This was one of the last movies released by United Artists before they went belly-up as a result of the Heaven’s Gate fiasco.
The 80s was the golden age of the werewolf movie. By the beginning of that decade old school special effects had become so good that, for the first time, convincing werewolves and convincing werewolf transformation scenes could be shown onscreen. A lot of people saw The Beast Within expecting it to be a werewolf movie. In fact it isn’t but it does have some affinities with that genre.
Director Philippe Mora describes The Beast Within as a teenage angst movie, which it is although there’s other stuff going on.
It begins with a prologue. It is 1964. Eli (Ronny Cox) and Caroline MacCleary (Bibi Besch) are newly married. Just outside the small town of Nioba Mississippi their car breaks down. Eli sets off on foot for the nearest gas station. While he’s away disaster strikes. Caroline is brutally assaulted.
We then jump forward to 1981. Eli and Caroline are happily married but their son Michael (Paul Clemens) is gravely ill. No-one knows what is wrong with him but his doctor suspects it may be genetic.
Which raises a problem. As a result of that assault 17 years earlier there is a very strong chance that Michael is not Eli’s son.
The three of them set out for Nioba Mississippi in hopes of discovering the identity of Michael’s father. Given the circumstances of Michael’s conception it’s likely to be difficult to persuade anyone to reveal the truth.
It’s immediately obvious that the townspeople are hiding something.
Oddly enough the townspeople are not hostile to the MacClearys. They just don’t want to talk about what was happening in 1964.
We, the audience members, know a great deal about what’s going on and more specifically we know a good deal about what is going on with Michael but none of the characters in the movie know anything of this.
We know why Michael makes a miraculous recovery.
Some bad things start to happen in Nioba, and some disturbing discoveries are made in the nearby swamp.
Philippe Mora freely admits that the original script was completely incoherent and that even after rewrites the plot makes very little sense. He gambled on being able to make the movie sufficiently entertaining that the audience wouldn’t care about the gigantic plot holes and the fact that all the important questions remain unanswered. Audiences don’t watch a horror movie for the plot.
His gamble came off and despite critical hostility and a chaotic theatrical release (due to the implosion of United Artists) The Beast Within was a financial success due to its popularity on home video.
It’s also alas true that gore can be utilised to distract an audience’s attention from a nonsensical plot and The Beast Within has plenty of gruesomeness. To be fair it also has a very creepy atmosphere.
This film ran into huge censorship problems in both the U.S. and Britain. It was cut to pieces by the British censors. For years the uncut version was impossible to see.
The monster effects can best be described as bizarre but they’re certainly done well.
I’m not totally sold on this movie but I’m not much of a gorehound. Worth a look.
The Arrow Blu-Ray looks good and there’s an enjoyable audio commentary.
Australian director Philippe Mora made some interesting films including my favourite werewolf movie, the utterly bonkers (in an inspired way) Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf.
The 80s was the golden age of the werewolf movie. By the beginning of that decade old school special effects had become so good that, for the first time, convincing werewolves and convincing werewolf transformation scenes could be shown onscreen. A lot of people saw The Beast Within expecting it to be a werewolf movie. In fact it isn’t but it does have some affinities with that genre.
Director Philippe Mora describes The Beast Within as a teenage angst movie, which it is although there’s other stuff going on.
It begins with a prologue. It is 1964. Eli (Ronny Cox) and Caroline MacCleary (Bibi Besch) are newly married. Just outside the small town of Nioba Mississippi their car breaks down. Eli sets off on foot for the nearest gas station. While he’s away disaster strikes. Caroline is brutally assaulted.
We then jump forward to 1981. Eli and Caroline are happily married but their son Michael (Paul Clemens) is gravely ill. No-one knows what is wrong with him but his doctor suspects it may be genetic.
Which raises a problem. As a result of that assault 17 years earlier there is a very strong chance that Michael is not Eli’s son.
The three of them set out for Nioba Mississippi in hopes of discovering the identity of Michael’s father. Given the circumstances of Michael’s conception it’s likely to be difficult to persuade anyone to reveal the truth.
It’s immediately obvious that the townspeople are hiding something.
Oddly enough the townspeople are not hostile to the MacClearys. They just don’t want to talk about what was happening in 1964.
We, the audience members, know a great deal about what’s going on and more specifically we know a good deal about what is going on with Michael but none of the characters in the movie know anything of this.
We know why Michael makes a miraculous recovery.
Some bad things start to happen in Nioba, and some disturbing discoveries are made in the nearby swamp.
Philippe Mora freely admits that the original script was completely incoherent and that even after rewrites the plot makes very little sense. He gambled on being able to make the movie sufficiently entertaining that the audience wouldn’t care about the gigantic plot holes and the fact that all the important questions remain unanswered. Audiences don’t watch a horror movie for the plot.
His gamble came off and despite critical hostility and a chaotic theatrical release (due to the implosion of United Artists) The Beast Within was a financial success due to its popularity on home video.
It’s also alas true that gore can be utilised to distract an audience’s attention from a nonsensical plot and The Beast Within has plenty of gruesomeness. To be fair it also has a very creepy atmosphere.
This film ran into huge censorship problems in both the U.S. and Britain. It was cut to pieces by the British censors. For years the uncut version was impossible to see.
The monster effects can best be described as bizarre but they’re certainly done well.
I’m not totally sold on this movie but I’m not much of a gorehound. Worth a look.
The Arrow Blu-Ray looks good and there’s an enjoyable audio commentary.
Australian director Philippe Mora made some interesting films including my favourite werewolf movie, the utterly bonkers (in an inspired way) Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf.
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