting it then when you know what is going to happen. Well, it doesn't really matter. Just know that it's kind of weak and not as surprising as you might think. Or not.This movie followed the supposed accounts of an actual Beast on Bray road, Wisconsin style. Like the 13th Child based on flick also, the Jersey Devil type deal. There is a lot of bloodshed in this here film. Bodies are ripped apart, heads split open, arms, legs, you name it. No CGI effects here either. Good old fashion make up. I always buy that for a dollar. The usual actors and actresses are beginning to make appearances in each film as they go. A common bond, Hammer style baby. You need the brotherhood to maintain a tight production and team overall. Just like a band, you can only get better, well you'd hope so.A behind the scenes featurette, commentary, Bloopers, Trailers and so on. They can only get better, and this is prime example.

Terminal Madness At the start of "Beast", a young bar patron drifts away from her friends after closing hours and is stalked and mauled to death by a werewolf. The beast grabs her, tears her apart, and howls into the sky. I enjoyed that. But, for no reason, director Scott feels that even though we had that good opening signaling grand things, we could have done without it for another thirty or forty minutes, which in common sense land is a large portion of a film that doesn't even hit the two hour mark, and that makes zero sense. There's also mainly vapid characterization, plenty of padding including sex scenes, particular focus on sister journalists who have a web log, and a comedic barroom brawl included for no other reason but to pad the movie. Meanwhile, you'll be wondering if the monster is still lurking about, or just fell asleep waiting for victims to get out of that bar that's featured quite prominently.Does anyone have a shop in that town, or is the main economic base that one small bar? You know that when a horror film is turned into "Roadhouse" for an instance just to keep the story going, it becomes painfully clear that you're not watching anything resembling entertainment. Also featured are a funeral that looks like it was held in a backyard, a town filled with an endless supply of women who look like they came off an open audition for "Hustler", the most inept inactive sheriff, and characters that constantly re-appear due to an obviously menial cast.So, it's been confirmed to me. Even when The Asylum isn't ripping off another movie, they still suck. "Beast of Bray Road" could have been a fun movie had they actually had creature action and not so much utter stupidity and poor storytelling. Otherwise, this isn't even a fun monster movie.