The Beast Within review by Bobby Blakey
I love anything that has to do with werewolves so once that is part of the film, I am already all in. The latest film, The Best Within from director Alexander J. Farrell looks to put its own spin on the genre and stars Kit Harington, Ashleigh Cummings, Caoilinn Springall, and James Cosmo. Could this film find the right transformation to bring something fresh to the genre or will it be a moon not worth howling too?
The Beast Within follows a series of strange events that leads her to question her family’s isolated life on a fortified compound deep in the English wilds, 10-year-old Willow follows her parents on one of their secret late-night treks to the heart of the ancient forest. But upon witnessing her father undergo a terrible transformation, she too becomes ensnared by the dark ancestral secret they’ve tried so desperately to conceal.
I wasn’t sure where this film was going heading in but can say while not what I hoped there is an interesting parallel that it works with the supernatural and real life issues. The story uses the narrative of this creature feature to deal with things like addiction and abuse in a very real and interesting way. There are elements that make you wonder if what you think is going on is happening or if it is just a psychological situation all along.
I found much of the film compelling but never got fully invested in it due to the lack of the werewolf element that I think I created in my own mind. It is in fact here used sparse until the final act, but still a very important part of the family’s journey and struggles. The cast are all fine with Karrington I think bringing the most depth and layers, but it just wasn’t enough to fully pull me in.
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The final act is where things finally go all out and give us a glimpse of the creature in all its glory, and it is kind of underwhelming. I love that they go this visual style, but the make up effects and overall look are hit and miss. It is well done, but the kind of style that serves better for the quick shots and shadows as opposed to full reveal. All those shots look great, but the straighter forward looks are kind of cheesy. The same goes for a big fire burn scene at the end that is a little more humorous than it was probably intended to be.
Making this kind of things is no doubt hard and I applaud them going all in to try to bring something deeper to the genre and bring its own voice to the narrative. Sadly, while I enjoyed it, there just wasn’t enough here to get me to sing its praises in the lycan genre. The ending is where I think it might lose some as it is pretty straight forward, but there is a little left to your own thoughts to where you think it left us, but I will leave that up to you to decide.
Decide for yourself and grab your copy of The Beast Within available now on digital, Blu-ray and DVD from Well Go USA.