THE BEAST WITHIN
At last, a movie about my pants
A couple walks into a sheriff's station to talk to the man in charge. He's on the phone, and all we get to hear of the conversation is him saying "Oral sodomy, huh? Well, that's why it's a small town." I wish the remainder of the movie was half as funny as that line, but The Beast Within is mostly a serious, well-made scare flick without much comic relief.
In 1964, a couple (hey, same couple) is stranded after the car breaks down, and the man goes to get help. The woman, tired of waiting for him, goes into the woods and is promptly raped by someone, or something. Zip forward 17 years, and they're worried about their son. Well, her son. If you know what I mean. He's sick, and it appears to be an inherited disorder that nobody can identify. So, the couple goes back to the Mississippi town where the mother was raped to look for some answers.
As the youth, Paul Clemens excels - we're first shown him as feral and savage, but then as charming and confident, and later as just scared and confused. And I won't even mention what kind of twist his personality takes later, for fear of spoiling...let's just say the guy starts acting not quite like himself. Bibi Besch, one of the many women Captain Kirk shacked up with, stars as the mother, and there's another great Star Trek II parallel: when the youth cries out "Toooooooooooooooom!" just like Kirk once shouted out "Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" Hilarious. But probably not intentional, alas.
Features a transformation scene that makes that in An American Werewolf In London look positively painless. Too bad the ultimate result is silly and underwhelming, although it's occasionally used to good effect (like the eye through the peephole, or the "camoflauge" on the forest floor). Great score, too - kinda reminiscent of Alien. But what to cicadas have to do with anything? They're prominently featured in the youth's violent episodes.
The film also features one of the more boastful taglines I've ever read: "We dare you to watch the last 30minutes of this film without screaming, covering your eyes, or running from your seat!" Maybe not as boastful as that from The Devil's Rain, but still... Pretty good overall, and certainly better than The Intruder Within, the movie with which I've always confused this.