The Beast Within
He Was On The Verge Of Becoming A Man...Eater!
"Slimy, grisly, revolting [and] a good howl" (L.A. Herald-Examiner), this sci-fi spine-tingler follows a horrified teen as he mutates into a crazed cannibalistic swamp creature with a taste for terror! "Eerie, fun [and] with an aura all its own" (The Film Journal), The Beast Within drips with "brain matter and sadism like a 'greatest hits album' of grue and gore" (L.A. Herald-Examiner)!
Some boys have raging hormones...but his are absolutely furious! 18-year-old Michael MacCleary -- the progeny of an unholy union between his mother and a swamp beasty -- is on the verge of becoming a man...EATER! And as the inherited evil in his blood gnaws at his soul, Michael must return to the swamp to uncover the terrifying secret identity of his father -- before his nasty natural tendencies force him to make jambalaya out of the locals!
Member Reviews
It's Not Great But It's All In Good Fun - revsdd
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!Do Without - Craigo
Despite a few good scenes, the sum of this movie can't keep itself together in logic or with anything satisfactory. Nonsensical plotting, situations that just appear without explaination, and moments of utter confusion make this feel like a series of vingettes lifted from ten other movies. Nothing is consistant and the screenplay seems like a first-draft without any rewrites that are needed to press out more than a few wrinkles. Some good effects, and it's obvious that's why they made the movie, but that only takes it so far before the veiwer gets too frustrated with all the goings-on that amount to nothing. And it's a LONG wait for those special effects, so don't bother.
Member Reviews
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It's Not Great But It's All In Good Fun - revsdd
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 ...Do Without - Craigo
Despite a few good scenes, the sum of this movie can't keep itself together in logic or with anything satisfactory. Nonsensical plotting, situations that just appear without explaination, and moments of utter confusion make this feel like a series of vingettes ...