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The Beast Inside Ending Explained: What Really Happens

Umito November 10, 2024

Reality creates the scariest monsters. The villains of some of the best horror franchiseslike Freddy Krueger, Norman Bates and even Leatherface, have real origins, and they are frightening in the levels of absurdity added to the depth and unease brought by the truths of their story. The deadliest threats may well come from your next-door neighbors, and Kit HaringtonIt isThe beast within highlights this concept of a monster hiding nearby with its ending.

The beast within stars Harington, Caoilinn Springall, Ashleigh Cummings and James Cosmo. The film follows 10-year-old Willow (Springall) as she tries to understand the strange events involving her father Noah (Harington).

The movie was not the critics’ favorite upon its release, but I found it to be a multi-layered exploration of the many ideologies that monsters can put forward, and The beast within the ending transforms the story into a more complex tale about domesticity and deception.

Warning, spoilers for The Beast Within lie ahead. Proceed with caution.

Ashleigh Cummings holding Caoilinn Springall in The Beast Within.

(Image credit: Well Go USA Entertainment)

What happened at the end of the beast within

Waylon (Cosmo) stays behind and closes the farm gate to allow Willow and Imogen (Cummings) to escape, and they head into the woods. However, as he searches for a safe path, a werewolf version of Noah picks up Willow and carries her to his shelter, and Imogen begs him to release her.

She hugs the wolf and tries to calm Noah down to make sure Willow can get to safety. However, he suddenly becomes the dangerous wolf again and attacks Imogen while accidentally knocking over a lantern which starts a fire.

Willow uses her oxygen tank to ignite Noah, and some time later, when Imogen and Willow prepare to leave their house, Willow recalls Noah’s memories. It depicts a different outcome than we see, and instead of a werewolf, Noah is just a normal man attacking Imogen as a tearful Willow looks on. He calls it “little monster”, which is when both the memory and the film itself end.

Kit Harington smiles wickedly in The Beast Within.

(Image credit: Well Go USA Entertainment)

The reality of what happened in the end

Willow’s flashbacks confirm that Noah is indeed not a werewolf and that the monster is a projection of his imagination to deal with his father’s abuse. Throughout The beast withinthere are many signs that Noah was physically and emotionally abusive towards Imogen. As such, the film does not sit alongside other movies with stunning endingssince its revelation was announced from the beginning.

We see some verbal arguments and also Imogen’s bruises. She also seems sore and shaken every time she returns from a moment alone with him. Even before The beast within At the end of the reveal, a few key scenes paint the picture of domestic violence.

A major example occurs when Imogen secretly carries a pretty dress hidden in her car. This seems unusual, but it pairs with Willow looking at her mother and noticing bruises. Later in The inner beast, the dress comes back as something that triggers Noah. From Willow’s room, you hear her yelling at Imogen about it.

He accuses her of seeing someone and having secrets. He also thinks she is planning to leave him. We even hear him apologizing as if he had just hit her. The scene with the dress also shows Noah’s duality. One minute he’s a loving father to Willow, then the next he’s grabbing a sandwich from her and telling her to shut up.

Willow’s fantasies transform Noah into a physical beast, a werewolf. In reality, he is an abusive father. The beast within further confirms that Noah is not a real werewolf by showing Willow reading “White Fang” by Jack London, implying that her imagination is helping to create this werewolf version of Noah.

We don’t know Exactly what happened that night, but we can guess. It’s likely that Noah went home angry. The situation got so bad that Waylon and Imogen feared he would kill them and Willow. They tried to escape, but this led to him beating Imogen to the point where Willow probably had to kill him to keep Imogen alive. .

Perhaps those nights when Noah leaves are nights where he gets drunk and his rage and anger become so strong that they have to drive him away. It also involves him hurting or killing animals to deal with his anger.

Noah’s final image makes him look drunk, and alcoholism could indeed be part of his illness and transformation into a monster. However, alcohol cannot be solely responsible for Noah’s rage and anger, since we hear and see him becoming violent and angry even though he appears perfectly sober. (As shown in flashbacks and glimpses of his true nature.)

Caoilinn Springall looking at a figurine in The Beast Within.

(Image credit: Well Go USA Entertainment)

The importance of Willow’s point of view

The film unfolds through Willow’s eyes and, automatically, viewers enter a state of confusion. We only know as much as Willow. She doesn’t know the whole truth. All the adults in her life work hard to protect her from the reality of the situation. This means that we, the audience, see things in the haze from a child’s point of view.

At first The beast withinwe learn that Willow has an active imagination. She is often seen reading and playing with her toy figurine from home. His imagination helps him create this fantastical vision of his world. His father is not this violent man but this man victim of this beast, the werewolf who inhabits him. Willow only stops pretending after everything has happened, and she can no longer escape the reality of her father’s abuse and cruelty. Her imagination cannot protect her from this reality.

The beast within works because it’s told from Willow’s point of view. This allows you to mix reality and fantasy. We never know what’s real because Willow doesn’t understand things and sometimes misinterprets them.

For example, Imogen and Noah saying “Nothing changes” is originally seen as a loving gesture because that’s how Willow sees it. However; it’s really Noah’s way of controlling Imogen by making her agree not to leave him.

In an interview with Eye for cinema, The beast within Director Alexander J. Farrell mentions how imagination (of the viewers and Willow) plays a large role in creating this horror story.

And that’s why we didn’t want to reveal the monster until the end, because imagination is much more powerful than anything we could create. So a lot of this movie is left to the imagination and a lot of it is up to interpretation, especially for Willow, and that’s where the horror exists in this picture.

Willow is also obviously a scared child, so her fear rubs off on viewers. We are still worried because she is too. We don’t know who to trust because she doesn’t know. His point of view amplifies the tension of the film.

Ashleigh Cummings in a rearview mirror in The Beast Within.

(Image credit: Well Go USA Entertainment)

The theme of Trapped in the Beast Within

Each character of The beast within is trapped. Waylon is trapped because he can’t convince his daughter to leave her abusive situation. Therefore, he is also trapped there to protect her. Imogen cannot leave Noah, perhaps out of fear or misguided loyalty and love for him. Willow is stuck in this house with her parents and also has some limitations due to her health.

Noah is trapped by this beast that lives inside him. He knows he’s a monster but can’t stop or find the courage to leave his family.

In an interview with Daily Film ReviewAlexander J. Farrell raises an interesting point about the number of monster movies (especially some of them) the best) focus on protecting the monster. This is an impossible task with The beast within because the monster lives in this house. He exists here and even pays the bills. Additionally, the film is about the beast that lives in everyone.

Noah’s abusive nature is generational. He talks about the mistreatment at the hands of his grandfather, then his father, and now his abusive nature. The film ends with Noah calling Willow a “little monster.” She may have to face her own anger when she grows up, because the darkness that exists in Noah could live within her. However, that doesn’t mean she will repeat the cycle. She will just have to fight hard to stop her potential beast.

Kit Harington and Caoilinn Springall give exceptional performances in this Must-See Hulu Horror Movie. It is one of the streaming services best movies to watch right now.

Stream The Beast Within on Hulu.