Synopsis
He Was On The Verge Of Becoming A Man... Eater!
A young woman gets raped by a mysterious man-creature, and years later her son begins a horrific transformation into a similar beast.
The Beast Within
1982 Directed by Philippe Mora
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Alternative Titles
Das Engelsgesicht - Drei Nächte des Grauens, Das Engelsgesicht - Drei Nächte des Grauens (1982), Sangre de bestia, Les entrailles de l'enfer, A bennemlakó szörnyeteg, Звір всередині, Con la bestia dentro, Odjuret inom dig, 戦慄！呪われた夜, Το Κτήνος στο Κορμί του, Wcielenie, Zver u čoveku, Sangue Amaldiçoado
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Horror, the undead and monster classics Intense violence and sexual transgression Monsters, aliens, sci-fi and the apocalypse horror, gory, scary, killing or slasher horror, creepy, eerie, blood or gothic cannibals, gory, gruesome, graphic or shock horror, scientist, monster, doctor or experiment scary, horror, creepy, supernatural or frighten Show All…
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Slimy swamp rape, an atmospheric small town well versed in the art of the coverup, muddy swamps loaded with deceased remains, some major Lovecraft/King vibes, and a damn fine transformation scene consisting of a 17 year old turning full fledged cicada—skin churning and bulging, oozing eyeballs, and flesh splitting at the seams as skin sheds and cicada man takes his true form!
The world was never ready for cicada man!
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Spooktober II: To Hell With the 80s
Another movie where the performances are questionable and there's plenty of meandering and nothing interesting really happens between each death.
Regarding the deaths, most of them are staged really well and the makeup work is superb. Particularly noteworthy was the transformation towards the end, which reminded me very much of Stuart Gordon's earlier work. The premise is also very interesting and the film does its best to keep you intrigued and interested in what is going on, although it does reach a point where you get the idea of what is going to occur, at which point the final reveal is important, and in this context it does an effective job.
The performances…
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The Beast Within opens and closes on extremely high notes, but what’s featured in between of Tom Holland’s script kept me engrossed the entire run time. I loved the cast (I counted three actors from the Star Trek universe) AND the performances, I think Paul Clemons as teenager Michael MacCleary struggling with turning into a CICADA was fascinating. Perhaps what I LOVED most about The Beast Within was how everything was played completely straight—the serious in tone nature is a departure from the early 80’s werewolf jams this is oft compared to... making Phillipe Mora’s An American Cicada in Mississip.. I mean The Beast Within quite effective—at least for me.
Despite a fair amount of less than favorable reviews here…
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Them cicadas sure are monsters in Dixie.
Philippe Mora's under-appreciated gem channels small-town schizoid slasher jam vibes by way of Cronenberg's rubber factory - buggy prosthetics and bog-eyed mayhem that the original trailer hyped up as 'transformations too disturbing to show'. You have been warned.
Granted, you have to wait a long time for the much-vaunted transformation but while you're waiting, you're treated to a trail of bloody murder and generous spoonfuls of swampy, sweaty, full moon Southern atmosphere to chew on, tension heightened by Les Baxter's nerve-jangling score and the background buzz of cicadas. When it does finally come, it's worth the wait to feast your eyes on the bulging contortions and I can totally understand Michael's family just…
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Cinematic Time Capsule
1982 Marathon - Film #10”Hey Billy, can you do the magic like the locusts and the cicadas?”
Step right up and behold one of the unexplained mysteries of the universe!
Is he a man or beast?
This film has been examined by the foremost scientists and pronounced, unequivocally, mostly a bad movie. Begotten by lousy acting and an overly drawn out story, it’s all gone wrong, except for a single wondrously gruesome transformation.
Where did it come from? Is it a beast, or is it a man?
I am prepared to offer you folks one last chance to witness a supreme oddity. If you can muddle your way through 80 minutes of bland horror mediocrity, that’s not fit for modern viewing, you will finally see him transform!
Come on in and find out… Is he a man... or beast?
”What’s with those cicadas, anyway” -
Worth the price of admission for that gnarly transformation scene alone. Holy moly wowy zowy that scene goes hard. Cronenbergs all over the darn place while summoning the beautiful spirit of Henenlotter and a touch of Goonies heyyyy you guysssss. Wanted to see this for awhile and it definitely delivered.
The Beast Within is an atmospheric delight with some great slow burns and plenty of unsuspecting gore. Well acted and ripe with tension you never quite know when shits about to hit the fan. And fans definitely get annihilated by shit. From the jarring opening scene of violence we never quite know when the beast will strike! Or when his head will expand into a giant swollen potato! It does that so keep your eyes peeled!
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Geoff T's Hoop-Tober 7.0 Challenge
The Beast Within (1982)Every Hoop-Tober, I often find myself seeking out lesser known horror efforts in the hopes of discovering a potential hidden gem. The Beast Within is one of those movies I approached, one of the reasons being that it was scripted by Fright Night director/writer Tom Holland. As it so happens though, this one failed to pass the test for me.
In rural Mississippi circa 1964, Eli MacCleary (Ronny Cox with a Southern drawl) and his wife Caroline are driving home one night, where the latter is attacked and raped by some hideous man-beast after a breakdown. Cut forward 17 years later, where the MacCleary's ill teenage son Michael is going through…
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You look like the hind end of a coondog just leavin' the swamp
Barely 15 minutes in and it's already Troll 2 levels of greatness. And this movie comes from the same director as Howling II: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch and Howling III: The Marsupials. He did direct The Beast Within first, but this is also a werewolf movie of sorts. He seems to have improved with his later work, and by "improved" I mean they are not so-bad-they're-good anymore and rather just bad.
The reason it's as good as it is is because it was written by none other than Tom Holland! This could've been an actual masterpiece with a great director, but I'll settle for a near-Troll 2…
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The Beast Within has an astonishingly bad reputation with critics considering how great it actually is. Certainly, the film could be accused of attempting to capitalise on the similarly themed Werewolf films of the early 80s, but untypically, this film opts for a teenager-to-Cicada(!) transformation instead of your average Werewolf transformation. Why a Cicada? Who knows... but you have to credit this film on the basis of originality and insanity for going ahead with the idea.
The film is certainly a little rough round the edges, but it tackles the whole venereal/hereditary disease aspect sufficiently and also features a jaw-droppingly hideous transformation scene. To say the film is essentially about a kid who turns into a Cicada and kills people in macabre ways, it is totally (and quite frighteningly) straight-faced, and it miraculously pulls this off for the entire runtime! That is surely a feat that demands respect for The Beast Within.
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Troma does Tennessee Williams.
At least as much of a gay subtext as the comparatively square Nightmare on Elm Street II and with far more unhinged practical effects. This movie damaged my brain when I saw it as a kid, and it continues to make me squeal with delight to this day. Also the sight of a shirtless John Dennis Johnston probably had some long-term effects too.
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Poor Caroline. She gets raped by a beastly figure and winds up pregnant. Seventeen years later the result of this terrible ordeal has a name. Michael. And something is wrong with him. Time to get back to the where it all started. Nioba, Mississippi, a place with a secret. You will probably find this movie in a list with werewolf films and although it isn't exactly that, it does have a right to be there. There's something in Michael, trying to get out and that means a transformation scene. It doesn't reach the heights of the one in An American Werewolf in London, but it's not bad either. Sadly it's pretty much the only memorable piece of horror in this film. The rest is quite tame, but it does have the typical atmosphere of small town America to make up for that. And someone who first loses his hair.. And then his head.
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