The Beast Within: A Sluggish & Forgettable Werewolf Outing (Blu-ray)
The Film:
Werewolves have been a staple of the horror genre for quite some time. For over a century, we've been watching ordinary people change into the vicious creatures, with the most famous of these being Lon Chaney Jr. in Universal's 1941 classic "The Wolf Man." This is something that had happened before, and in many films since, with yet another iteration of the story due out next year, making one wonder what else could possibly be done with the material after 100 years of such stories. That's a question that "The Beast Within," a werewolf flick that flew somewhat under the radar this year, seeks to answer. Could it possibly have something fresh to bring to a sub-genre that's grown rather stale over the years?
The films centers on Willow (Caoilinn Springall), a young girl who lives in an isolated house in the country with her mother Imogen (Ashleigh Cummings), her father Noah (Kit Harington), and her grandfather Waylon (James Cosmo). Strange things have been happening lately, including her parents taking mysterious late-night trips into the woods, one of which she tags along for. It's here that a dark ancestral secret is revealed, one that threatens to destroy their family if not kept under strict control.
As mentioned, this is the kind of material that has been used so often over the last century or so that it becomes rather difficult to do anything new or original with it, giving "The Beast Within" quite the uphill battle to fight. It starts off well enough by setting up a bit of a mystery that Willow wants to get to the bottom of, but after she does, the film becomes somewhat stagnant, being more content with wallowing in the strange circumstances that this young girl finds herself in rather than doing anything to actually advance the story. Obviously there is a major threat to her and her family, but very little is done about it as the film slowly comes to its final act.
This is where we find its rather obvious climax, which does manage to give us a little bit of tension at the very least, though not nearly enough to make up for the film's sluggish pacing and uneventful storyline that we've had to slog through to get there. It does get points for its intriguing twist in the final couple of minutes, one that makes us question everything we've seen throughout the film and has us wondering whether it really happened as we saw or not, but sadly it's just far too late to give it any kind of deeper meaning at that point. It's admirable that screenwriters Greer Ellison and Alexander J. Farrell had a little more on their mind when they were coming up with this story, but they really needed to find a better way of presenting their underlying theme, because putting it into a story that's stretched out even at 90 minutes certainly doesn't do it any favors.
What we end up with is an almost entirely forgettable werewolf outing that had something it wanted to say, but was entirely too late to do it. This could've been something pretty interesting if they had attempted to explore its deeper themes throughout, but sadly they opted to stay well within its very basic horror trappings instead, ultimately leaving us with another entry in the genre that will likely leave fans disappointed.
Video/Audio:
"The Beast Within" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.39:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of excellent quality. Yet again we have another horror flick that's rather dark throughout much of its runtime, but the picture always remains perfectly sharp & clear throughout its 90-minute duration. Likewise, the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in outstanding quality. Overall, Well Go USA has done a fine job in both areas for the film's debut physical release.
Special Features:
None.
Conclusion:
"The Beast Within" begins with a decent set-up, and features an intriguing last-minute twist, but unfortunately it comes far too late in a sluggish & uneventful film in which the screenwriters seemed more interested in staying within its basic horror trappings than exploring the themes they bring up at its conclusion, ultimately leaving us with another entry in the genre that will quickly be forgotten.
Score: 2.5/5
Available on Blu-ray starting tomorrow.
Follow me on Twitter @BeckFilmCritic.
