Kit Harington reviles as a monster inside and out in a poorly executed allegory of domestic abuse. The Beast Within follows a sickly young girl who wonders where her tempestuous father goes during the full moon. Her search for the truth is plain as day to a bored audience waiting for the characters to reveal the obvious. The rub is that the film's werewolf elements mask a cowering family ruled by a tyrant. The title's double entendre has poetic intent but doesn't fill the common sense void in a flawed narrative.
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The Beast Within (2024)
1.5/5
10-year-old Willow follows her parents on one of their secret late-night treks to the heart of an ancient forest. After witnessing her father undergo a terrible transformation, she too becomes ensnared by the dark ancestral secret that they've so desperately tried to conceal.
- Director
- Alexander Farrell
- Cast
- Kit Harington , Ashleigh Cummings , James Cosmo , Caoilinn Springall
- Runtime
- 1h 37m
- Writers
- Alexander Farrell
- Distributor(s)
- Well Go USA Entertainment
- Caolinn Springall is excellent as young Willow.
- The film falls short of its noble aims to portray domestic abuse.
- The ending is silly and illogical, like many of the characters' actions.
- Too many things feel like contrived plot devices to advance a boring narrative.
Willow (Caoilinn Springall) watches from her attic bedroom window as a mysterious ritual continues nightly like clockwork. Her mother, Imogen (Ashleigh Cummings), bundles a robed Noah (Harington) into their old Land Rover. She then puts a squealing, caged pig in the back before driving out of the family's remote English compound towards the dense woods. Willow builds matchstick houses while breathing oxygen through a mask. Waylon (James Cosmo), her maternal grandfather, takes her outside with a stern warning. She must always remain inside the gates.
The family eats a solemn dinner in the dilapidated house without Noah. Willow returns to her room with sweet bedtime kisses from Imogen. She observes her father returning the next morning. Imogen tries to cover his naked body, but Willow can see he's dirty and ragged. She shudders from the moaning noises emanating through the floorboards. The frightened girl blocks the room door with her play horse.
Willow builds up the courage to ask Imogen why her father left the house. Where does she take him? Imogen ominously replies that she's safe and will always be protected. Those words ring hollow as Willow decides to find out the truth. She sneaks out and tracks the car later that night, discovering a dark secret and the extraordinary lengths her parents have gone to keep it hidden.
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The Beast Within Lets Its Little Girl Down
The Beast Within is seen entirely from Willow's perspective. She's not foolish or overly curious. But like her mother and grandfather, she's always on edge regarding everything Noah. His character doesn't speak or have more than a fleeting glance until the second act. This is purposely done to establish timidity and wariness in his presence. Willow's afraid of her father and it's not just because of his vanishing act. Young Caoilinn Springall is excellent here in a film that lets her down, and even a Kit Harington performance can't save it.
The treatment of Willow's sickness is a head-scratcher. She carries around the oxygen tank (aka MacGuffin). The film never explains what's wrong with her. Willow huffs and puffs when panicked. Strap on those breathing tubes, the beast is coming to rip you apart. Yet she can run like a gazelle through the forest and up the rickety staircase without breaking a sweat. Willow's lungs only falter when the script needs her to.
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A Weak Script Allegorizes Domestic Abuse
Director/co-writer Alexander J. Farrell (Refugee) wants to tell a story of domestic violence using horror as a vehicle. We are first meant to believe that the bruises on Imogen's body are the results of Noah's feral transformation. He can't help himself. It's the uncontrollable wolf lashing out. That's clearly not the case when Noah's aggressive personality snaps at his family in human form. He flips from sweet and endearing to cruel in an instant. His wife and daughter love him but are terrified at what Noah becomes.
There are conspicuous problems with how the script handles this change. The most glaring is the bizarre relationship between Imogen and Waylon. She curses her father for caring for their well-being. But he also lives on the compound, helps her facilitate Noah's deception, and takes no action against a man who's proven to be physically dangerous to his daughter and granddaughter. Why would he enable Noah and allow his family to live in a threatening situation? Waylon's actions are unbelievable.
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Daddy's Home Early in a Terrible Finale
The Beast Within falls prey to foolish genre tropes in a bewildering climax that could literally have happened at any point in the film. Why would every precaution taken to secure the house fail at that specific time? There's no triggering event. What occurs in the ending could be the opening scene. The characters also behave in a way that lacks any thought of self-preservation, which contradicts the earlier exposition of being supremely careful. Imogen planned for this exact scenario and somehow bungles it. She makes an absurd error that defies logic and will have audiences groaning out loud.
Escaping an abuser is never easy. Imogen loves Noah despite everything he's done and capable of doing. Her genuine feelings are shackles that bind a toxic marriage. But he also wouldn't let her leave with Willow. In that sense, The Beast Within gets one thing right.
The Beast Within is a production of Paradox House, Filmology Finance, and Ill Luxury. It is currently in limited theatrical release from Well Go USA Entertainment. You can watch the trailer below.
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