be well-advised to mine the sentiment expressed on the film's cover art: Beware." Severed Cinema awarded the film 5/8 stars, stating, "Flawed in places by some bad acting and predictable small-town folks, The Beast Within is a tight show with very good production values, and it seriously needs a big release on a good label and not simply double-billed on an MGM DVD". HorrorNews.net rated the film a score of 3.5 out of 5, commending the film's atmosphere, acting, and makeup effects, while also noting that the plot made little sense. J.C. Macek III of PopMatters gave the film a mixed 5 out of 10 stars, writing "As it stands, The Beast Within is an above-average monster movie with good actors and a sometimes comprehensible plot. All of the answers are there on the screen, even if they are buried. However, horror fan or not, if you’re watching this three or four times to get every snippet of information from the plot, you’ll probably wonder what better uses of your time you might have employed." Potential remake On August 7, 2014, it was announced that the film's original writer Tom Holland planned to remake the film, feeling that the original film 'never fully captured what he wrote in the script'. As of 2020, no updates regarding the planned remake have occurred. References External links 1982 films 1982 horror films American supernatural horror films American monster movies 1980s English-language films American body horror films 1980s monster movies Films directed by Philippe Mora Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films United Artists films Films based on American horror novels Films scored by Les Baxter Films shot in Mississippi 1980s American films