The Beast Within

A 10-year-old girl learns her family’s dark secret in The Beast Within. Willow (Caoilinn Springall) is a 10-year-old girl living on a fortified compound with her father Noah (Kit Harington) and mother Imogen (Ashleigh Cummings). Willow begins to suspect something is up with her parents after a series of strange events, including her grandfather Waylon (James Cosmo) attempting to take her away. Willow follows her parents on one of their secret late-night treks into the heart of the ancient forest and witnesses the horrible transformation that Noah undergoes.

The Beast Within Synopsis

The Beast Within is a werewolf horror film co-written and directed by Alexander J. Farrell, based on the book of the same name by Edward Levy. The story of the film is told from the perspective of 10-year-old Willow, who has a condition requiring her to breathe from an oxygen tank. Kit Harington (Game of Thrones, Eternals) plays Willow’s father Noah, who often disappears into the forest with his mother Imogen, played by Ashleigh Cummings (Hounds of Love).

One night, Willow follows her parents and discovers that Noah is apparently a werewolf, who is chained up in the forest when it is time to transform. During a heart-to-heart, Noah explains to her that his affliction is a curse passed down through the generations. However, it’s not long until the monster inside of Noah is unleashed and it puts his family at risk.

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My Thoughts on The Beast Within

The Beast Within is a werewolf film without much werewolf, as most of the film features the creature off camera. There turns out to be a reason for this, though it’s not revealed until literally the final minute of the film. It is the ending of The Beast Within that will probably end up polarizing most viewers, as it recontextualizes the entire film that came before.

Kit Harington has yet to shed his association with HBO’s Game of Thrones and it is seemingly fitting that Jon Snow would star in a horror film, where he becomes a wolf. That said, Harington doesn’t get much to do in The Beast Within, until the second half of the film when he gives a lengthy monologue to Caoilinn Springall’s Willow. Willow is arguably the true protagonist of The Beast Within, sharing much of her screen time with Ashleigh Cummings as her mother Imogen and James Cosmo as her grandfather Waylon.

The Beast Within doesn’t ramp up as a horror film until the climax, which sees a transformed Noah coming after his family. Admittedly, this sequence does a lot without actually showing the werewolf. However, it is the revelations made within the final minutes of The Beast Within that will make or break most viewers of the film, as the plot suggests a revelation that was barely alluded to throughout the rest of the film.

Trailer for The Beast Within