The Beast Within

The Beast Within (1982)

He Was On The Verge Of Becoming A Man... Eater!

A horrified teen mutates into a crazed cannibalistic swamp creature, and must uncover the terrifying secret identity of his father before his nasty natural tendencies force him to make jambalaya out of the locals.

Date of release
1982-02-12
TMDB
5.5 / 10 (134)
Runtime
1h 38m
Genres
Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Director
Philippe Mora

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: $5M
  • Based on: The Beast Within

The Beast Within is a 1982 American supernatural horror film directed by Philippe Mora from a screenplay by Tom Holland, and starring Ronny Cox, Bibi Besch, Paul Clemens, and Don Gordon. Set in a small town in rural Mississippi, the story centers on a couple Eli and Caroline MacCleary's son Michael, who begins exhibiting strange behavior after his 17th birthday.

Production

The Beast Within was written by Tom Holland, in his first writing credit for a feature film, and directed by Australian director Philippe Mora. The film itself is very loosely based on the 1981 novel The Beast Within written by Edward Levy. Producer Harvey Bernhard had purchased the rights to Levy's then-unfinished novel based on the title alone.

The screenplay was offered to Mora, who had previously directed Mad Dog Morgan (1976), by film agent Bobby Littman. Mora was hired to direct the film for a salary of $100,000. Recounting the project, Mora said: "The budget was five million, which, for United Artists was a joke. They probably thought they could make some money on a quickie by this Australian guy."

The film was developed for United Artists by Gabriel Katzka alongside Harvey Bernhard, a Seattle-based producer who had previously produced the horror film The Omen (1976) as well as its sequels Damien: Omen II (1978) and The Omen: The Final Conflict (1981).

The Beast Within was originally intended to be set in Atlanta, Georgia, but the setting was changed after the production preferred locations scouted in Mississippi. Principal photography officially began on February 8, 1981, in and around Jackson, Mississippi. The entire first week of filming was shot at night outdoors.

Other scenes were shot in Bolton and Raymond, with hospital scenes filmed at both the former Mississippi Baptist Hospital in Jackson, and the Mississippi State Hospital for the Insane in Whitfield. Filming concluded on April 10, 1981. Director Mora has stated that United Artists cut several scenes from the film which clarified some of the story's plot details.

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