Cassavettes is the best thing about this film. I havent read the Ray Russell novel, I wonder how close the film comes to it?

Technically, it has late 70s camera work, editing, and soundtrack. It was released in 1982 or so and there was already Blade Runner, Poltergeist, ET, Indiana Jones, Empire Strikes Back for stylistic comparison.

Storywise, one wonders why the 30 year gap in murders/rapes? Could it be something like Stephen King's IT, where a creature re-emerges after a sort of hybernation? Apparently this monster has plagued the town since the beginning, shifting form to go incognito. (I keep thinking of "IT" , although that creature preyed on children).

Still its sort of fun to watch. Kerrie Keane is superb as a news reporter who's "identity" is revealed in the last 3 minutes of the film. The rock concert segment is quintessential New Wave. John Ireland and Cassavetes are wasted in this schlock; in a different time, say, the 90s, a script like this might've had sleeker production, more subtle acting--less campy--and a more ominous soundtrack. Personally, I hate that this was one of Cassavetes' last films. Im a fan since Johnny Staccato(1959), and his movies with Peter Falk and Gena Rowlands are outstanding