Search - The Beast Within on DVD

WOWSERS!!!!!!

antonfurst | El PASO TEXS | 07/14/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is the original frightfest that my sister and nephew bragged about sooo many years ago about. That was 1982 folks! i purchased this dvd a couple of years back just because i thought of them. I remember all the chats about how horrible the scary parts were. well, it was laughable now but i bet really gross then? this is the kinda flick designed to keep you company on a lonely Friday or Saturday night folks! the story involves a woman who had been raped one night and eventually got pregnant from her attacker...a weird bug cicada creature. The reason for the attack stemmed from him wanting to secure his revenge on his enemies. Only by returning via his offspring can he carry about his malevolent plan. Cicadas sleep under the earth for 17 years and then return in the summer to eat and spawn and that's the basis of the creature in this flick. Unfortunately for his son life will be shortlived and rather ugly since he never gets to live out his dreams, love his girlfriend nor get out of such a boring town? Just where in the world is this town anyway? The directors and creators of this wacky freight fest state that "absolutely no one will be able to widthstand the last few minutes of this film!" Well, I did and it was nice to see a shoe string budget horror flick be both gross and disturbing while still maintaining a somewhat cohesive plot? There are no REAl stars but it did include actor Meshach Taylor (from Designing Women fame) who plays a minimal part in this wacky fest. I recommend this weird movie to all of you who enjoy cheesy horror movies and the like. I just wish the plot would have been a little better but that's ok. I just wanted to know why Meshach always played bit parts in horror flicks? At least he didn't get split in half like he did in THE OMEN 2. Yikes!"

A FORGOTTEN CULT GEM

Darth J | Somewhere In Time | 09/14/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"'The Beast Within' is a 1982 movie directed by Philippe Mora and stars Ronny Cox, Bibi Besch, Paul Clemens, and Don Gordon. It's loosely adapted from the novel by Edward Levy.



Our story starts off with a couple on their honeymoon driving down a quite and isolated road in the Mississippi Delta. After sudden car problems, Eli(Cox)is forced to walk several miles to the service station they were at previously. As Carol(Besch)is quietly waiting, she is attacked and raped by an unknown 'thing'.

17 years later, Eli and Carol's son Michael(Clemens)has become gravely ill in addition to increasingly violent personality shifts. In an effort to find an answer, they travel to the quite town where Carol was attacked. What they find is a shocking revelation of mutants and cannibalism.



This movie was released in '82 and was panned at the time. It fell into obscurity for many years, but has developed a growing cult following. The plot is similiar to Lovecraft's 'The Lurking Fear' and the 90's movie 'Bleeders'. It's fairly predictable, somewhat cliche', and has a few plot holes, but suspencefull and enjoyable at the same time.



The acting is solid, Cox and Clemens carry this movie. Clemens' transformation(you'll have to watch to see what!)is at first through body language, facial expressions, and mannarisms. It's only in the latter part of the movie that his transformation becomes visably physical and He pulls this off very well. Clemens really brings a creepy and uncomforatble feeling with his overall performance.



The editing and cinematography is really good. The movie takes place over the course of 3 days, and I never grew bored nor did my mind wander. The balance of suspence and gore is really good, and is one of the movies strong points. The parts of this movie that take place at night are really, really dark, and the low-budjet 80's style only adds to the overall look of the film.



Some of the effects are a little dated, but this flick has a decent amount of blood and gore, although some death scenes could have gone further. The 'transformation' is what has stuck with me over the years, if not for that memory I would have completely forgotten about this(yes, I was that young). While not over the top, It's really unique, shot well, and quite disturbing. It sucsesfully uses the air-bladder technique, and combined with Clemens' acting makes the whole scene really great. Clemens' acting building up to these moments really helps sell the whole overall scene.(clips can be seen on Youtube).



This movie is a forgotten cult gem!! Watching this movie as an adult after so many years has not diminished my appreciation for this flick, it still hold up very well! While not perfect, this is a creepy little sleeper classic that is highly recomended if you like monster, cult, and gore movies.



Nostalgia wants me to give this a 5 out of 5, but it's an honest and enjoyable 4 out of 5.

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