Displaying items by tag: The Beast Within movie

THE BEAST WITHIN

UK, 2024, 97 minutes, Colour.

Kit Harrington, Ashleigh Cummings, Caoillin Springall, James Cosmo.

Directed by Alexandre J. Farrell.

An atmospheric horror thriller, somewhat different from what might have been expected. It is a werewolf story but the setting is in the forests of Scotland.

The audience is reminded about the mythology of the werewolf as the film opens. Ultimately, there will be the visual, frightening manifestations of the werewolf. But, at the beginning, the focus is on a family in the forests, the father, played by Kit Harrington, a worker, his wife, Caoillin Springall, tense, working at home, focusing on their daughter, Ashleigh Cummings, a reader, caught up in her own imagination, and concerned about her father. The other member of the family is the grandfather played by veteran James Cosmo.

There are dramatic tension is in the house, and gradual revelations that, monthly, the father has to withdraw, to be locked up, his experiencing the werewolf transformation. And this has repercussions, often violent, on the rest of the members of the family.

As anticipated with some tension, there are final confrontations and revelations, visually frightening, menacing for the members of the family.

Most werewolf films from the past have an American setting. This one than is quite different.

1. A Scottish werewolf story? The opening quotation? The mythology of werewolves, the full moon, the blood moon, the werewolves and their will form, and the beast within?
2. The Scottish settings, the landscapes, the ancient wall, the countryside, atmosphere? The home, the shed, the cars on the roads? The musical score?
3. The family, ordinary, the relationships, the work, Noah as the father, husband, work, the relationship with each member of the family? Imagine, wife and mother, devoted? Willow, her age, breathing apparatus, her reading, the only child, alone, loneliness, her relationship with her parents? The grandfather, his place in the house, with each of the family members?
4. Ominous suggestions, the blood moon, the seasons, Willow and her room, reading, her observing out the window, standing at the upper landing? The title and expectations?
5. Noah, his experience, seeing him at work, with each member of the family? The early intimations, the gradual revelation of his transformation, locked in the shed, Willow and her watching, concern? The visualising eventually of the wolf, the walls, the pain, the encounter with his wife and daughter? The grandfather, his concern, his being impaled on the stag horns? Carrying him outside?
6. The film highlighting the contrast between Noah and his ordinary life, and for his transformation, the preparations, the isolation?
7. The bond between mother and daughter, outings together, protective?
8. The finale, the confrontation – and the future?