The Beast Within

One of the better, and most overlooked, monster films of the 80's is this fun and effectively creepy B horror film.

On a dark and stormy Mississippi night, a woman is attacked and raped by a mysterious monster. Now, seventeen years later, her ill teenage son is starting to display some murderous behavior that keeps getting worse...

The Beast Within (based on the Edward Levy novel of the same title) is too often bashed by critics. Many complain that the storyline is convoluted, but frankly if everything were explained it would lose its sense of chilling mystery. There is much to be enjoyed in this off-beat creature flick. The story is nicely creative with a hint of old school horror and a good dose of building tension - all of which is dotted with some startlingly good murder scenes. The gruesome makeup effects aren't bad, this film has one wild transformation scene. Direction wise Philippe Mora does well in giving the film a great southern Gothic vibe as well as an oppressing atmosphere of dread.

The cast holds their own too. Ronny Cox (of Deliverance fame) and Bibi Besch do solid performances as the understandably troubled parents of our title character. Paul Clemens is also good, and strangely alluring, as the teen with the savage side. Supporting performances from Don Gordon, R.G. Armstrong, Katherine Moffat, and L.Q. Jones are good too.

The Beast Within is one under praised horror film. So what if there's a few plot holes, so what if it doesn't follow the book it's based on to the letter - it's a truly memorable horror ride that never has a dull moment. Check it out creature feature fans.

*** 1/2 out of ****

Philippe Mora does has made lots of very strange movies in his underrated career, some good, some truly awful. This is one of the better ones. If you analyze the plot too much the holes become big enough to drive a truck through, but just ignore the urge to do that, and you'll find you're watching an near-classic of transformation horror.

A newly-wed (Bibi Besch) is raped by a mysterious beast on her wedding night. Seventeen years later her son (Paul Clemens) is dying of an unknown illness. She and her husband (Ronny Cox) return to the scene of their past trauma to try and get some answers. They find some strange townsfolk who appear to be hiding some mysterious secret. Exactly what it is I won't say. It would not only spoil the movie, but I must admit I'm a trifle confused myself at the "explanation" for the weird events depicted on screen! Like I said, think about it too much and you'll ruin it. Just go with the flow...

'The Beat Within' contains plenty of creepiness and some gruesome murders. An added attraction for film buffs is the interesting supporting cast, which includes Peckinpah veterans R.G. Armstrong ('Predator'), L.Q. Jones ('Casino') and Luke Askew ('Easy Rider'), and character actors Don Gordon ('Out Of The Blue') and Mora semi-regular John Dennis Johnston. ('Flesh & Blood')

'The Beast Within' rarely gets mentioned in discussions of 1980s horror movies, but it should. It may not be up there with the best of Cronenberg, Carpenter, Romero, or Raimi, but it's well made, original, strongly acted, and damn good fun!

The Beast Within tells the story of a woman who is raped in the forest by a mysterious creature. Cut forward 17yrs and her son has developed an ailment that has left doctors baffled.

Based on that alone you've likely just worked out about 50% of the plot, the other 50% is very generic cliched stuff about a conspiracy in small town USA.

With the likes Ronny Cox the movie has some acting heavyweights behind it, they also clearly had a very competent sfx team whose creature effects are above par for this early in the 80's.

Sadly it doesn't flow very well, I found the lead rather obnoxious, the leading lady barely got any screen time and it just feels like they made a lot of real schoolyard errors here.

If you like cheesy 80's creature features you might actually get a kick out of this as it does tick plenty of boxes, it just missed out on a few that are too important to me personally.

The Good:

Ronny Cox and L.Q. Jones

Decent sfx

The Bad:

Lack of flow is noticeable

Paul Clemens

If you enjoyed "The Terror Within" or "Humanoids From the Deep", then this movie is for you. It is a classic early eighties horror film about slimy creatures that rape young women, only to repeat the cycle at the end of the film. Special effects (by today's standards) are pretty thin, but still worth seeing.

I am going to disagree with most of the reviewers in here and say that I found the story to be quite intriguing. Some of it was a little out there but the crux of it ( the town conspiracy ) was quite well done. What wasn't so great was some of the acting and some of the things people do to get themselves in trouble.

The film starts off with Ronny Cox and his wife traveling down some lonely Mississippi road in the dead of night. They spin off the road and the front of his car ends up on some moist land. His tires spin and spin but they will not respond. The car is stuck there. Now instead of A) trying to push the car out or B) both of them walking back to the gas station for a tow, Cox tells his wife that he is going back to that gas station for a tow. He playfully tells her to stay there and to lock the door ( he says it as though nothing bad could have ever happened on the side of the road in Mississippi. Does anyone ever remember MISSISSIPPI BURNING?)

Okay, we have all seen too many horror movies but that is just dumb, horror movie or not. You never leave someone alone, on a deserted road while you are surrounded by the dense bush. Anything could happen. Bigfoot could jump out. Jason could be close by. The thing from THE PREY could pop and get you or more realistically you would just be too afraid to stay by yourself because it is dark. But she does and of course something attacks her and rapes her and then the film jumps ahead 17 years where of course she had the baby. This is another part when we all go " Oh Come ON!!! What are you, stupid?" If some big disgusting swamp thing with calves the size of the Caveman in Scooby Doo episodes raped you, you get an abortion, right away. But again, this is a horror movie and people have to do stupid things to get themselves into the prediciments that they are in. If you can get past some of this sheer idiocy, the rest of the story is quite good. It is not on par with some of the greats but it is a worthy addition to the early 80's horror.

One by one, the slimy town folk are being attacked and devoured by a beast. Now we don't know why these people are being stalked, only that they are suspect looking to say the least. There is obviously some town secret that is being swept under the proverbial rug and these people are the main culprits.

The final thirty minutes is quite good. I can remember being about 13 when me and my friends rented this film for the first time. We accepted the challenge on the front of the box where it dares you to watch the last thirty minutes without chickening out. And when you are 13 and are challenged like that, you eagerly accept. None of us were horrified but we sure thought it was cool. Now that I have more of an appreciation for horror and the effects that go into it, I have to say that the creature effects were astonishing here. Rick Baker would be proud of Thomas Burman. This is on par with Baker's work in AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. The transformation scene is truly a work of art. Perhaps people will say that it is dated because now a days they use computer graphics to make everything look real but let me tell you, give me guys like Rick Baker, Stan Winston and Thomas Burman and I would rather watch them at work than a chip and a computer program that does the same thing. This is fun to watch and I believe more work and innovation goes into the process.

I would give this film a 6 out of 10. The story is intriguing and the plot is carried out quite well. And look at it this way. Take most horror films from today like URBAN LEGEND, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID..... and so on and compare them to this one and others like it from the 70's and early 80's. Most 90's films can't hold the director's Cole's Notes to how to make an affective horror film. The Beast Within is better than 95% of the horror that was released in the 90's. It is getting better now with stellar efforts like FINAL DESTINATION, BLAIR WITH, SIXTH SENSE, STIR OF ECHOES and even STIGMATA. Their roots lie with films like this.