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.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Oh the poor Native Americans, they have a rich heritage of myths, superstition and tales. Sadly, Hollywood has to come along and steal them to turn into crappy movies. TRACK OF THE MOON BEAST came out in the mid-70s and went virtually unnoticed. Somehow MST3K tracked it down and afterwards I came across a non-Mysty version on a DVD four pack. Without their comments, the movie is pretty bad. Here's the story: A mineralogist named Paul (an unlucky name to have in a horror film) is hit by a meteorite containing a weird radiation that causes him to turn into a lizard man, or Moonbeast, which is apparently based on Indian superstition. His friend, Johnny Longbow, tries to figure out a way to stop him. In the middle of these two is Cathy, a pretty but talentless news reporter. Yes, Paul and Cathy fall in love (all-too-conventiently in my opinion.) Their scenes are some of the worst as the two actors have absolutely no chemistry and the actress playing Cathy is clearly much older than Paul... can you say "cougar"? The Moonbeast, obviously a man in a rubber suit, is an early attempt by Joe Blasco. The special effects are overall ho-hum, and the occasional severed body part is unconvincing. Of the actors, I liked Johnny the best. Everyone else falls flat next to his acting. The same could be said of the dialogue. Perhaps with a little more pizazz, it could've been better. But as it is, take my advice, stick with MST3K or take a mountain of caffeine in order to watch it. Once again, here's one I wouldn't mind seeing Hollywood remake!!!

If you're looking for a decent monster flick with some gory action, sexy babes, and killer suspense...keep looking. This is a cheap, no-budget drive-in movie that aspires to be nothing more than a diversion. The dialog is just plain ridiculous, such as a legendary moment when a main character pensively recites the secret recipe for Native American stew. But lovers of horror kitsch just may find themselves taken in by this movie's bygone world of avacado-colored furnishings and monster suit shenanigans. I was fully aware I was watching a terrible movie, but did I enjoy it? Hell yeah I did! Hmmm well let's see, the plot has been discussed more than once here, but I'll summarize for the purpose of my own review: Paul, a groovy 70s loner type from the desert meets Kathy, a gorgeous chick who looks like Charlie cut her from the angels. Unfortunately, when he takes her to his favorite stargazing spot hopin' for a little action, a meteor shower ruins their fun by spraying asteroid shrapnel on them. Paul begins experiencing dizzy spells, and yet for a couple of days nobody thinks to take him to the hospital. Instead, Kathy uses it as her moment to pounce and she moves in with Paul, apparently uninvited. Paul, however, has a major problem: when the moon comes up, he now transforms into a murderous giant man-lizard. Paul's best friend and mentor, a teacher named Johnny Longbow (!), eventually catches on and helps both the law and the doctors diagnose Paul's condition. Johnny also helps cause Paul to explode by firing an asteroid-tipped arrow into him during the film's LSD-inspired conclusion.I was really taken in by the vacant atmosphere of this film. It's strangely similar to 1974's "The Bat People", except instead of a giant bat-monster, Paul turns into a giant lizard-monster. The makeup is pretty good, and there are a few moments that generate some mediocre chills. It's all very amateurish though, and you've got to really enjoy movies like that in order to appreciate this one. Buyer beware: you're getting a low rent product when you commit to investing 90 minutes of your life on this film. But if you've got a love for whacked out 70s monster movies, as well as a high tolerance for the ridiculous, then "Track of the Moon Beast" is a must-see.

Paul's Native American friend, Prof. Johnny "Longbow" Salinas introduces him to Kathy, a dirty dishwater blond with legs for days who also happens to wear outfits that end just below her pubis bone. Lucky for him that she's also fairly easy as he steals her away to his private getaway spot to watch the moonrock shower caused by a lunar collision. Don't know how many times I used that excuse before. Sadly all fun and games come to an end when Paul is grazed by a piece of the space debris that for some inexplicable reason turns him into a lizardman. Wouldn't a moonrock monster make more sense? Whatever. When Paul morphs into the lizard he becomes a killing machine with a penchant for drunk bowlers and male campers. When the local police Captain McCabe becomes stumped at one of the monster's crime scenes who does he call first? Why the local anthropologist of course! Johnny Longbow becomes the only competent person who can help his stupid paleface friend as the local Indian legend tells a similar story which ends with the lizardman exploding. Can he get to Paul in time? Is McCabe capable of anything besides tucking his hands into his belt? How much would I pay to have Kathy's legs wrapped around me? Maybe I've become a little hardened in my years of Z-grade movie watching but Track of the Moonbeast is nowhere near as bad of a film as it's ranked on this site. Worse than Troll 2? War of the Robots? The Executioner part II? Come on people! Just because it was on "Mystery Science Theater" doesn't automatically make it one of the worst of all time. There are plenty of bad films out there that hardly anybody knows about if you just take the time to find them. Besides, Kathy's gorgeous legs are at least worth a star apiece. Yes, both Paul and Kathy turn in graceless performances as each "actor" constantly...pauses...between...sentences but this is a monster movie not "A Streetcar Named Desire". Johnny Longbow does a credible job as the conflicted professor as his character really becomes the focus of the movie after Paul's transformation. The monster by the way is fairly adequate as it was one of Rick Baker's earliest works. Compare this lizard outfit to the one used in "Metamorphosis" which was made fifteen years later and you'll see what I mean. Not the howler I thought it would be which, for once, was a pleasant surprise. Kinda like Kathy's outfits.

I wanted to like this. The people who made it worked hard and, bless their hearts, did the best they could. But it still is a mess, despite some promising material that just isn't developed.In the first act we meet Paul. As in most of the movie his shirt is off, and he's digging in the desert. He encounters Johnny Longbow, two of his students, and a photographer named Cathy who has blond hair and a low room temperature IQ.One of the few surprises is that the two students aren't future victims. They're just there.We learn that Johnny got his Indian name because of his skill with a bow and arrow. Hmmmm? Could that come into play later? At the same time a huge meteor is headed toward the moon, and a spectacular meteor shower is promised for that night. Paul and Cathy go up in the mountains to get a good view. A meteor lands very near them, grazing Paul's head. Considering its speed and temperature that should have killed him, but I digress.In the long second act Paul's relationship with Kathy becomes more intense (I can't use the word deepens here, just won't fit) and we learn some back story. Paul's parents are divorced, he lives with his mom and she's in Europe, leaving him to roam around a huge house. Johnny's Indian background and the world of science often conflict. OK.Paul turns into a giant lizard that looks a little like the one in THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE from the seventies. He kills off some people who have no connection to the story. Say a few lines of dialog, scream, dead. We find that a shard of the meteorite is lodged in Paul's brain. Worse yet, it's fragmented and is spreading, rendering surgery impossible and a neurosurgeon introduced into the narrative superfluous. There are a few attempts to deal with a twenty-four year old man's confronting his own mortality, but that goes nowhere.In the third act Paul runs off to the desert, Cathy follows him, as does the rest of the supporting cast. Johnny fires an arrow with an arrowhead made from a piece of moon rock, strikes the monster in the middle of the chest causing it to melt into a puddle.The acting isn't really bad, but it's acting. None of the performances feel natural. Their work would be considered good, even excellent, in a community theater group in a small town. But make a movie and you're playing in the big leagues.The worst thing about the movie is the sound. I think every scene was re-recorded because voices sound the same whether people are in the desert, a house, a museum, a hospital, wherever.The print of the movie on my DVD (a Chilling Classics box set of fifty movies I got at Best Buy for $20) was very worn. The night scenes were splotchy and there were imperfections in the film print. Sorry, but it reminds me how films with equally low budgets look great today because they're shot on digital video.That said, I'm sure that here thirty some years later everyone involved can open conversations with, "Hey, do you know I made a movie once?"