The Beast Within ending explained: Is Noah really a werewolf?

The Beast Within is a film in the mystery horror-thriller genre and has Game of Thrones fame Kit Harrington in the lead role. The film was directed by Alexander J. Farrell. It was released on July 26, 2024. Here's the official synopsis:

"After a series of strange events leads her to question her family's isolated life on a fortified compound deep in the English wilds, 10-year-old Willow follows her parents on one of their secret late-night treks to the heart of the forest."

The screenplay was written by Farrell and Greer Ellison, while the producers include Karl Hall, Jack Christian, Merlin Merton, Sebastian Street, and Martin Owen. Noah (the character played by Harrington) is not a werewolf in the film.

What is the plot of The Beast Within?

A still from The Beast Within | Image via Well Go USA Entertainment

The Beast Within follows a ten-year-old girl named Willow who lives with her parents, Imogen and Noah, in an isolated region of England. Noah has strict rules for Willow, especially during the nighttime. But she starts to question his beliefs, particularly the short forest trips they need to take at night. One night, she sees her father becoming a werewolf-like creature, and things escalate.

How does The Beast Within end?

Toward the end of The Beast Within, we see Waylon shutting off the farm door so that Willow and her mother, Imogen, can leave. But the werewolf Noah eventually catches Willow, leading Imogen to plead with him not to hurt her. He calms down for a moment but becomes aggressive again, attacking his wife and accidentally causing a fire.

Willow sets Noah on fire with the help of a tank carrying oxygen. Later, she sees visions of the event. It features a normal Noah (not the werewolf) attacking his wife and daughter. Her vision confirms that Noah is an abuser and not a werewolf. She possibly created a werewolf image in her head to cope with his behavior. The makers drop several hints of his abusive behavior toward Imogen, like her bruise marks and argument noises.

Noah also feels Imogen is cheating on him with someone else. He also has a short temper and often snaps at his family over small things. In one scene, we see him reading Jack London's novel White Fang, which talks about a wolfdog. It might have helped Willow to come up with the idea that her father is a werewolf. The entire story is told from Willow's point of view as she starts seeing her father as a werewolf. That night, it is possible that she saw a major fight between Noah and Imogen, which led to him becoming violent. Willow had to kill him to save herself and her mother.

In an interview with Film Review Daily, The Beast Within director Alexander J. Farrell spoke about how the horror genre allows him to talk about family dynamics. He said:

"Maybe there are a lot of things happening in households across the world which do require the genre horror to elaborate upon. Horror often heightens emotions and stressors, which is a good way of magnifying underlying family dynamics. Especially with this, we were able to dive into the complexities of our characters' relationships in a much more intense and revealing way. The isolation in this film – being in the middle of nowhere, behind huge walls — created that sort of distant, isolated, controlled environment, which you felt they were never going to escape. A lot of things that define a horror film really helped us as well."

What do you think of The Beast Within's ending?