Alicia I love this movie so much

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

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

AaronCapenBanner This horror film, about a woman brutally attacked one night, and years later has to relive the memory when her son becomes the suspect in a series of brutal murders, is appalling trash, utterly without value. Story is pure crass exploitation, not to mention utterly ridiculous and ultimately nonsensical. Good actors wasted in this junk, further ruined by some dreadful F/X, especially the big transformation sequence in the hospital, which looks like it was made for 25 cents, so unintentionally laughable is the end result.Directed by Philippe Mora, who would go on to direct the equally bad "Howling II & III".

Mikel3 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.

Scott LeBrun "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.