The Beast Within (2024) Review!!

Synopsis – It is told through the eyes of a 10-year-old girl, as she begins to question her unusual life in her family’s fortified compound in rural England.

My Take – Unlike their fanged supernatural counterparts, who for decades have been dominating the screens, both big and small, lycans/werewolves have comparatively struggled to find enough spotlight for themselves with only a few minor shining blips occasionally popping here and there. With recent times mostly relegating the subgenre to easily forgettable VOD flicks.

Mainstream hope finally seemed to have arrived in the form of this first narrative feature from documentarian Alexander J. Farrell, whose modestly scaled affair immediately catches attention with its handsomely crafted atmosphere. That is until we realize that the werewolf aspect is merely a tool to tell a familiar somber tale about abuse.

While the film promised kitschy fun in seeing its star Kit Harington transform into a beast and wreak havoc underneath the full moon, but instead we are subjected to dreary scenes depicting the emotional toll that having a werewolf member takes on a family.

Also, despite being marketed as a horror, the film isn’t remotely scary, and simply struggles to say or do anything meaningful with the themes it introduces, as most of the drama is vaguely depicted, to the point of confusion.

To make matters worse, in an effort to make up for the listless narrative, it even adds a not so clever last minute reveal that more than drowns down the whole experience.

The story follows Willow (Caoillinn Springall), a somewhat sickly, asthmatic ten-year-old girl who lives in an isolated life with her mother Imogen (Ashleigh Cummings), her maternal grandfather Waylon (James Cosmo), and her father Noah (Kit Harrington). Now and then, Imogen leaves their home with Noah, and returns alone, while her father reappears the next day all filthy and bloodied.

One day, Willow follows them on this ritualistic afternoon; only to discover him being placed in an isolated location, bound and chained by the neck for safety. And when she witnesses her father undergo a terrible transformation, she too becomes ensnared by the dark ancestral secret that they’ve so desperately tried to conceal.

What follows is an empty script filled with simple allegories that aren’t nearly as clever as the film thinks they are. Sure, a character study about a family pressed to the breaking point by a curse rather than more normal abuse is a perfectly sound idea, however, to make it work, we need characters who are more frequently expressive than these.

There are some affecting moments, especially between Noah and Willow, but it takes a lot of time to get to them. Instead, for most of its runtime is wasted on questions about the father. Answers we obviously know. And by the time it reaches some form of stake, it has already reached the final act.

Leaving us hanging as none of the manipulation, potential adultery, and years of violence are ever addressed in any meaningful way, nor is the health of the child who’s growing up around all of this. However, the worst part is reserved for the final few minutes.

Here, writer Greer Taylor Ellison and co-writer/director Alexander J. Farrell add an end scene in the last minutes which I think was meant to blow the viewer’s mind, but in the end, just leaves us wondering about the massive plot holes. Canceling out all momentum the story had and kneecapping almost everything you believe you were watching.

The only aspect that works here are the performances. Caoilinn Springall proves to be a very talented young actress girl who is able to convey that age when wide-eyed innocence begins to fade and the cynical teenager begins to show. Also standing out is Ashleigh Cummings, who is enchanting as Willow’s mother. Conveying quite a broad range of emotions. James Cosmo does a fine job as always.

Unfortunately, the draw of the film, Kit Harrington is sadly one note, let down by a bad script and execution. Coming off mostly as goofy and non-substantial. On the whole, ‘The Beast Within’ is a middling werewolf horror letdown by its vague and listless execution.