In the middle of the English wilderness, a man with a dark secret isolates himself further to protect his family, but secrets always emerge.
Eerie, atmospheric, folklore, yet it lacks significant ingredients. First, good news: The photography, soundtrack, and acting are brilliant. As for the story itself, it’s suspenseful and intriguing. This brings us to the bad news.
That family faces an out-of-the-ordinary drama; the father is a monster only seen in fairytales (or, is it?). That drama could have been dealt with realism. Family drama is relatable to every house. And this could have been, too, regardless of its surrealistic nature. So, while the soundtrack is excellent and the shots are beautiful, their constant use and attempts at visual poetry (parallel sequences) ruin what could have been relatable. In Layman’s terms, those same and constantly used editing techniques in most sequences emphasise the parallel action, making you lose focus from each sequence. As a final note, and hopefully, that will make it clear, the script, the editing and the directing are the reasons The Beast Within is heavily damaged. Like any other film, though, for better or for worse, the positivity or the negativity is attributed to the director. In this case, Alexander J. Farrell. Please read further below for spoilers. At least Kit Harrington, Ashleigh Cummings, Caoilinn Springall, and James Cosmo have great chemistry.
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SPOILERS
Beware of the film’s message! Beware of the werewolf and the message it carries. Domestic abuse and split personality are not to be treated as one and the same. If one suffers from a split personality and one or more of the personalities are violent, and they know it, they don’t take the family and hide in the middle of the woods. They seek professional help. I know the ending is meant to be a twist, but, like any other twist, it shouldn’t defy logic. Not to that extent.
