The Beast Within (1982)

[Quorthon]

The Beast Within
1982
Color
MGM/UA
MPAA Rating: R
Directed by: Philippe Mora

At first glance, and even after viewing the trailer, this film gives the impression that it’s just another werewolf movie. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the young man in the film isn’t struggling with transforming into a werewolf, but into some sort of mutant swamp-creature that has a knack for rape! That’s right, a swamp-creature. That rapes. Don’t get all excited, though, it’s not as cool as it sounds.

The story revolves around a young man who is ill. Well, seventeen years earlier his mother was raped by some other swamp creature, and lo and behold, this poor young man is going through the cycles of maturing into such a thing now.

The good:
--Special effects aren’t too shabby for 1982, today, however, they’re a little dated.
--Monster-on-woman rape scenes—didn’t see that coming!
--Decent atmosphere.
--Some gore, good for horror fans (like me), though nothing even remotely comparable to a Romero film.

“Didn’t hurt it, didn’t help it”<br>--The acting is pretty average—takes place in the American south with thick accents everywhere.
--The music is very average, nothing special, nothing really good—does an alright job with the atmosphere.
--Unique story that quickly reveals that the werewolf you likely thought you were going to see is something else entirely.
--Ronny Cox plays a good guy, Paul Verhoeven fans will recognize him as playing a villain most of the time.

The Bad:
--Let’s face it—the story is all over the place. Half the time it seems like a possession story—as the kid apparently takes on the identity of his father (the creature that raped his mother), and chooses his victims based on that. The rest of the time, it’s a monster movie.
--Bizarre reference to Cicadas that never pans out to anything and makes little sense. A Cicada is an insect with a high-pitched, very loud, very obvious sound that it emits. They actually spend 17 years maturing in a cocoon, underground, to adulthood. The director/writer spend time trying to tie this in with the young man’s own maturing, but it seems out of place as a reference. He doesn’t turn into a Cicada, he turns into a swamp creature. Where they were going with this is beyond me.
--Music is occasionally annoying.

The Ugly:
--While attempting to solve the murders (which occurs in every horror film of this nature), the kid’s Dad (Ronny Cox) is always with the cops helping them—never once is he mentioned as having any reason to help, and for the most part, his son isn’t even suspected of the murders! So why is he allowed to look around the morgue with the cops? Or go to crime scenes with them?
--Is this a possession movie or a monster movie? The blend doesn’t make sense.
--Bizarre overuse of inflatable bladders during the transformation sequence, seriously, there’s way too much inflating/deflating on the flesh of this damn kid. Aside from that, it’s fairly entertaining.

So there’s the rundown. This isn’t a great movie, but it ain’t bad, and it did throw in a couple surprises. Like I said, everything—including the movie poster, DVD cover, and preview—give the impression that this is just another werewolf movie. Decent gore when it’s shown, but overall, a pretty average horror flick.


Acting: 6/10
Story: 5/10
Atmosphere: 6/10
Cinematography: 4/10
Character Development: 4/10
Special Effects/Make-up: 6/10
Nudity/Sexuality: 2/10
Violence/Gore: 6/10
Music: 5/10
Direction: 5/10

Cheesiness: 3/10
Crappiness: 4/10

Overall: 5/10

Good for horror fans looking for some filler. Apparently, a Best Buy or Suncoast $5 movie. It’s about worth that.

[Bartwald]

Pretty average or not you got me interested in it, Quorth! If only, I'll watch it to perform my monthly werewolfspotting and to solve the cicadas mystery - now, that's something!

[slayrrr666]

This one's in my collection, should get to it pretty soon, now that I'm done with my series. Will post a better reply at that time.

[frankenjohn]

I am inclined to check this out next summer for $1.

[42ndstreetfreak]

*sheesh* the FX now look stupidly over the top!
The 80's was a crazy decade for the 'bladder' effect (see also the crazy face popping finale FX in "Amytiville 2"), of course pioneered brilliantly by Don Blasco in "Shivers".
“The Beast Within” (courtesy of Thomas Burman) has one of the most gratuitous 'bladder' sequences in horror history and now looks so inept that laughter is created not shocks.

I have to say i did not like it much at all.

The film looks flat and lifeless as too many American 80’s films did. It may be the fault of the infamous film stock that was around then, or just plain dull cinematography.
The dullness is carried on into the score by Les Baxter, here we have music so bland, dead air would sound more interesting.

The cast, now that’s a bit more interesting. We not only have Ronny Cox ("Robocop") but veteran supporting players LQ Jones (who worked with everyone from Pekinpah to Scorsese) and R.G. Armstrong (who could go from comedy spaghetti westerns like “My Name is Nobody” to gore fests like “Evilspeak” with practiced ease) and it’s always a pleasure to watch old pros at work.

The second rate proceedings are not helped by a glaring continuity error where we see a girl put her bra on twice!
Add some rubbish dialogue, silly behaviour by characters (they all just watch Michael’s long transformation, even though one character is holding a shotgun, without doing anything until it’s too late) and snooze inducing direction by the hack Mora, who also spewed out “The Howling 2 & 3” on unfortunate movie goers, and you have a film that is barely worth the price of a rental.

Enjoy the silly effects and smatterings of gore, then kick yourself for not finding something better to do with your precious time on this Earth.

[slayrrr666]

“The Beast Within” isn’t all that bad a creature feature.

**SPOILERS**

On their honeymoon, Eli, (Ronny Cox) and Katherine MacCleary, (Bibi Besch) are assaulted along the way by a strange creature. Years later, Michael MacCleary, (Paul Clemens) their teenage son, is under attack by a strange virus that no one can figure out where it came from or how to treat it, leaving them to decide whether or not to admit the attack happened. Going back to the site, they stir up the intrigue of the locals by prying into their secreted past. Finding out that Michael has escaped from the hospital and begins to viciously slaughter the members of the town. The town’s elders, Judge Curwin, (Don Gordon) Doc Schoonmaker, (R.G. Armstrong) and Sheriff Bill Pool, (L.Q. Jones) conspire to track him down while he begins a relationship with Amanda Platt, (Katherine Moffat) who turns out to be the cousin of the man who had initially conducted the assaulted years ago. As more revelations and secrets are unearthed, they have to hurry to stop the creature before it slaughters the town.

The Good News: This one wasn’t as bad as it could’ve easily been. The concept of the title beast is a nicely original idea that really has no correlation to anything previously seen in film. It has relations, mind you, and its closest is the shape-shifter, but this relationship instead produces a fairly original-looking creature that is for the most part well done and memorable. Another thing that this film has got going for it is some creepy atmosphere. The town of looks as crippled and repressed as its history suggests, the air itself looks damp and moldy as if the outlying swamp held the town in a stifling grip and dilapidated houses and storefronts are decaying just as much as the skeletons its inhabitants are hiding in their own closets. Some decent scenes come out of this atmosphere, which creates a mood that is, if anything, unsettling. This is most apparent in the early scenes of them getting the runaround due to the locals not wanting to help. There’s an obvious distance between everything they do and the towns-members, and the iciness brings out some great suspense as the mystery hidden in the town will soon come to life, and what it is and why is it hidden makes for some really tense moments. The inclusion of the monster gives it even more opportunities for great suspense. The opening is a great example, as there’s a great stalking scene early on when the monster attacks. The forest setting is simply fantastic and the darkness makes it look even creepier. The siege at the police station is a simple standout, and is quite creepy and tense as the chirping insects being the only sound at all. An earlier attack at the morgue also has some creepy moments, and it delivers a really wonderful payoff that sells it all the more. There’s also some really nice deaths in here, as there’s a simply wonderful decapitation where the head is ripped clean off the body and it begins spouting blood from the stump, an embalming needle stabbed in the stomach that begins to drain the body while the victim is still alive, a gunshot that blows the head clean out and leaving a giant pulpy mess on the floor and a really bloody, gruesome throat being ripped out. That in itself is the best kill here, for the brutality of the action and for how it’s played out, which is long and drawn-out, emphasizing the graphic nature of the attack. The fact that there’s also a little exploitation angle at play here with the fact that rape comes into the film so heavily. The whole thing is caused by one and that such an extreme act would propel the story forward gives it a really great angle to play with. Of course, the real highlight of the film is the fact that the film’s centerpiece, the transformation. This is long, inventive and features a really wild idea, as the transformation isn’t into a werewolf but into a different creature altogether, and for originality sake it scores. Plus, it’s well-detailed, happens in a logical sense of pacing, and simply looks painful and intense, all shown in close-up. This makes it look all the creepier, a great plus. All these help put the film over quite nicely.

The Bad News: While not being all that bad, there’s still some flaws in this one. The transformation sequence, while being an effective highlight, does have one really obvious problem that nearly threatens to kill it off. The sequence is shot in a brightly lit room with long cuts and simply too much of the transformation shown head-on. Add to this the onlookers who appear to be just standing around scratching their heads during the whole thing and it simply isn't nearly as effective as it should have been. It looks great, but that is an unfortunate side-effect of it being so long. Another real downside is that the film is simply way too complicated for it’s own good. It tries to be a simple monster-on-the-loose yarn, but to add in the rapes and town secrets act, then it just becomes more and more complicated. Add into that the fact that there’s a possession angle thrown in and there’s no shortage of confusion to be had. Scale it down and let it be what it so obviously wants to be, a creature killing off members of a small-town. There’s also a wait to get to the kills, as the film does have a lot of set-up to do, and it does take some time before it goes full-on, but otherwise, this isn’t all that terrible.

The Final Verdict: While not being one of the greatest creature features of all time, there’s still enough here for it to be get a little entertainment. If you’re a fan of this style, give it a shot, but for those who don’t really like them, then exercise caution with it.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, several Rapes, Nudity, some Language and mild animal violence

[Quorthon]

I only just realized that the guy who directed this also directed Communion.

*tugs collar* Ohy menglaven!!

[slayrrr666]

Plus he also did Howling's 2 and 3, other cheesy guilty pleasures.