SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

morrison-dylan-fan Being in a Creature Feature mood,I started looking on Netflix UK for flicks in the genre. Aware of auteur film maker Tom Holland's name from his directed titles,I was intrigued to find one he co- wrote,which led to me unleashing the beast. The plot:Conceived after his mum was raped by a strange beast (what a cheerful way to start the film!) 17 years ago, Michael MacCleary finds himself becoming very ill. Rushing to the hospital, Eli and Caroline MacCleary are told that Michael is suffering from his pituitary gland mutating. Fearing it is related to the attack,Eli and Caroline decide to take a deep breath and visit the city where she was attacked. Whilst his parents place their hopes on saving him by finding out about Caroline's attacker,the transforming Michael starts to howl at the moon. View on the film:Replacing original composer James Horner, Les Baxter counters the splatter effects with a magnificent score which injects the title with an atmospheric bite,thanks to Baxter's spidery sounds climbing up the fear of the beast being unleashed. Pushing any "subtle" tones aside for Baxter,director Philippe Mora & cinematographer Jack L. Richards stab a ripe splatter showcase,bursting with pulp air- bladder special effects that cover the screen in rotting green and brown ooze. Although some of the special effects displays are (unintentionally?) hilarious (such as everyone just standing round a bed silently for 5 minutes as the set piece takes place!) Mora still rubs up a grisly Grindhouse mood,where the warm fuzz of the pitch-black sets give the film a wonderfully grubby appearance. Splitting the tale into a series of "nights",the screenplay by Tom Holland & (uncredited) Danilo Bach take on Edward Levy's book huffs and puffs its peculiar werewolf tale,as dry attempts to dig into Michael and his family situation,lack the weird shocks from Mora's special effects. Whilst working as just a co-writer here,Holland shows a clear eye for kicking off the "boy who cried wolf" major theme that would continue in his work,via Michael's pleas to everyone about the evil falling on deaf ears, until Michael reveals the beast within.

gantami If you like movies where the emergence of a murderous beast-cicada sex predator every 17 years serves as a metaphor for the recurrence of hidden psychological trauma, then this is the movie for you! Partially bold, partially sleazy, totally 80s. Les Baxter's awesomely colossal score drives things along. Director Mora dealt with the concept of psych trauma again a few years later in Communion.(I'm an enthusiast, not a critic. Thanks for reading.)

AaronCapenBanner This horror film, about a woman brutally attacked one night, and years later has to relive the memory when her son becomes the suspect in a series of brutal murders, is appalling trash, utterly without value. Story is pure crass exploitation, not to mention utterly ridiculous and ultimately nonsensical. Good actors wasted in this junk, further ruined by some dreadful F/X, especially the big transformation sequence in the hospital, which looks like it was made for 25 cents, so unintentionally laughable is the end result.Directed by Philippe Mora, who would go on to direct the equally bad "Howling II & III".

Mikel3 Watched 'The Beast Within (1982) this afternoon. Uhmm...I'm not sure I actually liked this movie overall. I have seen much worse. It did have an unusual story and a mystery quality to it leading up the the final revelation of just what the monster was and why he was killing certain people in a town. I'm still not sure how the cicadas fit in to the story, they seemed to have some meaning. The last third of the movie was pretty scary. It was a grotesque monster that reminded me a bit of 'Pumpkinhead' and the half insect creature from the Fly remake. There were some unexplained loose ends at the end and it did seem to finish abruptly. Still I think many of you would enjoy this one. The gore factor was at about my tolerance limits. I did have to look away on a few scenes. Some of the actors were very good, like Ronny Cox and R.G. Armstrong, two always reliable, talented character actors. It also featured Don Gordon who I remember as being in some of my favorite Twilight Zone and Outer Limits episodes. Unfortunately the lead in the story, Paul Clemens, was not up to the role and took the film down a few notches. I would give this a 4 out of 10 rating for being....unusual.