THE BEAST WITHIN (2024)

Studio:   Well Go USA
Director: Alexander J. Farrell
Writer:   Greer Taylor Ellison, Alexander J. Farrell
Producer: Merlin Merton, Martin Owen, Ryan Hamilton, Karl Hall, Sebastian Street, Alex Chang, Jack Christian, Evan Ross, Jordan Wagner, Ying Ye
Stars:    Kit Harington, Ashleigh Cummings, James Cosmo, Caoilinn Springall

Review Score:

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Summary:

Despite her family's efforts to protect her, a young girl living a sheltered life on a remote farm uncovers a dark secret about her father.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

10-year-old Willow, who suffers from a respiratory illness that requires occasional use of an oxygen tank, grows increasingly suspicious of her parents Imogen and Noah Avery regularly disappearing in the night only for Noah to return disheveled while Imogen washes blood out of his clothes. One night, Willow follows her parents deep into the forest where she spies Imogen chaining up Noah before he seemingly transforms into a werewolf and slaughters a farm animal. Willow faints.

Imogen rushes her daughter back to the isolated farmhouse in remote countryside where their family lives. Willow's grandfather Waylon, who is Imogen's father, attempts to run away with the girl in the night, but Noah and Imogen stop him. Waylon accuses Noah of being a monster during their physical confrontation. Imogen screams that Waylon is the real monster as she banishes him from their property.

During a drive into town to buy Willow a dress, Imogen stops to change into an outfit Noah would disapprove of. Willow notices bruises on her mother's body.

While on a trip through the forest with Willow, Noah claims that once a month during the full moon, his grandfather William would transform. William would go deep into the forest to keep Noah's grandmother safe, but when she suspected he was having an affair and followed him, William killed her. When William realized what he'd done, he killed himself with a shotgun. Noah indicates this supposed family curse was handed down to Noah's abusive father before Noah inherited it himself. Despite acknowledging himself as a monster, Noah contends he cannot leave their family as he assures Willow he loves her.

Noah becomes suddenly incensed when he discovers Imogen's hidden dress tucked away in their Land Rover. Noah angrily accuses his wife of hiding something from him until she assures Noah nothing has changed for their family.

Waylon returns to the house to gift Willow with a dog for her birthday. Willow later has a nightmare where she transforms into a werewolf.

After she confronts her father for bringing a gun to the house, Waylon warns Imogen that Noah is going to kill them all. Soon, a seemingly transformed Noah bursts into the house and impales Waylon on mounted antlers. Despite his severe wound, Waylon remains behind so Imogen and Willow can flee into the woods.

Noah follows his wife and captures Willow. Gently embracing her husband, Imogen makes an appeal for Noah to "come back" to her. Noah still attacks Imogen, knocking over an oil lantern that starts a fire in the process. Seeing her father as a werewolf, Willow uses her oxygen tank to immolate Noah and he burns to death.

In the aftermath, Imogen and Willow prepare to leave the remote farmhouse. With renewed clarity, flashbacks show Willow that Noah was merely an abusive husband/father all along, and her imagination manifested his mood swings as him becoming a wolf.

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Review:

By virtue of its contents, "The Beast Within" technically qualifies as a werewolf film. But if you're expecting typical full moon, fur, and fang-filled frights in the spirit of "The Wolf Man" or "The Howling," you'll be setting yourself up for a likely letdown. Dipped deep in a moody metaphor for an abusive spouse, "The Beast Within" aligns itself much closer to a thematic drama focused on troubled family ties than a midnight movie bursting with beasts and bloodshed.

10-year-old Willow lives a sheltered life on her family's remote English farm, easily one of the Top Ten most common locations for any UK-based genre indie, if not #1. Were Willow and her mother Imogen wearing clothes like her father Noah's animal-hide cloak, one might initially mistake this setting for another century. Broken windows and high stone walls compose their castle-like compound. Chickens and pigs run loose outside. Their family portrait takes the form of a classic painting while they favor oil lanterns over electricity. "The Beast Within" creates a first impression of possibly being a period piece until a countryside drive in an almost anachronistic Land Rover confirms it couldn't be any earlier than 1978.

Confined to her home in part because she suffers from a respiratory illness requiring occasional use of an oxygen tank, and because her family remains mysteriously intent on staying isolated, Willow passes time by building a miniature replica of the property or staring contemplatively out her window. Among the odd things she spies are secretive trips her parents regularly take, which usually end in Noah returning disheveled while Imogen scrubs blood from his clothes.

One night, Willow's growing suspicions compel her to follow her parents into the forest. That's where she seemingly sees her mother chaining up her father before he undergoes a startling mutation. So startling, in fact, Willow faints.

Willow's grandfather Waylon feels it's finally time to rescue Willow from the danger Noah poses. Noah and Imogen won't stand for having their tight trio torn apart, however. By hook or by crook, or by tooth or by claw, this family is fiercely intent on remaining together no matter what might be threatening them from inside their own abode.

"The Beast Within" is light on dialogue, yet heavy on long-lasting shots of quiet landscapes and gazing faces. It's also light on actors, yet heavy on producers. If you don't count the torch-bearing woman who shouts "William!" several times in the prologue, there are only four speaking roles. Meanwhile, at 10 producers, three co-producers, four associate producers, and a staggering 33 executive producers, two of which are cited as entire production companies, "The Beast Within" boasts a whopping total of 50 entities with "producer" in their title. We often hear "it takes a village" to make a movie, and "The Beast Within" could certainly populate one with only its above-the-line credits.

Because the dearth of action makes the movie so thin, and because an already brief 90-minute runtime lingers in uneventful spaces, it's difficult to form connections with the characters like "The Beast Within" both wants and needs for emotional impact. Perhaps we're supposed to have sympathy for Willow due to her forced solitude and medical condition. Presumably, we're also meant to grimace when we see the bruises hidden beneath Imogen's blouse, indicating there may be more to her husband's terrifying transformations than mere lycanthropy. But with so little time spent on meaningful moments, the family feels flat, and only cursorily characterized in their pedestrian personalities.

Even though Kit Harington earns top billing as Noah, "Game of Thrones" fans anxious for a hefty helping of Harington will find his screen time is surprisingly slim, too. The same goes for James Cosmo as Imogen's father Waylon, so don't get hopes up too high for a Night's Watch reunion since the two men share the same space for approximately two minutes, and one of those minutes involves a werewolf stuntman standing in for Harington.

It's disappointing to dismiss a movie that means well with its message about domestic violence. Double that disappointment when you realize werewolves make a terrific surrogate for problematic partners, yet "The Beast Within" puts so little substance behind its story that the meaning glances right off uninvested eyes. Sadly, "The Beast Within" makes only a minor impression as an allegory, and even less of one as horror entertainment.

Review Score: 40

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