Beast Within

I am a fan of watching Werewolf related film but in recent times, it seems there are many directors/writers who are into making this type of Werewolf films. In come "Beast Within", so glad finally someone wants to make this genre of films.

The video-game launch party as the story plot is modern and keeping up with the time we are living with where everything is almost digital, social media, e-games, so this is nice. It has a good solid cast of great actors as well, including Ari Millen, Colm Feore, etc.

I like the fact that you don't really know what the Werewolf looks like out of its entirety for most of the film, so it allows us to visualize and imagine our own version of the Werewolf. There are quite a number of plot twists and turns to make the story line interesting. A monster film needs a good costume and I think the Beast Within did a marvelous job to make the film convincing and realistic. I like the costume of the WereWolf, it's very well-made and it's top quality.

Overall, I enjoy this film, it's entertaining and it won a few awards so far internationally and I am not surprised, great job.

QUESTION: Is Beast Within going to have a sequel since there is a cliffhanger at the end. We will find out.

I hate putting down low budget movies, the effort, sacrifice and passion that leads to these projects being completed and released to view by the public is truly admirable. So it pains me to say that this micro financed creature feature/ murder mystery is truly terrible. An overly loud and intrusive soundtrack wouldn't by itself be a deal breaker when it comes to evaluating a movie..Sadly when said score is added to a growing list of flaws including bad acting (the main male lead is particularly unconvincing) , a bland script (the only interesting pieces of dialogue are bible quotations) and an excitement free screenplay. It makes for a movie that is uninspiring and hard to sit through. Every time i sit down to watch a low budget movie, I hope it has the balls, creativity and verve to put Hollywood to shame, sadly 'beast within' is as soulless and dull affair that makes the latter howling sequels look good by comparison.

Attending a video-game launch party, a group of web-developers hoping to make waves with their latest werewolf-themed game find themselves being slowly killed off one-by-one by a strange beast, forcing them to find the creatures' true identity to stop the rampage and get away from the house party alive.

This was an enjoyable if flawed genre effort. Among it's more enjoyable elements is the fact that this one manages to get a lot to like with its fun who-done-it mystery approach to the storyline. The fact that the creature's identity is the main selling point to their quest and trying to figure out who among them is someone they can trust plays a big deal about the suspense of this one early on. Going off the discovery of the dead bodies and the state they're in, it makes for a logical motivation to do what happens here with the debates and discussions about who's the culprit committing the murders which are quite enjoyable. The other really entertaining feature is the series of creature attacks which are really enjoyable. The manner in which the creature is shown to jump out of the shadows and attack in grisly fashion, ripping out throats or tearing bodies to strings, is all rather fun and leads to some fine chase scenes around the house trying to keep the creatures out. Featuring some solid twists about the identity and a fantastic look at the creatures that are fully exposed in the final half for a great series of confrontations in this part of the film, these sections manage to hold the film up for the most part. This one has some big issues with it. One of the main problems is the fact that the game they play is highly confusing and really tough to get into. It's simply assumed people will know what the rules are and what they're supposed to do as the film simply drops us into the realm of the game dealing more with the character introductions and hosting the party than detailing what's going on. By the time it takes on the later stages where something's going on, it's not all that interesting as all the party antics and relationship issues that are featured are nowhere near as interesting as they appear as this is rather boring for the most part. The last issue with this one is the rather obvious lack of urgency in their actions within the last half as their desire to stop it seems to be less than enthusiastic. Rather than try to pass the advantage against the trapped and terrified people, the creature openly challenges them to take him on and chase them around the area on the house which goes for quite an unusual challenge that doesn't really make much sense, as does the later reveal of the true werewolf which doesn't really come off as shocking at all. This all adds together with the rest of the action to make for a somewhat underwhelming finale even with these likable aspects.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

The film itself is very up & down, while overall good. It takes a solid 30+ minutes before the basic premise even gets somewhat going; while it's not bad at all..a few things keep it from being really good... below are some areas of the film i grade out for you.

Werewolf/Monster - Let's be real, THIS is what made us all click PLAY. Thankfully, a ton of love, & work went into this beast, & it shows. The werewolf looks really good! It's not "Werewolf in London" or "Bad Moon" quality amazing ...but it's actually as good or even better than some decent werewolf films. It's better than those in "LATE PHASES" so it's somewhere between that film, & Bad Moon, monster quality wise. It's also thankfully PRACTICAL! It's not CGI, which 100% would've made this film a total waste. The expressions on its face even move & change, it's way more than a guy in a rubber mask, & you'll appreciate it!!

Kills - Solid. Nothing that'll gone down in history, but they are good enough!

Rap soundtrack - no clue why they used so much rap music in this, but it doesn't fit the theme, any characters, or anything to do with the film at all...my guess is the creators were promoting some artist(s) they knew...still, very WEIRD, bad choice...I'd have preferred no music at all to the rap.

Lighting - while it's mostly fine, some scenes have very bizarre, almost "art house" style lighting...such as scenes that have a massive amount of either blue, or red. There is no reason for these colors to be there either..just an odd choice...because 90% of the film is shot and lighted very top notch.

Acting - This is the most up & down area... some of the actors are just fine, to pretty good...but sadly, around half of the cast is just not very good. The main guy, (August) & the main woman (Cheyenne) are both very solid. The best friend, (Stan?) the Priest, (he's the only one most will recognize) & the boss (Brian) are all good enough to pass. But the other 5+ cast members are all below average, & one reason that hurts the film is that you know within the first 10 minutes who is going to be there at the end, & who are just there to be killed off...

Story itself - I suppose it's not horrible, but I could've thought of about 5 better situations to use a werewolf of this quality in...even being trapped in a building/warehouse would've been (while less original) probably a better setting. This is a very rare case of "original isn't always better". But I guess it does the job...it's just that the fact that it's built around a video game launch means pretty much zero to the film. One BIG issue I can't understand...(NOT a spoiler, because it's literally the first thing they show us...) is we know who survives, because he/she is telling the story of what happened, as well as a quick little pointless line that gives away who the werewolf is BEFORE THE TITLE IS EVEN SHOWN!!!!! (You find out both before the 3 minute mark)

Tone - Its fine I guess. Due to the lighting, & the low quality of some of the cast, there is not a feeling of dread/terror or anything gritty, or dark. Also, there are some areas that I THINK were supposed to be comical? But it's not really a horror comedy imo. Yet, the lighting, & script & music don't allow it to be a dark, brooding, gritty horror that'll scare you. It's very similar to the TONE of "American Werewolf in Paris" ...the cheap, not very good sequel to "American Werewolf in London"...but it is a better film than, Paris...they just have that same colorful, not very serious tone. Not at all like, "Late Phases" "Bad Moon", "The Howling", or even "Van Helsing"!!

Pacing - This is one area it lacks...while it doesn't ruin the film, it's pacing is not great, & early on it's all over the place... this film is NOT deep, so why it was such a slow burn for the first 30-35+ minutes, I can't say...but it would've been so much better had we gotten to the point around the 10-15 minute mark. All the characters are introduced explicitly by our narrator ("this is _____ & their job is______") in those freeze frame introductions youve all seen. Which is another reason we didn't need 35+ minutes of buildup. You could literally watch the first 5 minutes of character intros, then skip the next 30 some minutes, & miss almost nothing at all. This is a shame, because the film isn't even 90 minutes to begin with.... my guess is that they used all the filler build up to get to at least an 80+ min. Runtime.

Overall - I complained a lot, but was just trying to give a real review ... overall it's pretty good! For what it is. It's not really scary, it's more of an action horror. I guess I'll say this... IF you LOVE werewolf films, you'll likely really enjoy this a good amount!! IF you don't care for werewolves or even monsters, then you're actually NOT going to really enjoy this. This was clearly made by someone with a passion for werewolf films, & for those who also love them. It will make my list of top 50 werewolf films, likely somewhere between #25 - #20 ish.