THE
BEAST WITHIN (1982)Director: Philippe Mora
MGM
THE
BEAST WITHIN (1982)Before RE-ANIMATOR there was THE BEAST WITHIN. This Lovecraftian-inspired tale begins in the rural bogs and back forests of Nioba, Mississippi in 1964. A honeymooning couple has an accident on the road under the light of the full moon. Their car veers off the road, gets stuck, and while the young man goes back to the gas station for a tow, the girl is brutally raped by an indescribable being (to those in the know, a "cicada," an insect-like creature).
Flash forward 17 years. Eli and Caroline MacCleary bring their son, Michael to Jackson, Mississippi for medical observation. There the physicians cannot understand or ascertain the nature of Michael's problems and declare him fit and in excellent health. Michael's parents are determined to discover the nature of their son's malady and cure him. Michael's father even suggests another clinic. Something evil is inside young Michael. But before the small Mississippi town can discover what it is, the men responsible for setting this evil in motion will feel its terror.
THE BEAST WITHIN is directed with great style and sly humor by the talented, if not erratic, Philippe Mora whose other genre credits include a Dennis Hopper tour-de-force MAD DOG MORGAN, two HOWLING sequels and a superhero musical starring Christopher Lee (RETURN OF CAPTAIN INVINCIBLE).
The film is carried on the shoulders of young Paul Clemens who created a memorable TV performance for director Tony Richardson in "A Death in Canaan" (1976). Clemens, an avid horror fan and expert on the works of Edgar Allan Poe relished the opportunity to play an out-and-out monster. And unlike many actors, he enjoyed the make-up applications that are grueling to say the least. Clemens would tell this reviewer years later that working with Mora was exciting and like Clemens, a real horror fanatic who allowed him great latitude in his interpretation of the role.
Clemens did remark that the film would have been more effective had the budget been more generous and the producers not so insistent on showing the insect-creature when clearly a Val Lewton approach would have made THE BEAST WITHIN as frightening as Les Baxter's underrated score.
The film benefits greatly from the supporting performances of such veteran character actors as R. G. Armstrong as the small-town doctor, and Don Gordon as the evil judge with a very bad toupee. Also outstanding are L. Q. Jones as the sheriff and kudos particularly to Ronny Cox and Bibi Besch as the distraught parents.
H. P. Lovecraft has long been an influence on the literary front of horror fiction but has had a long-time coming to get his due on the silver screen. For the exception of Daniel Haller's work for American-International Pictures (THE DUNWICH HORROR and DIE, MONSTER, DIE!) and Roger Corman's THE HAUNTED PALACE, Lovecraft is way behind Edgar Allan POE and Bram Stoker in the adaptation department. THE BEAST WITHIN pays homage to Lovecraft to the point of utilizing "Charles Dexter Ward" and his alter ego "Joseph Curwin" for character names and the plot devices from a number of the master's short stories (i.e. the thing in the cellar, the town shrouded in mystery, mutant children, etc.)
This reviewer enjoyed THE BEAST WITHIN with all its guilty pleasures. One cannot overestimate the contribution and conviction of Paul Clemens' performance. His sensitivity in scenes with the young girl and his willingness to go all the way with the gory killings (which by today's standards are fairly tame) are quite remarkable and laudatory. Clemens remembers this film as one of the highlights of his career and years later Mora would show his appreciation by including him in his film COMMUNION with Christopher Walken.
The late great Les Baxter composed this; his last feature-length score for the big screen and by his own admission was one of his favorites. This reviewer had the distinct good fortune to have been a personal friend and knows how much this meant to him. One evening years ago at his home in Chatsworth he played an audiotape of this score to a group of us in total darkness. A CD should be forthcoming someday so we can all listen to it in the dark.
The anamorphic, Panavision 2.35:1 transfer is simply gorgeous. It is simply a pleasure to see this film as it was shown in theaters proving yet again that MGM is on the right track by taking these titles off the shelves, making them available at affordable cost even though this writer misses the additional supplemental materials that were staples on laserdisc presentations. (Christopher Dietrich)