Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

gantami If you like movies where the emergence of a murderous beast-cicada sex predator every 17 years serves as a metaphor for the recurrence of hidden psychological trauma, then this is the movie for you! Partially bold, partially sleazy, totally 80s. Les Baxter's awesomely colossal score drives things along. Director Mora dealt with the concept of psych trauma again a few years later in Communion.(I'm an enthusiast, not a critic. Thanks for reading.)

tomgillespie2002 Director Philippe Mora has made some distinctively ropey films throughout his massive 49 year career (he's still making movies), but The Beast Within, a film you could easily mistake as a werewolf picture, is certainly one of his best. Loosely based on Edward Levy's novel, Beast is a slow-burner, but nevertheless features some satisfying scenes of gory horror, and one mutation scene that is still pretty impressive today. But there's no werewolves here; the 'beast' of the title is somehow a cicada, something that, due to studio butchering (when will they learn?), remains unexplained and confusing, putting a bit of a downer on what is a perfectly passable 80's horror.The movie begins with happily married couple Eli (80's rent-a-b*****d Ronny Cox) and Caroline MacCleary (Bibi Besch) breaking down near a small town in Mississippi. As Eli wanders off to search for help, Caroline is attacked and raped by a beast lurking in the woods. 17 years later, and Michael MacLeary (Paul Clemens) is the result of that rape, and is in hospital dying from a strange condition that has left the doctor's baffled. Desperate for answers, Eli and Caroline return Nioba, the town in which the incident occurred, only to find secretive townsfolk and a possible cover-up. Michael escapes hospital and, apparently driven by an external influence, murders and cannibalises Edwin Curwin (Logan Ramsey), a man possibly involved in what happened 17 years previously.It will hardly give the likes of John Carpenter, David Cronenberg and Sam Raimi sleepless nights, but Beast is very well-made, with care taken to develop an intriguing plot and a creepy atmosphere. It's all anchored by an impressive performance from Clemens (whatever happened to him?), who spends most of the film looking as if he's about to explode. The change scene is hardly on par with An American Werewolf in London (1981), but it's a very good scene, and when Michael's head swells up to the size of a medicine ball, it becomes inadvertently funny in a what- the-f**k kind of way. When the 'revelations' come, it will leave you scratching your head, but it does not ruin what is a well-directed, character-driven horror that features plenty to appease gore-hounds and casual viewers alike.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Bonehead-XL "The Beast Within" combines many different horror tropes. It plays like a werewolf movie without the werewolf at times. A Southern town with a dark secret is the primary setting. There are elements of demonic possessions and revenge from beyond the grave. Most famously, in the last half-hour, the movie explodes into body horror, with a vivid transformation and a monster gorily dismembering victims. The gritty violence and setting feels like '70s Savage Cinema, but the show-stopping creature effects puts it in the company of other effects-heavy early eighties flicks, like "American Werewolf" "The Thing," or "The Howling." The setting of Naoba, Missisipi provides Southern-fried atmosphere that's hard to resist, especially when the moon shines through fog and tree branches. The story slowly puts down clues, drawling the audience in. The eventual transformation is set up subtly. The special effects are fantastic. Michael's transformation is the film's center-piece. It's so climatic that it almost spoils the last act. However, Philippe Mora's strong direction builds suspense through frenzied performances, noise clattering outside, and wisely delivered gore. The decapitation here is one of my favorites. The violence is calculated through-out, as the first murder, the mortuary sequence, and the electric kill are equally measured by suspense and make-up.The cast is peppered with memorable faces, among them R.G. Armstrong and Don Gordon. Ronny Cox and Bibi Bersh are both excellent as the concerned parents, totally unprepared for what happens to their son. Cox, in particular, makes his everyman role highly relatable. L.Q. Jones is especially likable as the tough, no-nonsense sheriff, the only man in Naoba not involved in the conspiracy. If there's a performance that doesn't work, it's Paul Clemens as the troubled boy. He's frequently good when snarling threats but is less convincing as a normal teenager.The script is by Todd Holland who quickly established himself as a reliable genre draftsman. The ambiguous story is frequently criticized. The story suggests that cannibalism and years of abuse is enough to transform a man into something inhuman. The possession, reincarnation, and bizarre metamorphosis are unexplained. Did Billy Corwin come back through pure force of will? Similarly, the connection with cicadas seems to have resulted through environmental influence. He imprinted on the forest and, likewise, it imprinted on him. Supposedly, about twenty minutes of deleted scenes would have clarified these details but, nah, I like it the way it is. You could probably criticize the movie for its underdeveloped love story but I like that too. Michael and Amanda have chemistry together and their hormones-heavy love-at-first-sight romance is exactly right for a pair of teenagers with overly protective parents.Not every element works. Les Baxter's score, his last, is bit confused, sounding one minute like a 1950s monster movie while featuring throbbing, overdone synth the next. The ending is hopelessly anticlimactic. The threat is dealt with too quickly and the emotional fallout isn't focused on enough. Overall though, that last atmospheric shot of an old house in the darkness hits my horror-fan sweet spot. "The Beast Within" is a cult gem for me.

michaelbr88 The Beast Within (1982) based on the novel by Edward Levy, is a very scary movie right out of the starting gate through to the end of the film. From its opening shot of car headlights approaching on a lonely, rural road at night, complemented with an unnerving film score, the viewer is in for an experience. The Beast Within is the story of Michael, a seventeen year old kid who has something growing inside of him that has his parents and the local doctor at a loss. While on a stop over in a small Mississippi town, Michael begins to date seventeen year old Amanda, a beautiful blonde girl next-door type. She, like others around Michael, begins to realize that there is something very wrong with him. There are unexplained, grisly murders taking place at night and Michael's parents start to realize that the town they are staying in is hiding a terrible secret that is tied to Michael's own mystery. Something horrible had happened in that town seventeen years ago that involved Michael's past and it is about to come to the surface in the worst way. The initial marketing of The Beast Within "dares the audience to sit through the last 30 minutes of the film without covering your eyes, screaming, or running from your seat." And it delivers. The last act of the film contains great special gore effects that are physically created and not on a computer. The director relies on atmosphere and suspense to build the audience up to the movie's very disturbing climax. The film is part of the golden age of horror movies that were made in the early 80's and rarely replicated since. A must see for the true horror fan.