Universal Pictures has released a new trailer for its upcoming creature feature, Beast. The film follows a father, played by Idris Elba, trying to reconnect with his daughters on a game reserve in South Africa. While things started optimistically, their family adventure quickly descended into chaos as a rogue lion that ills for sport began to stalk the survivors. Now, Elba's character must protect his daughters from the perils of the African wilderness and an intelligent lion with a taste for blood. But while the film is a new look at the creature feature genre, it does so by nodding to another man vs. lion story -- The Ghost and the Darkness.
The Ghost and the Darkness, starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas, was a 1996 historical fiction that retold the story of the man-eaters of Tsavo. The film follows Kilmer's character, Colonel John Henry Patterson, as he's sent to Africa to oversee the construction of a railroad. But as lions begin to plague the area and kill the workers, they're forced to call famed hunter Charles Remington (Douglas). From there, the story is a race against time as these two men and a handful of others must face off against creatures hunting for sport.
While The Ghost and the Darkness featured more prepared protagonists than the ones in Beast, there is still the throughline of survival as characters not used to the harsh dangers of a new land must face them head-on. In Elba's case, he has to do so with little to no expertise in hunting or survival. Nevertheless, it has added to the suspense even more than The Ghost and the Darkness.
Another factor that has helped make the film even more of an exercise in suspense is the lion. Much like Jurassic World's Indominus Rex, this lion has shown signs of hunting for sport. However, unlike the lions in The Ghost and the Darkness, Beast's main creature prefers to hunt and stalk its prey. Much like a cat who toys with its kill, this lion has shown brief instances of wanting to misdirect and terrify its targets before eliminating them.
Beast has chosen to revolutionize the genre through simple methods rather than another creature feature that pits humans against genetic or supernatural threats. The film has taken a realistic animal and made it deadlier than any real-life one, which adds a level of disbelief and fear exclusive to the genre. Rather than a big explosion or heavy artillery, Beast will likely have its main protagonist use wits to outsmart his foe, similar to The Ghost and the Darkness. But thanks to the advances in filmmaking and special effects, the lion will likely be more aggressive and crafty than anything that came before.
Universal may not have shown much in Beast's latest trailer to reveal the full devastation of its deadly lion. But what has been seen proves that no matter the decade, a creature feature could still pull audiences in and offer something new under the guise of something familiar. Beast may mirror The Ghost and the Darkness in inspiration, but the execution by its cast and the lion could bring all new scares and a potential resurgence to the creature feature genre.
To see a lion on the loose, Beast hits theaters August 19th, 2022.
