the audience applauded

A Disappointing Continuation

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

If you like low to medium budget horrors with plenty of gore, you will not be disappointed in this and Paul Clemens does very well in the lead. Nobody else seems to try too hard, they seem more interested in outdoing each other in wearing the most outlandish wigs. Very watchable despite its shortcomings although it almost comes to a halt on several occasions. The set up is fine, if a little predictable, but the wild and terrible story could have been better told. At first this seems like a Jekyll and Hyde variant, then a vampire tale before it gets back to what it really was at the start, a gruesome tale of rape and impregnation by some swamp like creature. Nice idea and lots of nastiness but not very convincing and too many people wandering in and out to little effect. Have to say though, one amazing and absolutely disgusting transformation sequence at the end.

This horror film, about a woman brutally attacked one night, and years later has to relive the memory when her son becomes the suspect in a series of brutal murders, is appalling trash, utterly without value. Story is pure crass exploitation, not to mention utterly ridiculous and ultimately nonsensical. Good actors wasted in this junk, further ruined by some dreadful F/X, especially the big transformation sequence in the hospital, which looks like it was made for 25 cents, so unintentionally laughable is the end result.Directed by Philippe Mora, who would go on to direct the equally bad "Howling II & III".

The changing into a monster of a young man is used as a metaphor for boys growing into men. The body goes through changes and urges become more primal. Suddenly playing center field for your baseball team is less alluring than chasing skirts. THE BEAST WITHIN perfectly captures this sentiment.The film focuses on teenage Michael (Paul Clemens) who has an illness that the doctors can't identify. It seems that young Michael is changing into a beast--one that resembles a humanoid creature that sexually assaulted his mother seventeen years ago. His parents, played by Ronny Cox and Bibi Besch, try to learn more about what happened seventeen years ago and venture to the town where she was raped by the monster: a sleepy, backwoods Mississippi community. They leave Michael at the hospital but he breaks out and some urge lures him to the small town his parents are visiting.While in this small Mississippi hamlet, Michael begins to succumb to urges: eating flesh and chasing the local hotty (Kitty Moffat). But these urges aren't your normal teenage male pursuits and Michael fears for Amanda's (Moffat) safety when he learns that members of her family are being targeted by a serial killer--the beast within.STORY: $$$ (The story is quite interesting. We get a nice little isolated setting with eccentric hillbilly characters who all seem to harbor a dark secret. Cox and Besch as the concerned parents try their hardest to uncover the secrets so they can save their child. The script builds enough suspense to sustain interest but the falling down of females in the woods seems a bit foolish. Bibi runs into a tree and Kitty looses her bearings too easily).ACTING: $$$$ (A helluva lot better than you see in the usual B-Rate film. Clemens is terrific as young Michael. His scenes where his body changes are brilliant displays of acting. He masterfully portrays agony. L.Q. Jones shines as the town sheriff, Mike's parents only real ally in the backwoods community. The underrated Ronny Cox is great as Mike's dad. He knows that Michael isn't his son but still shows him the amount of love he'd show a boy direct from his loins. Don Gordon and John Dennis Johnston are effectively slimy as backwoods villains and Kitty Moffat is solid in the role of Michael's forbidden fruit. But the best piece of acting belongs to Bibi Besch. There's little for her to do in the script but Bibi gets more out of this character than most actresses could extract. There's a scene, in which Miss Besch has no dialogue, where she learns that her son is becoming something akin to the monster that raped her years ago. Bibi exhibits such raw emotion in the scene that you, the viewer, know exactly what is going through her mind without her having to say a word. Give Bibi a standing ovation).NUDITY: $$$ (What would be a movie about teen lust without a little titillation? Bibi is stripped bare in the woods by a monster at the beginning of the film while Kitty Moffat suffers the same treatment at the close of the film. Creepy morgue attendant Luke Askew also spends some time ogling a buxom dead body in his morgue).

After first watching this 80's horror B film on The Movie Channel at a slumber party at the age of 13, it scared the be-Jesus out of me. I recently purchased a copy on DVD to relive the slumber party days. What a slimy little movie. I still enjoy it. While it's not a gore fest by any account, it still is pure fun. The story is a little convoluted, but it still seems original for some of the older B movies out there. After watching it one night, I purchased an out of print copy of the Novel by Edward Levy. While certainly not Edward Lee, Richard Laymon (inspiration for the Beast House series maybe?..Hmmmm?..), or Stephen King, it was still cool for it's monster-ly story, however it is dated but a short read. I watched the movie again after reading the book, and I found I enjoyed the movie on a different level. The Novel is different as it goes into more background of how the "Connors" monster came to be and goes a bit beyond the ending of the movie. I look at movie as a companion to the book. Anyone who has enjoyed this late night, low budget, goo fest, should find a copy of the book, read it and watch the movie again. You will be glad you did.While this seldom viewed movie certainly has a fan base, I don't think it will ever gravitate to cult status. I'm just glad I have my copy to remind me of all the scary slumber parties I went to as a pre-teen. While I like the ending of the movie and it "fits", I wouldn't mind a continuation of the story if done properly with an 80's flare. Anyone game? Recommend for pure 80's horror/late night horror cheese buffs only. For those are the people who would only appreciate this low budget monster fest.