It's difficult to get past the opening scenes of close-ups of animal abuse, but at least that sets the tone for this very dark and murky adaption of the famous story. They say the acting life can be very glamorous - it certainly isn't the case here. No CGI safety-net, the performers attached to this story certainly seem to suffer for their art in a variety of uncomfortably cold situations.

It's good when horror films bring some new locations into their stories, but equally, it's always worth it to revisit the vast crumbling lairs of traditional settings, and that is done really effectively here; the story is given the most impressive horror treatment. Creatures hide in shadow - you only know they're there when you see a rolled eyeball or a moving, inhuman talon. There is enough of a fairytale quality to this to appeal to the inner child, and there are moments when the eyes will moisten! It's all accompanied by wonderful, sepulchral music, and directed like a hugely gothic TV film. My score is 8 out of 10.

With Halloween coming up,I started to search around for Horror DVDs that a friend could watching during Halloween.Taking a look at titles that a DVD seller had recently tracked down,I was delighted to spot a Czech New-Wave Horror adaptation of Beauty & the Beast,which led to me getting ready to look into the eyes of a New- Wave Beauty.

The plot:

Being unable to afford the cost of two weddings being held for 2 of his 3 daughters,a widower decides to try and sell a portrait of his late wife in order to raise some money. Traveling around the darkened woods,the widower discovers a decaying mansion.Entering the mansion,the widower finds the owner hiding in shadows,and offering him food and mountains of gold.

Just before he leaves,the widower decides to walk round the mansion gardens (what good timing!)and to pick a white rose to give to his third (and not engaged) daughter Julie.Furious,the stranger dives out of the shadows and reveals himself to be a man who has been cursed to look like a beast. Angry over one of the white roses being taken,the beast tells the widower that he can only go free if one of his daughters is able to take his place.Turning down the option,the widower gets the beast to give him one last chance to say goodbye to his daughters.Learning of the deal her dad has made,Julie secretly takes his place by running off towards the beastly sight.

View on the film:

Sending Beauty & the Beast to the Czech forest,co-writer/ (along with Ota Hofman and Frantisek Hrubín) director Juraj Herz and cinematographer Jirí Macháne grind the film down with a wonderfully decayed appearance,with the rotting face of the beast being matched by the decaying reds and golds of what was once his lavish mansion.Placing the viewer in the mind of the beast,Herz opens up every corner of the mansion with superbly stylised first person tracking shots from the beast,which along with giving the film a light fairy tale atmosphere,also subtly reveals the beast's developing trust and "closeness" towards Julie.

Opening the title with animals getting butchered, (talk about easing the viewer in!) the screenplay by Herz/Hofman and Hrubín brilliantly cross rustic Horror with rich Gothic romance.Despite the face being hidden by some splendid special effects,the writers brilliantly explore the psychological monsters lurking inside beast,thanks to inner-monologues exposing the beast's raw fears and weaknesses.Despite lurking in the shadows for a good part of their interactions,the writers give the blossoming romance between the beast and Julie a surprisingly sweet nature,with Julie's encouragement for the beast to step out of the shadows being delivered in an excellent,delicate manner,as the beast starts to Czech out the beauty.

In a way, I was expecting to see a bit more of the story that Disney's Beauty & the Beast Had, but with this production's much smaller budget, that would've been impossible. Still, the makers of this film did the best with what they had on hand. It wasn't bad, actually, and I recommend it because there were a lot of familiar elements to the Disney version. Why do i keep on mentioning the Disney version? Well, I rated it a 10 because, to me, it was perfect, from the songs to the scenery to the story to the animation. Here, a lot of those elements are stripped away, but it still makes for an interesting viewing if only for completion purposes.