There’s no attempt to hide what the titular Beast Within is in Alexander J. Farrell’s first horror feature (co-written with Greer Taylor Ellison), which opens with the quote “There are two wolves inside all of us … they’re always at war”, followed by the classic “lone person killed by monster” scene. This is capped off with a shot of a blood red moon so it doesn’t take a horror expert to guess that this is a werewolf movie, but having previously made documentaries, Farrell attempts to bring a degree of realism to this well-worn genre.
The Beast Within is primarily told from the perspective of Willow, a child with an unspecified medical condition that requires her to have an oxygen tank. She’s subsequently isolated from trips her parents make away from the house until she discovers her father’s secret – the unsubtly hinted at werewolf curse. The film’s emphasis on the family dynamics when one parent is a werewolf is believably grounded by the performances from Kit Harrington, Ashleigh Cummings and Caoilinn Springall, but it can often feel as if they’re putting flesh onto thin bones.
Although well-intentioned, Farrell’s claim that this is “not just a horror film” doesn’t stop him using all the tricks that the genre has to offer, while failing to utilise the genre’s ability to use the supernatural as a metaphor. There’s a real moodiness throughout the film, aided by the great location of a decrepit house amongst the vast Yorkshire landscapes and some impressive lighting, but this sheen can’t compensate for the clunky, on-the-nose dialogue. Farrell has suggested that the werewolf is a metaphor for domestic abuse, but these two things aren’t convincingly linked up, and even if they were, the muddled conclusion would make it even less effective.
Compared to a film like Raging Grace from last year, where horror and real-world drama were expertly fused, The Beast Within feels thin in both departments. The performances keep things engaging, but once you pay attention to what the characters are doing rather than how they’re being played, any emotional stakes soon fade.
The Beast Within (2024) had its World Premiere at Fantasia 2024
Mike’s Archive – The Beast Within (Fantasia 2024)
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