The "Nature of the Beast" is a very strange thriller, but a decent one to look out for.
Henricksen and Roberts share the lead as to guys with deceptive pasts and suspicious secrets. It is like a noir thriller where the quiet character (Henricksen as "Jack") is unexpectedly caught up in a mess because he can never seem to leave town. The small, desolate town just seems to suck him in, and the only way to escape in these kinds of stories is by death of one or both of our primary characters.
Jack is just a guy who's been driving around a desert. We don't really know much about him, other than he's got a wife who repeatedly tries to get in touch with him, and that he's been driving around the desert for some time, presumably because he was lost.
Jack picked a bad time to roll through town, as police cars and forensic units move from one small squat to another cleaning up homicides from a serial killer who leaves his calling card--The Hatchetman. Because their investigations block up the road, he's forced to stay in town.
That's when Jack meets the self-indulgent, sob story with an eerie knack for getting on Jack's nerves, Adrian (Eric Roberts). Jack may be "off" as this strange guy walking around town with a metal briefcase close at hand. But, Adrian, a heroin addict, is much weirder and insists that he isn't going to leave Jack's side. Sure, Jack could just turn the hitchhiker into the cops, but Adrian's got leverage against him. That's because Jack suspects Adrian of being the "Hatchetman" (he often pops out from a shadow at the murder investigations when Jack arrives). And Adrian says he thinks Jack's suitcase is full of the million dollars stolen from a casino a few miles back. So, Jack is stuck with Adrian. But unfortunate for Adrian, he underestimates Jack's limits.
Albeit a strange thriller, particularly due to the nature of Robert's character, a relentless junkie with homoerotic undertones who may be the elusive "Hatchetman." Jack's character is pretty weird, too. He never says too much about himself, and I suspect the viewer is expected to get a little frustrated and wanting to know more about Jack. But we find out very little about him. And that can drive a person nuts when you're making assumptions as to who did what.
But, it is still an engaging thriller, once you start getting involved in the story. Half-way through, things are not as you first assumed. And the final half is riddled with unseen twists. It's worth trying out if you can find it.
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