MovieChat Forums > The Beast Within (1982) Discussion > Anybody remember the Siskel/Ebert review...

Anybody remember the Siskel/Ebert review?


What convinced me years ago to see this movie was the review Roger Ebert gave it. It was a long time ago but I remember he said something to the effect that this was the most disgusting movie he had ever seen. I knew I had to check it out after that!

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He found it even more disgusting than "I Spit on Your Grave"? Do you remember if this was a "dog of the week," or if they reviewed it with the regular new releases?

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Yes, it was Siskel and Ebert's "dog of the week" film. Both critics were especially disgusted by the transformation scene. They were not enlightened by it.

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Thanks for your recollections. I liked this film more than both Roger and Gene, but I'm a dog-lover!

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The transformation scene was completely unnecessary. Worked much better w/ Michael going back & forth between being possessed and himself.

Also, the movie actually had some intelligent thought going on before that scene. This small town, full of secrets, the townsfolk trying to bury them. Michael is the metaphor in all of this, because he's the past they want to bury, but he's present and forces it all to the forefront.

After the transformation scene, it simply becomes a monster running around movie and it loses that metaphorical quality except in the final rape scene.

Got to give Bibi some credit though. During the transformation scene, she really committed to that scene acting wise.

PS: It was actually Siskel who liked From Beyond. He didn't give it 4 stars, but he did give it a thumbs up. Ebert gave it a thumbs down.

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Siskel/Ebert were down on most horror films back in the 1980s. They urged movie goers to write Paramount and express disgust over FRIDAY THE 13TH, in 1980. They (or at least Siskel) seemed to like THE HOWLING and AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. Wouldn't be surprised to find out they disliked THE BEAST WITHIN. It's too bad Siskel is no longer around. I'd love to see what he would think of this "dog of the week" after seeing gore fests like the SAW series and the HOSTEL movies. They'd probably talk about the "good ol days" of change-o-head transformations and the relatively small amount of blood/gore in THE BEAST WITHIN.

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Both of them are dead now. Ebert claimed to hate slashers, a whole genre. During Silent Night Deadly Night they read out, on air, the name of the cast and crew and said "shame" after each one.
These two, who may have known a lot about movies, were drunk on the amount of power they had to make a movie fail or succeed. In the 1980s they were by far the biggest film critics on earth by a longshot.
I disagree with most critics, but have found IMDB ratings to be a pretty good way of determining quality. I have not read a movie review in a paper in years, read them every day here.

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Siskel/Ebert were down on most horror films back in the 1980s. They urged movie goers to write Paramount and express disgust over FRIDAY THE 13TH, in 1980. They (or at least Siskel) seemed to like THE HOWLING and AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. Wouldn't be surprised to find out they disliked THE BEAST WITHIN. It's too bad Siskel is no longer around. I'd love to see what he would think of this "dog of the week" after seeing gore fests like the SAW series and the HOSTEL movies. They'd probably talk about the "good ol days" of change-o-head transformations and the relatively small amount of blood/gore in THE BEAST WITHIN.


Yeah, they looked down on horror, but Ebert was always more objective of two. He hated gory movies, and "too violent" but he would point out if it was well made, and sometimes he would say he kinda liked it, but hated gory parts (like in case of Evil Dead). Siskel just hated horror, while Ebert only hated horror that had no "positive light" about it (aka movies with "bad endings", depressive horror movies, etc).

He seems to enjoy Halloween, Evil Dead and Re-Animator. I remember him saying that we should look out for then-unknown J. Carpenter and Sam Raimi, because he spotted they were talented. Weird thing is, he didn't complain about gore in Re-Animator, probably because it was part comedy.

In 90s he kinda dropped a ball a little, I remember him enjoying horror movies much more. He was very positive about "From Beyond", I think he gave it 4 stars (which was max).

Siskel on the other hand, always hated horror (and SF) and looked down on it. He even bashed movies like "Predator" calling it stupid and unoriginal, while Ebert liked it, and in their usual-self, they got into argument about it.

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Siskel/Ebert are full of crap

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