Writers: Greer Ellison and Alexander J. Farrell
Director: Alexander J. Farrell
It is not unusual to use genre motifs as metaphors for real-life traumatic situations. With The Beast Within writers Greer Ellison and Alexander J. Farrell suggest, from a child’s viewpoint, an abusive parent is every bit as unnatural and frightening as a supernatural creature such as a werewolf. Unfortunately, they have a lot of difficulty communicating this concept in a coherent storyline.
The story is told from the viewpoint of ten-year-old Willow (Caoilinn Springall), who lives an isolated, rural existence with her parents and grandfather. Lately she has noticed strange developments – her father Noah (Kit Harington) isolates himself at certain times of the month and animals from the family farm are going missing. Willow overhears her mother Imogen (Ashleigh Cummings) and Grandfather, Waylon (James Cosmo) arguing about Noah’s behaviour and concluding it is getting worse. Willow begins to suspect a supernatural cause but perhaps the bruises on Imogen’s torso may have a more mundane origin.
Alexander J. Farrell also directs and establishes an ambiguous atmosphere from the beginning. The family reside in a crumbling country manor house with no connections to the outside world – there are no newspapers, television, radio or internet. This may be because they are nobly self-isolating to reduce the risk of a supernatural terror falling upon innocent people or due to a controlling, dominating personality wanting to keep his abusive actions secret. There is also the sense of having their own standards of behaviour – allowing a child to drive the family car.
The Beast Within does not conceal its themes and influences. In a tense confrontation with her father Imogen states his past treatment of her mother makes him a monster. When Willow sneaks into the forest to follow her parents, she wears a red cloak. But the approach taken by director Farrell can be unrealistic, one can accept the audience needs to see bruises on Imogen’s torso to raise the possibility of abuse, but it is hard to see why she changes her clothes on a country road rather than at home.
Kit Harington clearly relishes the chance to chew the scenery as a larger-than-life creepy character. Noah’s idea of horseplay is growling at and sniffing his daughter. He is prone to violent mood swings from charming to dangerous. But the film is dominated by the female actors. Ashleigh Cummings captures the maddening aspect (for outside observers) of someone subject to abuse excusing the extreme behaviour of the abuser. Caoilinn Springall conveys the conflicting urge to discover what is going on with the fear of finding out the truth. She also has an intensely unnerving stare.
The authors struggle to merge the mundane and fantastic storylines together. This may be partly financial, a limited budget means the supernatural creature makes few appearances and, when doing so, is largely concealed in shadow, making the werewolf a distinct disappointment. The small cast prevents the use of the tried and tested technique of building suspense by bumping off minor characters. Director Farrell cheats and relies heavily upon dream sequences to provide the jump scares which are lacking in most of the movie. The psychological aspects of the story are underdeveloped, there is a hint Willow may be using her dolls house to rationalise or romanticise her discoveries, but the possibility is left vague.
Having teased throughout as to whether Noah is an abusive husband or an innocent victim of an ancient curse the authors are unable to climb off the fence. As the film moves towards the climax they try and have it both ways – concluding the story one way and then changing to the other in a final twist. It is an infuriating approach and works only until you start thinking back through the film trying to work out how various scenes would fit in the alternate conclusions. Rather than ambiguous the ending is simply confusing.
The premise that a child might be so traumatised by the discovery their parent is abusive they seek comfort by imagining an even greater monster to excuse the behaviour is interesting but The Beast Within is so confusing the emotional impact is blunted.
The Beast Within is available on Digital Platforms 19 August. Distributed by Signature Entertainment.
