The Nature of the Beast (1995): Eric Roberts, Lance Henriksen and the Mystery of the Hatchet Man
There are certain movies that seem almost custom-built for Johnny Spoiler.
The Nature of the Beast (1995) is one of them.
Starring Eric Roberts and Lance Henriksen, this strange desert thriller mixes mystery, psychological manipulation, serial-killer suspense, and a little bit of that unmistakable 1990s direct-to-video energy.
The premise is simple enough: Dusty, a mysterious drifter played by Eric Roberts, catches the attention of Jack, a salesman played by Lance Henriksen. Jack eventually gives Dusty a ride, but the conversation quickly becomes uncomfortable. Dusty seems to know things about Jack that he shouldn't know.
Meanwhile, news reports are spreading about a vicious murderer known as the Hatchet Man.
And suddenly you're left wondering:
Which one of these guys is the killer?
Eric Roberts vs. Lance Henriksen
The most interesting thing about The Nature of the Beast may actually be its casting.
Both Eric Roberts and Lance Henriksen have spent decades playing characters who can make an audience nervous simply by walking into a room.
Roberts gets to lean into the darker side of his screen persona as Dusty, a drifter who seems to enjoy pushing Jack's buttons. He's charismatic, unpredictable, and just unsettling enough to make you wonder what he's really after.
Henriksen, meanwhile, is surprisingly subdued.
We're used to seeing Henriksen as the intimidating guy in movies like Aliens, Pumpkinhead, and Near Dark. Here, Jack is much more ordinary—a salesman who appears almost painfully uncomfortable with confrontation.
That contrast is what makes the movie's central mystery work.
The question isn't simply who could be the killer?
It's which actor are you supposed to trust?
A Hitchhiker With an Agenda
Dusty isn't your typical hitchhiker.
He doesn't just sit quietly in the passenger seat and wait to reach his destination. He starts digging into Jack's personal life, dropping hints and making comments that suggest he knows far more than he's letting on.
The dynamic becomes almost like psychological blackmail.
Dusty keeps pushing.
Jack keeps getting more uncomfortable.
And the audience keeps waiting for somebody to finally snap.
It's one of the movie's better ideas, and Eric Roberts clearly understands exactly how much fun he can have with the character.
The Hatchet Man Mystery
The movie also surrounds the two characters with reports of a serial killer known as the Hatchet Man.
This creates a classic mystery-thriller setup: two suspicious characters, a string of murders, and just enough information to make the audience question every interaction.
The movie even plays with the reputations of its stars.
If you've seen enough Eric Roberts or Lance Henriksen movies, you're probably already suspicious of both men.
That's exactly what the movie wants.
The Problem With the Ending
Unfortunately, The Nature of the Beast doesn't completely deliver on the potential of its setup.
There are some memorable sequences—including the buried-alive material and a particularly nasty neck-injection moment—but the final confrontation doesn't have the impact you'd expect after spending the entire movie trying to figure out what is really happening.
For Johnny Spoiler, that's the big problem.
The movie gets you interested.
It gets you asking questions.
It gets you invested in the mystery.
Then the payoff arrives and you're left thinking:
And that's why The Nature of the Beast ultimately lands in the Binge Never category.
The Victor Salva Complication
There's also an uncomfortable piece of context surrounding the film's writer-director, Victor Salva.
Google it. That history is important context when discussing his filmography and can understandably affect whether viewers want to engage with his work.
Johnny Spoiler noted that had he known the circumstances surrounding Salva before selecting The Nature of the Beast for review, he would not have chosen the movie.
That's a legitimate consideration when revisiting older films: sometimes the history behind a production changes the way we look at the finished product.
Should You Watch The Nature of the Beast?
If you're a fan of Eric Roberts, Lance Henriksen, 1990s thrillers, forgotten direct-to-video movies, or obscure cult cinema, there are enough interesting ingredients here to make The Nature of the Beast worth knowing about.
But if you're looking for a genuinely satisfying mystery with a killer ending, don't expect this one to become a new favorite.
For Johnny Spoiler:
Still, that's the beauty of Summer Slash.
Not every movie has to be a classic.
Sometimes the fun is discovering the weird ones, talking about what worked, laughing at what didn't, and asking the most important question of all:
