{"id":39147,"date":"2014-02-03T21:11:12","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T02:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=39147"},"modified":"2023-03-10T21:16:54","modified_gmt":"2023-03-11T02:16:54","slug":"the-beast-within-982-blu-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/03\/the-beast-within-982-blu-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beast Within (!982) [Blu-Ray]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It’s an understatement to call “The Beast Within” one of the more unusual horror anomalies of the eighties. Director Phillipe Mora’s film garners an inherent subtext, but what kind, I’m still not sure. “The Beast Within” operates on an almost fever dream kind of narrative that takes twists and turns without ever even trying to form a coherent story thread. Even once. I’m still not sure why there’s a giant anthropomorphic bug monster roaming around, but nonetheless, it’s a pivotal plot point.<\/p>\n

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After Caroline McCreary is stranded on the road, she’s confronted by a mysterious monster that stalks her, and then mercilessly rapes her. Years later, Caroline and her husband have managed to move on, but not without their fair share of problems. Their young son is deftly ill, and has a pituitary gland deficiency that is baffling doctors. When Caroline and her husband go back to her old town to learn more about the monstrous man that raped her, their young son Michael escapes and begins wreaking havoc. Much of “The Beast Within” has a definite sense of dread and inexplicable horror that manage to be very effective, even today.<\/p>\n

The sight of Michael eating an old man’s neck is still one of the most gruesome sights I’ve ever seen in a horror movie, but Michael’s battle with his inner monster really amounts to absolutely nothing. There’s a theme about cannibalism, and kidnapping, and Michael struggles to battle his inner urges. But once we’re subjected to the full explanation as to what occurred before Michael was born, writer Tom Holland dives in to pure absurdity. By the time the finale rolls around, he turns the film from a horror film about a man battling an inner monster, to a man turning in to a literal monster.<\/p>\n

I’m sure the original novel was teeming with themes, subtext, and a plethora of explanations toward the monster that plagues the film, but almost all of it seems lost in translation with “The Beast Within.” Often times it seemed Mora was on the verge of gaining momentum with a dread soaked horror tale, and then repeatedly rides off the rails in to confusing and convoluted twists. “The Beast Within” is a mostly notable horror film for being one of the many late night cable television viewings when I was a kid, but it just doesn’t hold up to repeated viewings, and has aged very poorly.<\/p>\n

The Blu-Ray from Scream Factory features the original theatrical trailer, radio spots, and two audio commentaries. There’s an audio commentary with Director Philippe Mora and Actor Paul Clemens, both of whom provide a very lively and conversational play by play of the film. They discuss much of the film’s incoherent elements, and even rationalize much of the movie’s flaws with entertaining results. The Second commentary is with Screenwriter Tom Holland, which is less entertaining and more by the numbers. He has a lot to say about the industry and the writing process, but it’s not much of a commentary. Especially when compared to the first with Mora and Clemens.<\/p>\n

Buy It Now!<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s an understatement to call “The Beast Within” one of the more unusual horror anomalies of the eighties. Director Phillipe Mora’s film garners an inherent subtext, but what kind, I’m still not sure. “The Beast Within” operates on an almost fever dream kind of narrative that takes twists and turns without ever even trying to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12],"tags":[1282,477,703,1087],"class_list":["post-39147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-den","category-movie-reviews","tag-body-horror","tag-horror","tag-mystery","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39149,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39147\/revisions\/39149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}