The Beast Within (1982)

Being in a Creature Feature mood,I started looking on Netflix UK for flicks in the genre. Aware of auteur film maker Tom Holland's name from his directed titles,I was intrigued to find one he co- wrote,which led to me unleashing the beast. The plot:Conceived after his mum was raped by a strange beast (what a cheerful way to start the film!) 17 years ago, Michael MacCleary finds himself becoming very ill. Rushing to the hospital, Eli and Caroline MacCleary are told that Michael is suffering from his pituitary gland mutating. Fearing it is related to the attack,Eli and Caroline decide to take a deep breath and visit the city where she was attacked. Whilst his parents place their hopes on saving him by finding out about Caroline's attacker,the transforming Michael starts to howl at the moon. View on the film:Replacing original composer James Horner, Les Baxter counters the splatter effects with a magnificent score which injects the title with an atmospheric bite,thanks to Baxter's spidery sounds climbing up the fear of the beast being unleashed. Pushing any "subtle" tones aside for Baxter,director Philippe Mora & cinematographer Jack L. Richards stab a ripe splatter showcase,bursting with pulp air- bladder special effects that cover the screen in rotting green and brown ooze. Although some of the special effects displays are (unintentionally?) hilarious (such as everyone just standing round a bed silently for 5 minutes as the set piece takes place!) Mora still rubs up a grisly Grindhouse mood,where the warm fuzz of the pitch-black sets give the film a wonderfully grubby appearance. Splitting the tale into a series of "nights",the screenplay by Tom Holland & (uncredited) Danilo Bach take on Edward Levy's book huffs and puffs its peculiar werewolf tale,as dry attempts to dig into Michael and his family situation,lack the weird shocks from Mora's special effects. Whilst working as just a co-writer here,Holland shows a clear eye for kicking off the "boy who cried wolf" major theme that would continue in his work,via Michael's pleas to everyone about the evil falling on deaf ears, until Michael reveals the beast within.

Made in the middle of the slasher era and not being a slasher it never had any success when it came out even having big names in it. It's when the television became to show it and VHS came out that horror geeks started to love it. Why it didn't had any success on release is simple, it doesn't almost had any gore in it. But why it became a success afterwards was the fact once the slasher era was over people went back to flicks to watch the effects and this one has a great one.It will take you until the last 25 minutes to see the transformation. Before that the effects were rather simple. But the story looked great and the performance is above mediocre.Typical for that era is the nudity. It is know that Katherine Moffat (Amanda) had a stand in to go naked and be raped in the woods. It was freezing cold and it shows. If you want to see a decent horror than you better skip it but if you are fond of on-camera effects with rubber and latex then this is a must see, out on Arrow with a lot of features.Gore 1/5 Nudity 1,5/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5

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

Although directed by Philippe Mora, the genius (detect any sarcasm?) behind trashfests Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch and Howling III: The Marsupials, early 80s creature-feature The Beast Within is, surprisingly, a rather watchable effort.The plot, based on a novel by Edward Levy, sees newlywed Caroline MacCleary (Bibi Besch) raped whilst on her honeymoon. Seventeen years later, her son Michael—the result of the assault—mysteriously falls ill, and so Caroline, accompanied by her understanding hubby Eli (Ronny Cox), attempts to track down the boy's genetic father to see if he is able to shed any light on the problem.What they discover is terrible beyond their imaginations: Michael's 'real' father was Billy Connors, a man encarcerated against his will and driven crazy by the relatives of the woman with whom he had been having an affair. Completely deranged, but possessing supernatural knowledge passed on to him by the insects with which he would often commune, Billy escapes and, by impregnating Caroline, ensures that he is able to wreak revenge in the future, using Michael as his host.Sure, the story might be a tad preposterous, and the direction rather stilted at times, but with a likable cast and some impressive make-up effects courtesy of Tom Burman (Happy Birthday to Me, My Bloody Valentine), the good marginally outweighs the bad. Michael's painful metamorphosis into a mutant cicada thingy is generally regarded as the films highlight, and the scene is certainly memorable, making good use of that 80s favourite, the bladder effect; but also watch out for the bit where a dog drops a mouldy severed hand onto the face of pretty southern gal Amanda Platt (Katherine Moffat) as she makes out with Michael (for some reason, that bit made me chuckle), plus the really cheesy decapitation of one of the film's many unscrupulous characters.*that I am aware of.