I've been trying to review this movie for a couple of years now. It's not been hard to track down or anything - it's available on Netflix and I even own a copy on DVD - but whenever I've sat down to actually write the review for The Beast Within, I've not been able to put things into words somehow. But I've not given up, and so finally here's my review of thin 1982 creature-feature eco-horror... thing.
A newlywed couple on the way to their honeymoon get their car stuck in a ditch near the small town of Nioba in Mississippi. While the husband goes to fetch help, his wife is attacked and raped by a strange being in the woods. 17 years later, the couple's son, Michael, is seriously ill in hospital and the doctors have no idea what is causing it. they suggest it could be a genetic or inherited condition, which prompts his parents to return to Nioba in the hopes of finding out anything they can about the rape and the perpetrator. While they're investigating, however, Michael is suffering from strange visions of an old farmhouse and escapes the hospital to travel to it... which turns out to also be in Nioba, Mississippi. While the locals are clearly hiding something from the family about a murdered resident and other events which happened around the time of the attack 17 years previously, Michael finds himself going through some radical changes, both physically and psychologically. What is the town's terrible secret that is linked to Michael's condition, and is there any way to save him?
See, I think the main reason I've found it difficult to review this film is that it's rather difficult to categorise. As well as "creature-feature" and "eco-horror" as mentioned above, it also contains elements of possession, slasher and splatter films, some cannibalism and a dash of backwoods hillbillies for good measure. When I first read the blurb for The Beast Within, I thought it was going to involve Bigfoot, but no, he's one of the few things not included in this film.
(What is the monster in the film? The best way I can describe it is reincarnated were-cicada. Yeah.)
It's also bookended by rape, and the way that the camera likes to hover over the victims as their clothes are ripped off and show us their breasts bouncing as they are violated leaves a rather unpleasant feeling, like these scenes are being shot more for their exploitation value rather than as plot points in the film. Interestingly, The Beast Within is directed by Phillipe Mora, who also directed Howlings II and III, so his claims of disliking all the flesh on display in Howling II is ringing less and less true to me.
The main selling point of The Beast Within is the transformation sequence, which doesn't happen until there are about 20 minutes left in the film, but it's worth the wait. They're entirely practical and, while the film doesn't show the transformation in one long cut like in An American Werewolf in London, it certainly feels like these effects are of a similar quality to the iconic scene in that film. It's wet and disgusting and looks incredibly painful, which is exactly what it needs to be. Similarly, the killings are also wet and bloody, although they're spaced out rather evenly through the film so it's not as splattery as other 80s splatter films.
Unfortunately, the film doesn't do a very good job of explaining why we've got a reincarnated were-cicada running around. An explanation was given in the script originally that involved Native American curses and insect life cycles, but practically all of this was cut from the final print of the film. this has the effect of making the film one-third monster movie, one-third supernatural whodunnit (complete with the town sheriff allowing a stranger to run around with them investigating murders) and one-third confusing mess. While it's true that not every film needs a complex explanation of what is happening, when a film is as convoluted as this there needs to be some clarification as to just what is going on.
Oh yeah, and that's Dick Jones as Eli McCleary, Michael's father. He also wrote and sang the country songs that make up some of the soundtrack for the film. Actually, Eli is actually one of the more interesting and better-realised characters in the film. Rather than go the more cliched route of having Michael's father resent him on some level because of the circumstances of his birth, Eli instead completely accepts Michael as his son, almost to the point of denial that anything else could be the case. It's an interesting little point in the film and one I like.
Overall, The Beast Within is an interesting film, but one that cut too much backstory from its final cut, which makes it difficult for the audience to really get engaged in it unless they've actually looked into the missing stuff. Also, the rape scenes are uncomfortable viewing for the wrong reason.
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