3/5 These Capitalists Really ARE Bloodsuckers!
  by Karen Shaub (the inner reaches of the outer limits)
Otto is the perfect corporate drone who, when summoned to his Boss' office for a new assignment, is justifiably shocked to see a co-worker sprawled in an adjacent chair with a huge wooden stake rammed through his heart. His Boss however, sees nothing amiss since this is the manner in which one normally dispatches a vampire so to have killed him in any other way would have been absurd. Thus begins NETHERBEAST INCORPORATED a mostly successful satire of corporate America disguised as a horror movie.

The plot centers around Otto and the other employees of Berm-Tech Industries Inc. (the world's largest makers of telephones) as they try to stop their boss from destroying their safe little cubicled world, because you see, they ARE vampires and so is he for that matter is he, a fact that eludes him due to an inconvenient case of "vampire Alzheimer's" which may or may not clear up on it's own. Now these aren't your typical movie vampires and their differences are explained throughout the film via powerpoint presentations. For instance they all live in the same building in which they work , insulated from the general public except for the occasional night on the town. Their "meals" are donated blood and unclaimed corpses because these vampires, unlike their Hollywood bretheren, aren't on a strictly liquid diet. And of course, all employees of Berm-Tech Industries Inc. are Netherfolk like themselves. (That's another difference. They don't refer to themselves as vampires.) No humans are allowed past the receptionist. That is until one day their wacked out boss informs them he has hired an efficiency expert from the outside to come in and get the office "up to speed." And that's just the beginning of the problems. A co-worker goes missing and wacky Mr. Hammond replaces him with a HUMAN temp, a pretty girl to whom Otto quickly becomes attracted.

Right now I'm sure you're thinking; Wow, I'm in for a great horror comedy! But the sad truth is, not so much. NETHERBEAST INCORPORATED opens with a bang and then gradually starts losing all of it's energy. The cast does it's best with the material which is perhaps a bit underwritten in the last two acts. Turner Claymore who plays Boss Darrell Hammond is hilarious as the vampire without a clue, when he's off screen the movie loses a lot of it's interest. Steven Landry (from "Blues Clues") as the Dilbert-like Otto is more than adequate, and Judd Nelson is amusing as the efficiency expert who harbors a secret of his own. The thing that really bothered me about the film, so much so that I knocked a whole point off my rating, is the musical score. And I NEVER pay attention to musical scores! It has to be extremely good or extremely bad for me to take note (pun intended) of it. And this score was bad. It was a bit too loud and tended to drown out parts of the dialogue, but worse yet it constantly tried to remind us that we were watching a comedy. It had everything but rim shots in it and was very distracting. A more serious score would have worked to better advantage by being a counterpoint to the comedy.

Whatever the film had to offer in terms of creativity and originality is ultimately ruined by bad pacing, weak scripting, and an annoying musical score.Can I recommend NETHERBEAST INC.? Only as a rental.


1/5 avoid this move
  by gespect (ohio)
i wrote a long review but somehow i lost it.
'netherbeast inc.'- it's on the level of a poorly made tv comedy [that really doesn't make you laugh.
vampires hide in a corperation. they've been doing it for so long that they bicker. the ceo vampire has a brain disease like alzheimers. he hires an outside consultant [industrial psychologest or sociologist] to bring back morale. now who's killing fellow vampire employees, why kill them, and is this all just to take over the ceo's position??? can a vampire and mortal fall in love??? the real answer, based on this movie, will be: 'who cares. give me my money back!'
david foley [whom i really like, deserves better roles] is as two dimentional as the other charactors.
i see that there do exist 7 people that think this is an 'okay' movie. good for them, at least somebody made a movie they could enjoy. you're probably not one of them.

5/5 Not your ordinary Vampire Comedy
  by Ben Kreger (Spokane, WA)
In this quirky comedy by new comers Brian & Dean Ronalds, Steve Burns (Blues Clues) plays Otto Granberry a lowly cubical worker of Berm-Tech Industries, Inc. The story begins when Otto is asked into the office of his boss (Darrell Hammond of SNL) to discover a co-worker has been impaled with a stake to the heart. This is only the first joke in this vampiric comedy and there is no way I can do this scene justice.

This film is based on a short by the Ronalds brothers and also stars Dave Foley (Kids in the Hall, News Radio) and Jason Mewes (Clerks and every Kevin Smith film) and follows a murder mystery in a company that hides a group of vampires... er Netherbeast from the rest of the world. They are nice monsters who only eat the recently deceased instead of hunting their prey. But someone is slowly killing them off.

I can't say this is a laugh out loud movie but it was very very funny and the oddities of it are beyond enjoyable.

I'm glad I added this film to my library. If you like comedies that are slightly eskewed then you will really enjoy this one. If you however are someone who thinks Larry the Cable guy is a comedy genius then this is so not for you.

4/5 Wanted: Dead or Undead
  by Sheila V (Western New York)
There seems to be some confusion concerning the merits of this film, but love it or hate it (& consensus seems to be on the side of the former), 'NetherBeast Incorporated' has a life of its own.
I bought the DVD for two reasons; one, I am a lukewarm fan of the genre (this is a genre? you say...), & two, my cousin is in it. To say I was pleasantly surprised, cousin or no cousin, is an understatement. I really didn't know what I was getting into, but in fact, I was hooked immediately & watched with growing fascination as the thing unfolded.
The inspired insertion of President Garfield & Alexander Graham Bell as pivots, & the kind of Bill-&-Ted-Do-Phoenix aspect thereby engendered, had me laughing out loud. The DVD presentation is further enhanced by the Commentary Version in the Special Features section. A good time was had by all, apparently, & I recommend 'NetherBeast' wholeheartedly.



4/5 A dark comedy-drama about vampires.
  by Ray Rogers (Killingly, CT.)
I bought this movie because Amy Davidson is in it.
I watched it more than once because it is original, witty, well made, and thoroughly entertaining. Highly recommend it to anyone who likes dark comedy.