From Beyond (1986)

A group of scientists have developed the Resonator, a machine which allows whoever is within range to see beyond normal perceptible reality. But when the experiment succeeds, they are immediately attacked by terrible life forms.

Director:

Stuart Gordon

Writers:

H.P. Lovecraft (short story), Brian Yuzna (adaptation)

Stars:

Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Ted Sorel

3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jeffrey Combs	...	Crawford Tillinghast
Barbara Crampton	...	Dr. Katherine McMichaels
Ted Sorel	...	Dr. Edward Pretorius
Ken Foree	...	Bubba Brownlee
Carolyn Purdy-Gordon	...	Dr. Bloch
Bunny Summers	...	Neighbor Lady
Bruce McGuire	...	Jordan Fields
Del Russel	...	Ambulance Driver
Dale Wyatt	...	Paramedic
Karen Christenfeld	...	Nurse
Andy Miller	...	Patient - Strait Jacket
John Leamer	...	Shock Technician
Regina Bleesz	...	Bondage Girl

Storyline

Dr. Edward Pretorius and his assistant, the physician Crawford Tillinghast, have developed the Resonator, a machine to stimulate the sixth sense through the pineal gland. When Crawford activates the apparatus, he sees creatures flying in the air and he summons Dr. Pretorius. The experiment goes out of control and Dr. Pretorius refuses to turn off the Resonator. Meanwhile their neighbor calls the police, and when the police officers arrive, they see Crawford trying to escape from his house and Dr. Pretorius beheaded. Crawford is sent to a mental institution under the supervision of the sadistic Dr. Bloch. However, the prominent psychiatrist Dr. Katherine McMichaels requests the custody of Crawford and Detective Bubba Brownlee that is investigating the case stays with them. Katherine goes with Crawford and Bubba to see the Resonator and turns the machine on. Dr. Pretorius returns in a mutant shape and attacks them, in the beginning of a gore night with weird life forms.

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Plot Keywords:

body horror | cult film | molestation | based on short story | breasts | 

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Taglines:

Everything is alive...and hungry.

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 October 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

H.P. Lovecraft's From Beyond

Filming Locations:

Empire Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$4,500,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$1,261,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Empire Pictures, Taryn Prov

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Albert Band, who served as the production manager of From Beyond, also makes an uncredited appearance as a wino.

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Goofs

When Katharine is in the institution for the first time, and she is looking through the windows on the cell-doors, the audio of the man who screams at her does not match with the movement of his lips.

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Quotes

Dr. Katherine McMichaels: If there is a statistical correlation between schizophrenia and the pineal gland, they may be feeling or seeing what we saw.
Buford 'Bubba' Brownlee: Well, what about the hard on I got? Is there a statistical correlation for that too?

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Alternate Versions

The original UK cinema version was uncut by the BBFC (though the print submitted was the MPAA-edited R-rated version). The UK Vestron video releases were cut by 10 secs by the BBFC and edited a scene where Katherine's breasts are molested by the transformed Pretorius.

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Connections

Referenced in Blood Slaughter Massacre (2013)

User Reviews

A real (third) eye opener.

H.P Lovecraft had a twisted imagination. Director Stuart Gordon and writer Brian Yuzna equally so. The team who brought us the excellently morbid black horror/comedy "Re-Animator", present us with another tasty Lovecraft nightmare of kinky sexual ecstasy and luridly graphic terror in the frame of "From Beyond". From the story, to the special effects and atmosphere everything comes off resourcefully artistic and grippingly bizarre. Not only does it want to gross you out with its repellently heinous make-up FX, but also draw you into a satirical variant of the pleasure to seek out forbidden knowledge. This quest is a fixation, with sexual stimulation and escalating fear gelling together to construct a desirably moody mind trip of psychedelic colour and shades. Gordon's competent direction is highly stylised and reworks grisly jolts to perfection. Even the gloomy atmosphere holds tight, and smothers any sort of hope with total bleakness. Yuzna adapts Lovcraft's nine page story to a feature length premise, and he does a splendid job in keeping it impulsively smart and provokingly bold within a brief framework, but some laborious spots in the script eventually creep in. The dark tongue-in-cheek humour is there, but unlike "Re-Animator" it's deviously slight in manner. It features a likable worthy cast of horror favourites. Jeffery Combs, Barbra Crampton (who looks great in bondage), Ken Foree and a superlatively loony Ted Sorel in impressively gooey make-up. Richard Brand's accomplished, racy music score incorporates a shuddery intensity that works with the deliriously erotic pull. This is probably my ideal Brand score. While I might prefer "Re-Animator", this freaky cult-fave is not far behind.