User Reviews

In order to appreciate this movie you have to be able to accept it for what it is: not a top-flight, high budget star-powered horror movie, but an attempt to create some good, campy horror fun, and in that it succeeds in spite of a number of inconsistencies in the plot that are pretty glaring and do detract somewhat from the story's credibility. The somewhat cliché opening doesn't really draw the viewer in: a couple's car gets stuck on a lonely road in the woods and while the husband leaves to get help, the wife is attacked by an unknown creature. She isn't killed, though - she's raped and impregnated. Seventeen years later, the child born to her becomes ill, and the couple return to the place of the attack looking for answers.

The acting here was generally pretty decent. There were no mega-stars involved; the best known actors were probably Ronny Cox and Bibi Besch as the couple struggling to save their son. Paul Clemens (as Michael, the son) came across as a bit wooden to me, but aside from that, things were pretty good in the acting department. The plot had problems. For example, after Michael's first murder - which was very bloody - there was not a drop of blood on his clothes. Given the nature of the murder, that would seem highly unlikely. Also, MacCleary (Cox) - who as far as we know was not a cop and was a complete stranger in the town - was accepted far too easily by the sheriff, and actually seems to become part of the investigating team. Also, when Michael is caught in Amanda's room, the best the sheriff can say is "he was trying to protect her." Really? What about trespassing? Break and enter? So, there are plot problems. Basically, though, it's a decent B-movie sort of production which features an interesting creature (a cicada-type monster) and an equally interesting transformation scene. And, remember - it's all in good fun!

In the February 1974 TV movie "A Case of Rape," Ronny Cox portrayed a man whose wife, played by Elizabeth Montgomery, is raped and beaten not once, but twice by the same man. The film was an enormous success, and indeed remains the most-watched TV film in NBC history. But few could have foreseen that almost precisely eight years later, Cox would again play the part of a husband whose wife undergoes a violent rape, but this time with far more dire results. The film in question is "The Beast Within," which was initially released in February 1982. This film, far from being a hit, was something of a flop at the box office, pulling in a mere $8 million, and has gone on to be critically reviled ever since. Thus, it was with a sense of what I like to call "cinematic masochism" that I sat down to watch this film just the other night for the first time. And after all the bad word of mouth, including the esteemed "Leonard Maltin Movie Guide" awarding the film its lowest BOMB rating, how could any viewer expect anything but rotten results? But bad ratings have never bothered me before, who have found that many of my favorite guilty pleasures have been given that BOMB rating; the wet-blanket editors who worked for the Maltin guide were notoriously grumpy when it came to this kind of genre fare. And you know what? As it turns out, "The Beast Within," while undoubtedly nobody's idea of a quality film, sure has turned out to be a memorable experience; a completely over-the-top exercise in modern-day horror.

In the film, newlyweds Eli MacCleary (Cox, perhaps most fondly remembered for his participation in such films as "Deliverance," "RoboCop" and "Total Recall") and his bride, Caroline (Bibi Besch, who would go on to portray Dr. Carol Marcus four months later in "Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan"), get stuck on the road, at night, just outside of (the fictitious town of) Nioba, Mississippi, in 1964. While Eli walks to the nearest gas station for a tow, Caroline is attacked and, yes, raped by a shambling whatzit that has emerged from the bayou woods. Seventeen years later, the child born of that rape, Michael (24-year-old actor Paul Clemens), begins to have medical problems; problems that a doctor claims to be pituitary related. The worried parents bring Michael back to that town of Nioba to do some very belated investigating, so as to ascertain just who the maniac father might have been. While they pursue their leads, Michael escapes from his hospital setting and begins to turn violent, going on a killing spree and, for some reason, targeting all the members of the Curwin clan in that small town. He also develops a crush on a pretty girl, Amanda (Kitty Moffat), who helps him after he wakes up, post-spree, in her garden one morning. As it develops, Michael's personality is being taken over by the spirit of his deceased father, who has a very legitimate grudge against all the members of the Curwin clan. And just when the viewer begins to think that things cannot possibly get any wackier, Michael begins to transform physically, eventually turning into a creature resembling something out of a 1950s drive-in movie nightmare. What ARE his poor, befuddled parents to do?

"The Beast Within" is both far more violently explicit and far less coherent a film than I had been expecting. It is surely not an experience for the faint of heart, and dishes out its gory set pieces with abandon and relish. Thus, we get to see Michael bite the throat out of the village newspaper editor (Logan Ramsey, perhaps best known to many as Claudius Marcus on the "Star Trek" episode "Bread and Circuses," and here playing an obscenely disgusting character with a bizarre passion for, of all things, chopped meat), skewer the local mortician while he's at work, electrocute the village drunk, and decapitate the Nioba judge (played by the great character actor Don Gordon). Other grossout sequences include a minor surgical operation on Michael's metamorphosed back in close-up, a peek inside that mortuary, the exhuming of the Nioba graveyard, and, last but certainly not least, that transformation sequence, a marvel of special FX and makeup magic, and brilliantly brought off by Thomas R. Burman. This transformation sequence takes up a good five minutes of screen time and is simply eye boggling to behold, Michael's head and eyes bulging to the point of explosion with each passing moment. All these scenes are abetted by a terrific score from an old pro, Les Baxter, who had created so many terrific film scores for those AIP movies of the 1960s, and here offering to the world his final piece of work. Director Philippe Mora helms his film with tautness and precision, utilizing telling close-up shots and drawing out very fine performances from every one of his performers; surprisingly, this is a very well-acted film, despite what others would have you believe. Besides the three leads, and Gordon and Ramsey, the picture boasts some very decent contributions from L. Q. Jones as the local sheriff, Luke Askew (who many will recall as the hitchhiking hippie from "Easy Rider") as that doomed mortician, and R. G. Armstrong as Michael's doctor. Young Kitty Moffat is surprisingly touching here as Amanda, and the scene in which she is told that she is "beautiful" for the first time in her life, by a tentative Michael, is supremely well played; a shame that Moffat's future career would be limited to TV work. And then there is the film's script, by Tom Holland. And this, for me, was the picture's major sticking point.

This was Holland's very first script for a motion picture, in a career that would go on to include work on such horror fests as "Psycho 2," "Fright Night," "Child's Play" and "Thinner." His script for "The Beast Within" supposedly takes great liberties with the 1981 novel by Edward Levy on which it is based, and turns out to be a bit hard to follow in spots. The film supposedly had several explanatory sequences deleted for its final cut, and those missing segments would undoubtedly have made it a bit easier for the viewer to fully understand what is going on. Personally (and this is just me and my possible preconceptions speaking here), I would have preferred had Caroline been raped by a legitimate monster at the film's beginning; something akin to the Creature From the Black Lagoon. This would have made Michael's conversion into a monster later in the film a bit easier to swallow. Somehow, a nonhuman whatzit of that ilk raping a woman and then having the resultant child transform into a monster himself is a far more credible notion to me than the spirit of a deceased, cannibalistic, human father taking over his son's body 17 years later and then, for reasons unknown, being able to change that kid into a rampaging monstrosity. Like others, I have long wondered just what would have happened had the Creature From the Black Lagoon gotten its lusty way with the lovely Julie Adams in the classic 1954 film, and this 1982 picture might have gone far in showing us what the possible outcome might have been. But no. I was also at a loss to quite understand the link between Billy Connors (Michael's biological father) and all those cicada noises that would become audible whenever Michael goes into violent action. Was this ever explained in the film? If so, I must have missed it. So yes, Holland's script for the movie is something of a head-scratcher, just barely hanging together in noncredible fashion. Still, it manages to entertain, and even work in some sly bits of humor, such as the name of that mortician being Dexter Ward, and the name of the rapidly shrinking Nioba family being Curwin (perhaps only fans of the great H. P. Lovecraft, and his 1941, posthumous novel "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," will appreciate these references). The film practically busts a gut to shock and amaze the viewer, not only with its sanguinary set pieces, but with the outrageousness of its central conceit. Ultimately, the film succeeds, both because we have been stunned and shocked from beginning to end, but also because we have been left throughout with a vast uncertainty as to who will live in the film and who will die; it is the kind of film in which any character might quickly expire at any moment. The picture grows more and more manic and over the top as it proceeds, and manages to leave us with a feeling of unease as to just how neatly things have wrapped up, with Michael's third-act rape of Amanda setting the stage for a possible renewal of the horrible cycle, in a sequel that was never to be. Thus, the bottom line is that while "The Beast Within" is hardly a film to wildly enthuse about, it is one that will provide a memorable and fairly intense viewing experience. I do not regret having spent 100 minutes of my life watching it. And at the very least, it is a triple textbook example of the perils of fooling around with another man's wife

A cicada. Yes, a giant, murderous cicada. One of the more inoffensive creatures (unless their chirping makes one nuts) in nature. How? Never answered. Why? Revenge? This is one of the movies where bladder effects were the big thing. It has some good cast members, Ronny Cox, Bibi Besch, but the rest are forgettable and bland. Even the big reveal where the kid becomes a cicada, aren't that great, just passable. Really a forgettable, bland movie. As bad and forgettable as this is, its still better than anything the Asylum has ever produced.

"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.

An ugly teenage boy turns even uglier when it's discovered he's the product of some southern swamp lovin' between his momma and a man who was inexplicably turned into a bog bug. ????? Yeah exactly. You could drive a Mercury Monterey through the plot holes here but darn if thing isn't entertaining, especially in the final reel. There are corrupt judges, corrupt morticians, an array of poorly enunciating rednecks,heads expanding, heads exploding, toupee adorned heads being torn clean off, hamburger foot stomping, and more raping, adultery, philandering and spousal infidelities than you can shake a stick at. R.G. Armstrong shows up in this one, gotta love that guy and Ronny Cox turns in another sissy-riffic performance as the boy turned beasts' white bread step dad. "Billy Connors is ma daddy!" Paul Clemens is the young man who isn't much to look at before he transforms into a slimy swamp critter and does a fair enough job. If you love the late 70s and early 80s drive in fair like me this is worth a look for sure. If you're some clown who needs the quick cutting MTV style horror thats running rampant in cinema today than beat it, this one may have to much plot for you. Beware the cicadas!!!

**SPOILERS** The biggest problem with THE BEAST WITHIN is that about a third of the story appears to be missing. There seems to be an entire subplot about the man/thing who rapes Bibi Besch in the opening of the movie that is just not there. I have heard rumors over the years that an entire reel of the negative was lost or destroyed before post-production began, and they did not have the money to re-shoot the lost footage. If this is true, it explains a lot.

One night in the late fifties, a young newlywed couple (Besch, Ronny Cox) get stuck on the side of the road. Cox runs for help, while Besch senses that someones lurking in the woods, so, naturally, she goes to investigate. A monstrous humanoid creature appears and rapes her.

Seventeen years later...

Cox and Besch have a seventeen year old son (Paul Clemens) who is suffering from some mysterious illness. Knowing that there's a real chance the father is Besch's attacker from years earlier, they go to the small Southern town they were passing through to investigate, hoping the key to curing Clemens may lie there.

They venture to the town, but Clemens follows them, and starts picking off men who knew the man/thing that raped Besch. As best I can figure, the guy ("Billy") was so rotten and evil that he eventually turned into a monster, sort of a giant cicada. His buddies locked him up, but he escaped and raped Besch. Now seventeen years later (get it?...seventeen years?...cicadas?...no neither do I), he has come back in the form of Besch and Cox's son, apparently to seek revenge for being locked up in that musty old basement.

This may have made sense at some point, but it sure doesn't anymore. There's a lot of Southern Gothic mumbo jumbo, and people repeatedly mention cicadas. The one thing they don't talk about is exactly WHY "Billy" turned into a cicada in the first place, or exactly why he's p***ed off at all these people. I would almost be willing to accept this movie on an existential level, but there's too much exposition pointing at something more going on for that approach to work.

However, if you can get past the incoherent plot (or lack thereof), THE BEAST WITHIN is actually a pretty weird little flick. The acting is amusingly overwrought, there's some great, over-the-top music by Les Baxter, and some impressively gruesome gore sequences.

The infamous highlight of the movie, though, is the grotesque transformation scene. Clemens lays strapped to a hospital bed, while a dumbfounded group of people stand there like idiots and watch him slowly turn into a monster. His head swells up like a balloon, his tongue grows to an enormous size, his eyeballs grow into huge orbs. It's pretty freaky and genuinely frightening.

He then breaks out of the hospital and rapes a local girl, thus starting the whole vicious cycle all over again. The movie ends on a decidedly grim note, with Mom blowing his head off with a shotgun as he tries to kill Dad. The fact that he's not really her son anymore doesn't seem to console her as she breaks down. The sheriff comes walking up carrying the girl, now impregnated by "Billy". The end credits unceremoniously roll.

It's all pretty nonsensical, but the movie is bizarre enough to hold my attention. If anything, it's a nice reminder of old school horror. It may not be very good, but they just don't make them like this anymore.

Micheal (Paul Clemins), the product of a fateful night back in the 60's when his mom got raped by some vile monster, is going through some growing pains as he discovers that he might just be a chip off the old block. Perfectly healthy for most of his short life, he's now deathly sick in the hospital due to an overly enlarged pineal gland. his parents must figure out why exactly this is happening. But the small town they investigate happens to have some secrets itself. To make matters worse the tiny community is having some grisly murders happening in it. Not knowing if it wants to be a monster flick, possession film, mystery, or tacky melodrama causes the movie to be all over the map and leaves it disjointed and unfocused. The low caliber of melodramatic acting does help matters. I lost all interest in the film way before the end credits began to roll.

My Grade: D

Eye Candy: Bibi Besch gets topless in the beginning, Katherine Moffat gets topless at the end, but both in the midst of monster rape scenes

**MINOR SPOILERS**

One look at the names of the characters in the film and anyone familiar with Lovecraft's famous story, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, will know exactly what they are in for.

For those unfamiliar with the story, a man named Charles Dexter Ward may not exactly be who he says, namely he could be a reincarnation of an ancestor who may have found the key to immortality. Albeit, through very gruesome methods. This film follows a similar pattern in the form of Michael, a young man who may have been who he says at first, but underneath his human visage, a hideous beast that had laid dormant inside him, no longer does.

I won't spoil much, but this is a very good take on a classic story, with excellent atmosphere and special effects, followed up by some solid acting.