Just think of this one as a more psychopathic "My Dinner with Andre" story. We have the perfect duo for it, too. Lance Henriksen and Eric Roberts...watching these two on screen together is classic. Both are ready to spring at your jugular vein at a moment's notice. Instead of a salad, a main course, and dessert, we'll have corpses, a hatchet, and a lot of blood. Today we look at 1995's "The Nature of the Beast," directed by Victor Salva.
Jack (Henriksen) is a traveling salesman motoring across Nevada. His drive is interrupted by a crime scene in which another motorist has been chopped into 1,000 pieces by a hatchet man. The hatchet man is a serial killer chopping up people along the secondary roads of Nevada. He's sent on his way but warned not to pick up hitchhikers by the cops. See, the psycho is still loose and believed to be nearby. A few miles down the road a menacing hitchhiker implores Jack to pull over. Adrian (Roberts) is carrying a satchel and a psycho demeanor. Oh yes, Jack is traveling with a mysterious metal briefcase. Did I mention the casino robbery? A casino has been robbed of a million dollars which the newscasts claim was contained in a metal briefcase.
Through weird circumstances, Adrian and jack end up at a diner in the next town. The two must share a table and both know of the news stories. Jack is defensive about the briefcase he is carrying and Adrian assumes it contains something not quite legal. After a babe waitress waits on them, the two find out the road is closed. Later, that babe waitress becomes a crime scene as she is chopped into 1,000 itsy-bitsy pieces. Now the two believe the the other is a felon. Jack becomes horrified of Adrian and what he believes Adrian is. Adrian begins tormenting Jack. Others that this duo come across end up chopped up. Now Jack tries his best to escape from Adrian...but Adrian is not going to have this. Spiders, snakes, Gila monsters, and more murders will follow as the milquetoast Jack seems helpless to flee from the menacing Adrian.
Is Adrian the hatchet man? Is Jack the casino robber? Can Jack man-up and put up a fight against the hatchet-man? Watching these two on the screen together is magical. Experienced horror fans might see where this one is going, but don't be too sure, as surprises will abound. For some good psycho-killer action...see "The Nature of the Beast."
ReplyDeleteGreat opening line