The Beast Within/Fun Facts

The names "Curwin" and "Dexter Ward" are characters from the horror novel "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" by H.P. Lovecraft.

The translation into English of the German title is "The Angel Face: Three Nights of Horror."

Actor Ronny Cox, who plays Eli MacCleary, also wrote and performed the country music featured in the film.

One shoot, at an abandoned hospital, fell on Friday the 13th. The crew became convinced the location was haunted as throughout the evening the lights and the elevator turned on and off by themselves.

Along with Joe Dante's The Howling (1981) this film pioneered the trend of air-bladder special effects makeup. For Michael's transformation scene small plastic sacks (often condoms or balloons) would be embedded into the layers of makeup and face castings. Later while filming these sacks would be inflated through tubes and it would help to give the appearance of the skins distortion. The same technique became popular in the genre throughout the 80's being used in such horror films as Demons (1985), Fright Night (1985), and Evil Dead II (1987).

This was the final feature-length score for composer Les Baxter, who considered it to be one of his finest.

Star Paul Clemens was very enthusiastic about having the role of Michael MacCleary because he was an avid fan of the horror genre. Clemens would even enjoy the extensive makeup work that would take hours to apply to him.

This film became a staple on Joe Bob Briggs' Monstervision series, though the network would heavily edit the film.

This was the feature film debut for horror genre regular Tom Holland - who wrote the script.

The film's French title is Les Entrailles de l'enfer, which translates to "The Entrails of Hell" in English.

Director Philippe Mora once referred to this film as an "encyclopedia" of horror movies.

Played on a double bill at The New Amsterdam with Eye of the Needle in March 1982.