The Being

The Being is a 1983 American horror film written and directed by Jackie Kong in her directorial debut, starring Martin Landau, José Ferrer, Dorothy Malone, comedian Ruth Buzzi, Marianne Gordon, and exploitation film producer Bill Osco, who is billed as "Rexx Coltrane" in the opening credits and "Johnny Commander" in the closing credits. It focuses on a detective who is trying to solve a string of grisly murders and disappearances. Kong, a recent college graduate, was given a $4.5 million budget from her then-husband Bill Osco to write and direct a film. Principal photography began in 1980 under the title Easter Sunday. Plot In the town of Pottsville, Idaho, citizens begin disappearing. Young Michael Smith, son of Marge Smith (Dorothy Malone) is the first to vanish. A young man is decapitated while fleeing from an unseen assailant, and patrons at a drive-in theater are brutally murdered. At each scene, green slime is found. Wanting to get to the bottom of the disappearances but afraid that the publicity might damage the town's potato business, Mayor Gordon Lane (José Ferrer) hires chemical safety engineer Garcon Jones (Martin Landau) to investigate. Also investigating the disappearances is Detective Mortimer Lutz (Bill Osco), who suspects that something terrible has befallen the town. Meanwhile, more people disappear, with a puddle of green slime found at each site. With this new string of disappearances, Lutz begins to suspect that Jones knows more than he's willing to tell. His suspicions grow when he's attacked by something monstrous while at home, with Lutz barely managing to escape from his attacker. Lutz confronts Jones about the incident but is told that there's nothing wrong in the area.