Who knew demonic possession could be so boring? In "Beyond Evil" Larry (John Saxon) and Barbara (Lynda Day George) are newlyweds who have come to live on a very small island so Larry can oversee the construction of some luxury condominiums. The improbable plot has Larry's friend and business associate, Del Giorgio (Michael Dante,) buying Larry and Barbara a giant house as a goodwill gesture. Several things just don't make sense, starting with the plotpoint that Del is not only a friend of Larry but a former love of Barbara (this normally doesn't bode well.) Del is also a schemer who isn't especially reliable. There are lots of other characters pretending to cause a plot to happen, but they don't matter. What does matter is that the house that Del bought is haunted, and the ghost promptly possesses Barbara, who chews the scenery without mercy.
There are subplots about banking, psychic surgery, and crypt destruction (among others) but despite all this, director Herb Freed can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. None of the characters are likeable, and when widespread mayhem is visited upon people in the film, it elicits no emotional response from the audience. The whole possession theme was hot in the late 1970s and early 1980s: this film is one of the least entertaining in the genre, and is certainly one of the most plodding.
The film is simply loaded with flaws, from terrible overacting to incredibly dim lighting, but the thing most people will remember about this movie are the unbelievably poor special effects. They are shockingly bad (particular the demon head in the fire and the laser beam eyes) and are utterly laughable. They are so bad that even if this film contained an ounce of scariness, the fear factor would be completely undone by the hilarity of the effects. This is one of the worst John Saxon movies I have ever seen: it's not entertaining on any level, not even for camp value, and I recommend avoiding it like a particularly bad intestinal virus, which would probably be more enjoyable.