Track of the Moon Beast

Track of the Moon Beast is a 1976 horror film, directed by Richard Ashe and written by Bill Finger and Charles Sinclair. The story revolves around a mineralogist being hit in the head by a meteor, which turns him in to a moon beast.
==Plot==
A young man is transformed into a hideous "moon beast" due to a meteor fragment lodged in his body.
==Cast==
*Chase Cordell as Paul G. Carlson
*Leigh Drake as Kathy Nolan (as Donna Leigh Drake)
*Gregorio Sala as Prof. John 'Johnny Longbow' Salinas
*Patrick Wright as Police Captain McCabe
*Francine Kessler as Janet Price
*Timothy Wayne Brown as Dr. Sutton
*Crawford MacCallum as Dr. Lawrence
*Jeanne Swain as Caroline Harris
*Alan Swain as Sid Harris
*Fred McCaffrey as Dr. Rizzo
*Tim Butler as Budd Keeler
*Gary Kanin as The Newscaster
*Frank Larrabee as Lead Singer
*Joe Blasco as The Moon Beast
==Production==
Track of the Moon Beast was produced by Ralph T. Desiderio and written by Bill Finger.
==Home media==
Track of the Moon Beast was first released to DVD in 2001 by American Home Treasures on the DVD compilation Classic Creature Movies II (Creature / Track Of The Moon Beast / Snowbeast). It has since been released as part of several DVD compilations of public domain movies, including; Chilling Classics 50 movie pack by Mill Creek Entertainment in 2005, 50 Fright Classics by Emson in 2006 and Drive-in Classics by St. Clair Entertainment Group in 2007.
==Influence==
The film was featured in a Season 10 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Fodder for mockery included, but was definitely not limited to, the "brain-dead" expression of the lead actress, the "horrible" dialogue, and the suggestive name and unctuous nature of the character "Johnny Longbow", whom they repeatedly refer to as "Johnny Longbone". The scene in which Johnny names ingredients in his stew quickly became a running gag and one of the writers' favorite moments from the series. Writer Kevin Murphy stated that his world-weary sigh of "onions..." made Johnny Longbow one of the "best" characters they've ever encountered. Another popular part from the episode was when Mike Nelson had an entire host segment about The Band that Played California Lady, performed in the voiceover style of VH1's Behind the Music, which was a made up band that had a song called California Lady in the film.
==Trivia==
*Shot in September 1972, then sat on the shelf for 4 years, looking for a distributor. In the end, it went straight to television.
*Bill Finger and Charles Sinclair wrote the script in a weekend.
Category:1976 films
Category:English-language films
Category:1976 horror films
Category:American science fiction horror films
Category:Natural horror films
Category:Films featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes
Category:1970s science fiction films