The Beyond (Beyond Terror) [DVD] [1981]

Fancy watching a guy getting chain whipped by a mob before being graphically crucified to a wall (it seriously looks realistic!) and covered in lime? If this sounds like your bag then hop on board for The Beyond horror film express!

This film is seriously cool. After an initial graphic prologue where a guy is gratuitously tortured and murdered in the way mentioned above in a New Orleans hotel, the story moves forward to the present day (well 1981 when it was filmed) where a woman inherits the hotel which was abandoned in 1927 after all the hotels inhabitants mysteriously vanished after the torture scene previously mentioned. She meets some oddball characters such as the quite attractive blind woman with the Alsatian companion. Basically the rest of the plot consists of discovering that one of the 7 gates of hell is opened once again allowing all sorts of nasties in to this world - mainly zombies and possessed people.

The story, although confusing at times, is very interesting. The characters are also interesting and the acting is of quite a high standard. The highlight though (and the reason most people buy this film) is the gore - it is graphic and extreme and hats off to a top job done by the make up and effects department. On screen violence and gore is something that Mr Fulci does so alarmingly well in his films. Some of the highlights include chain whipping, crucifixion, melted by lime, melted by acid, eye gougings (3 of them), graphic shootings and stabbings, throat and ear being torn by a dog, etc. The gore really is a spectacle to behold and Fulci employs the same method he used in Zombie Flesh Eaters, where the camera zooms in for a close-up of the gushing wound. It both amazes me and creeps me out the extent of the realness of the make up and effects used.

The DVD and casing are amazing - there is a collectors booklet (poster) inside, the DVD is packed full of interesting extras including an introduction by the main actress Katherine MacColl, part of a Q and A session with the director and David Warbreck at a horror convention in the early 90's, plus there are extensive interviews with most of the people involved in the film about the late Lucio Fulci and how he was as a person, how he was to work for and how he made his films - an interesting insight that paints a picture about the man himself. All in this is the way all great horror films should be presented. The DVD is fully uncut and unrated, so you can watch it in all of its unedited splendour. The atmosphere is intense and there is a real darkness that permeates the entire film and story. The zombies are amazing and some of the make up really is so much more effective than the modern zombie make up - they should always be shown rotten and they should be slow moving slumped bodies that look as if they are sleep walking, well at least in my opinion anyway. Admittedly the zombies don't get to munch on any people in this film, but it is not a major let down, as everything else creates such a graphic and powerful film that you can't help but be spellbound by a true horror maestro at work on an exceptionally good day.

I genuinely believe this film deserves the full 5 stars, as it is truly as if a nightmare has been captured on celluloid for all to see. This film really is the perfect nightmare.

The beyond, when a young woman moves into an old hotel which she has inherited, she thinks everything is going well. She plans to make a new life for herself but doesn't realise that the hotel has been the gateway to hell in years past and some potentially terrible things are about to happen. Alot of confusing scenes happen in this film but it is fun to watch, with a lot of weird characters like the house keeper, that little girl and of course who could forget Joe the plumber. Lucio Fulci had created the quintessential Italian horror film, thick on atmosphere with an average storyline. This film also has alot of gore and blood although at first I didn't know what I thought of it, but when I watched it for the second time I really ended up liking it more as the death scenes were pretty cool like the acid melting a woman's face and a gory dog attack scene and an eye gouging and a lot of zombies that appear at random (although that could have been from the bad editing!) there were however some scenes that were unconvincing like the spiders that ate a guys face. David Warbeck also stars in this film and his character was brilliant as the but kicking zombie killer does not realise is that he continues to shoot the zombies in the stomach when it was quite clear that they die with one shot to the head!.... If your the type whose never seen a Fulci flick before then make sure you watch this excellent zombie flick, it's a pretty good start!.

I had heard about this movie as a cult classic which had influenced a lot of other directors and also as a gorefest complete with the directors signature content of featuring an eye out on a spike. It is of course is all that, the effects are dated, thankfully because it can be jarring enough as it is but it is also genuinely bizarre and spooky in a way many modern features are not.

The story is a classic "House with a history" tale, hauntings, zombis and monsters abound as the theme of a door to hell having been opened by a lynch mobs crime plays out, I liked the idea that such a thing did not simply involve the living falling prey to the dead but also the dead being confused or trying to escape themselves. It is one of the few horror zombi features which reminded me of different literary or mythological references like Greek myths about Hades.

The finish of this movie is spectacular, it really does keep you guess and there is no way you could possibly predict or forecast the eventual fate of the remaining/surviving protagonists, its just so bizzare and provides plenty of material to muse on, speculate about or discuss with friends if you're watching it with your buddies.

I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of classic horror (or even hauntings) movies but not liable to be easily disgusted by the violence and gore, it doesnt spoil the feature for me but I'm not that interested in it either, if you are a gore affecado or a fan of special effects you could enjoy it for that alone. I would recommend it in preference to many of the modern features and definitely in preference to anything in the cinemas presently.