The Beast Within (1982)

Sorry, this movie sucks

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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.)

Watched 'The Beast Within (1982) this afternoon. Uhmm...I'm not sure I actually liked this movie overall. I have seen much worse. It did have an unusual story and a mystery quality to it leading up the the final revelation of just what the monster was and why he was killing certain people in a town. I'm still not sure how the cicadas fit in to the story, they seemed to have some meaning. The last third of the movie was pretty scary. It was a grotesque monster that reminded me a bit of 'Pumpkinhead' and the half insect creature from the Fly remake. There were some unexplained loose ends at the end and it did seem to finish abruptly. Still I think many of you would enjoy this one. The gore factor was at about my tolerance limits. I did have to look away on a few scenes. Some of the actors were very good, like Ronny Cox and R.G. Armstrong, two always reliable, talented character actors. It also featured Don Gordon who I remember as being in some of my favorite Twilight Zone and Outer Limits episodes. Unfortunately the lead in the story, Paul Clemens, was not up to the role and took the film down a few notches. I would give this a 4 out of 10 rating for being....unusual.

"The Beast Within" is a highly amusing, over-the-top, endearingly senseless combination of a monster movie with a "Bad Day at Black Rock" type of story. Future director Tom Holland supplies the story for these macabre theatrics.A couple honeymooning in 1964 have car trouble after which the new wife is raped by a humanoid thing. 17 years later, and the now teen aged product of that rape is going through some pretty ugly growing pains, periodically killing and eventually transforming into a monster himself. Adding to the melodrama is the back story of that long ago rapist's pitiful existence and a cover up that had been engineered by the bigwigs of the local small Mississippi town.Many things come together in this movie that makes up in panache what it may lack in any sort of logic. It's just oozing with foul and sordid backwoods atmosphere, and the makeup effects and gore courtesy of Tom Burman are well worth a look; the climactic transformation that is trumpeted so proudly in the theatrical trailer can't compare to the likes of what we saw in "The Howling" or "An American Werewolf in London", but it's not bad either. It's only the final monster incarnation that disappoints, as it's obviously a man in a clunky, none too convincing costume. Still, monster movie lovers such as this reviewer can still delight in a fun little movie that does things in such an old-fashioned way. The score by A.I.P. pro Les Baxter is full of doom, and the movie looks just great in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Philippe Mora directs with efficiency; he was hired for this project based on his direction of the 1976 favourite "Mad Dog Morgan". A rock solid cast treats the insane material with gravity; Ronny Cox and Bibi Besch are the perplexed, truth seeking parents, and Paul Clemens the tormented teen. Clemens really gives his all in what is truly a wild role. Excellent character actors also help, including Don Gordon, who erupts into a scenery devouring frenzy before the picture concludes, R.G. Armstrong, L.Q. Jones, Logan Ramsey, John Dennis Johnston (playing the role of a stereotypical hostile redneck to the hilt), Ron Soble, Luke Askew, and Meshach Taylor. Co-star Katherine "Kitty" Moffat is a lovely and appealing gal in the part of the love interest.An overlooked and under appreciated flick as far as 80's horror goes, "The Beast Within" is deserving of cult status - simply put, it's trash at its finest. You can just turn your brain off and enjoy the lurid thrills, which it delivers for a well paced 99 minutes of mayhem. Eight out of 10.

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.