The Beast Within (1982)

The Beast Within is something of a forgotten gem of '80s horror.  Released in 1982, it features Ronny Cox (who would later appear in Robocop and Total Recall), Bibi Besch, R.G. Armstrong, and others, including Paul Clemens as the main character, Michael MacCleary, who has inherited some monstrous curse from his unknown father.  Born as the result of an attack on his mother, Caroline (Bibi Besch), on the night of her wedding to Eli MacCleary (Ronny Cox), Michael is raised by the two as if he were any normal child, rather than the result of a sexual assault.  When, in his late teens, Michael starts exhibiting strange symptoms and the doctors are unable to determine the cause, Eli and Caroline return to the town where the attack occurred all those years ago, looking for answers.  Unknown to them, Michael heads there as well, driven by some instinct inside him.

U.S. theatrical poster

Michael begins to show signs of some personality change, developing an obsession with a family by the name of Curwin.  Then members of that family start dying in gruesome ways at Michael's hands.  Around the same time, Michael also meets Amanda Platt (Kitty Moffat), a lovely local girl who is the same age as he is, but who is also related to the Curwin family.  As it turns out, Michael true father was a man named Billy Connors, who had run afoul of a man named Lionel Curwin, by having an affair with Lionel's wife, who was much younger and unsatisfied in her marriage as Lionel viewed sex, even in marriage, as sinful.  Lionel killed his wife and kept Billy locked in the cellar, where he eventually became a deranged beast before finally breaking free on the night he would attack and impregnate Caroline MacCleary.

The Beast Within is one of many movies I discovered when renting numerous movies on VHS decades ago.  Sometimes what I rented ended up sucking and other times, it was great.  This was one of the times it was great.  It is a movie that stuck with me over the years.  When I saw that it got re-released on VHS a few years later on, I immediately picked it up, followed later on by both DVD and Blu-ray copies.  I even got an original theatrical poster for this one.  

Front cover of VHS edition from the '90s

 

Back cover of VHS edition from the '90s

The film was based on a novel by the same name by Edward Levy and does deviate quite a bit from the source material, but much of the idea is still intact.  Some of the changes were likely due to the fact that movies don't have as much time to tell their stories as novels do.  For instance, the novel starts off many years before the main story starts, telling the tale of Jimmy Connors (Billy Connors in the film version).  Then it moves on to the MacClearys and their early days together.  After that, we get to learn a bit about Michael's childhood before moving on the present day where the rest of the story takes place.  I won't go any more into the novel, as it and the movie version are their own separate things and this particular post is about the film, but it is a novel worth tracking down and reading.  Not to mention, although I have read the book a couple of times, it has been a few years since the last time, so it isn't exactly fresh in my mind.

Front cover of the novel

Something else that makes this movie rather significant to me personally is that, many years ago, when my best friend and I were starting to work on music together, the first proper song we recorded was one inspired by The Beast Within.  It was called "Legacy of the Beast" and we wanted a quick and short song to record since he had recently gotten his hands on a four-track cassette recorder, allowing us to make very basic multi-track recordings.  I wrote the song one night after we had been watching the movie and we started recording it.  I programmed the simple drum track on a drum program I had, which we recorded straight from the computer speakers since there was no way for us to connect the computer straight into the recorder.  The guitar and bass guitar were recorded in my bedroom and the vocal track was recorded out in the garage.  Once it was done, I marked the tape with a symbol, so I would know which tape it was.  We didn't have a band name or anything like that for me to put on there at the time, so it seemed to be a good idea.  Of course, it was a bad idea.  I specifically remember later looking at that tape, wondering why that symbol was there before I started recording some guitar riff ideas onto it.  Soon after that, I listened back to some of the tape and heard the tracks that remained of that original recording.  I think I died a little inside when I realized I had basically destroyed the only copy of that recording.  We have recorded other, better versions of the song, but that original is now lost and it still bothers me to this day, just for its personal significance.   

Front cover of Blu-ray edition

Speaking of music, The Beast Within also features an excellent score, courtesy of Les Baxter.  It was apparently his final feature-length film score.  It is very moody and atmospheric, utilizing piano and horns, along with other instruments.  Although difficult to find, the score has been released on CD, but  there was no soundtrack album released at the time of the film's release to my knowledge.

If you like early '80s horror with practical effects including some transformation effects, then check out The Beast Within.  It is certainly a movie worthy of more recognition that is has gotten to date.