EDITOR’S NOTE: Manbeast! Myth of Monster? was on the CBS Late Movie on October 17, 1984; August 8, 1985 and June 15, 1988.

Drink every time that Peter C. Byrne says, “I believe in the Manbeast.”

At some point in 1978, Peter decided to remake the In Search Of episode about Bigfoot as this movie, taking his wife Cecelia out for a ride. In fact, director Nicholas Webster would go on to direct three episodes of that syndicated Leonard Nimoy-hosted show that would often give me nightmares. But he can’t hide perhaps the darkest secrets, as Webster also directed Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

This was written by Anthony Potter (whose resume mostly consists of hard news and documentaries) and Diana Webster, who wrote nine episodes of In Search Of, appeared in movies like Death Ray 2000 and played a nurse in two early Marvel movies, Dr. Strange and Captain America.

As we watch a Rob Bottin-created Manbeast interact with people and appear in reenactments, we hear stories like the Russian farmer who kept a female Manbeast — a Fembeast? Femalebeast? Ladybeast, shout out to Pittsburgh metal?!? — for years, one that even gave birth and accidentally killed her children by washing them in a frozen stream until the farmer’s wife started raising the children for her own, and the kids looked very human and wait, was the farmer putting it on the female Manbeast because yes, I totally believe that story as well as a skier straight up murked by a Manbeast.

That said, Peter is the most sympathetic person ever toward the lost species, saying that man has destroyed the forest and that we must help the Manbeast survive. And then some insane scientist shows up and says, “Look, they’re going extinct. Or maybe they don’t exist. I don’t care. But if I do find one, I’m going to kill it and do an exhaustive autopsy and enjoy every moment,” and I’m absolutely sure that that man is a serial killer. Or an actor. Or an actor who is a serial killer.

This is not anywhere near The Mysterious Monsters or The Legend of Boggy Creek, but it’s better than The Legend of Bigfoot, a film in which Ivan Marx talks about himself just as much as he discusses sasquatches.

You can watch this on YouTube.