morrison-dylan-fan 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.

Shawn Watson Director Philippe Mora has made a career out of very unusual movies from two awful Howling sequels to the mindf**k that was Communion (try making sense of that movie when you are 11 years old!). One of his early efforts was this nonsensical creature feature where everyone seems to be giving earnest performances for better or worse.Beginning in 1964, a newly-wed couple run into road trouble in Jerkwater, Mississippi. The husband (Ronnie Cox) runs off for help, leaving the wife (Bibi Besch) to be ravaged and raped by an unseen monster.Flash forward 17 years and the child offspring of this non- consensual mating is very sick and on life support. Eager to find out what really happened that night they return to Jerkwater, Mississippi and begin to assemble the clues.The first half of this movie is pretty good. There is some atmospheric Panavision photography, sympathetic performances (especially from Cox, before he was typecast as a bad guy), and a pleasing riff of perversion. In the second half it completely falls apart. The "big explanation" does not add up and belongs in a completely different movie. Nothing makes sense at all. I almost feel that two writers bumped into each other in the street, dropped their scripts, gathered up the pages and went into production not knowing that their pages were mixed up. I can see why this has never become a classic. It might have been a decent VHS rental back in the 80s when no one knew any better but this film has rightly fallen into obscurity in the modern era.

d_m_s Always on the lookout for obscure 80's horror, I was excited by the prospect of The Beast Within this weekend as it sounded like it could have been a hidden gem. Unfortunately I was underwhelmed and would say this is a very average film. The special effects were impressive and the film was very competently directed but it was missing that je ne sais quoi that would have elevated it to hidden gem level. I think the IMDb score of 5.4 (at time of writing) is about right.However, I scored it less because I thought it was a bit dull, didn't really contain any interesting or likable characters and some unexplained parts in the story meant it was confusing (I've noticed the lack of explanation issue mentioned in a few reviews so am glad to see I am not alone). I feel that a lot of the rave reviews have inflated their scores for this film because a) they are reacting against the films obscurity and its low rating (I bet the same people would be criticising this film if it were well known and had a high scoring), b) they are impressed by gore effects and, c) (less so) the music.It was OK. A bit bland. I wouldn't watch it again. There aren't many under-appreciated horror films out there but (IMHO) a few of them are: Strange Behaviour (1981), Strange Invaders (1983) and Primal Rage (1988).

sddavis63 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!