The Beast Within doesn't make a lick of sense, which is exactly what makes the film so deliriously necessary for horror devotees. The action charges out of the gate from the start and never lets up until the outrageously ridiculous end, which doesn't explain a thing but will satisfy gorehounds and all lovers of schlock cinema. It's a profoundly dirty film, which is not to suggest that it's pornographic, but rather that every frame feels coated in the dust and filth of an obscure Mississippi town's violent secret. Poor Michael's predicament begins when his mother is raped by a mysterious, hairy-legged stranger. By the time we meet him, he's already knee-deep into his inexplicable transformation. The Beast Within throws one ugly murder after another into our laps, tangled together with only the barest thread, and while the bewigged local official eventually owns up to the sinister truth, there's still a thousand questions pending. The wild deficiencies in logic, plot, and simple scene construction don't detract from the stupendously stupid pleasures to be had with this ridiculously staged horror show. With a sinister mortician, a bog full of skeletons, and a particularly gruesome skin-shedding scene, nothing else needs to be said. Keep an eye out for veteran character actors like Logan Ramsey and R.G. Armstrong, plus Meshach Taylor as the only African-American man for miles.