The Beyond

A Louisiana hotel is discovered to be one of the seven gateways to hell. The other world does not wish the hotel opened, so a horde of zombies is unleashed on the town. Also, there is a character named Joe the Plumber.

Starring the lovely and talented Catriona MacColl, directed by Lucio Fulci and written by Dardano Sacchetti... who has a virtual monopoly on Italian horror. This is a great cast and crew.

Howard Maxford says the film's "occasional visual flair may commend it to Fulci completists." I was under the impression this was considered one of Fulci's stronger films, but his comment makes me wonder.

Indeed, the visuals are Fulcis' strong point. An eye getting torn out, a crucifixion, eye piercing, shards of glass, tarantulas, acid... he does the best gore one can expect from a low budget film. (Thank you, effects wizard Giannetto de Rossi.) Luca Palmerini, who calls the film "first rate", claims there are many references to classic Italian horror, the films of Tobe Hooper and Winner, and the literature of Graegorius and Sidney. These were clearly over my head, but only add to the greatness of the film.

My horror idol Jon Kitley sums it up best: "Fulci isn't interested in a coherent storyline, with all the loose ends tidied up at the end of 90 minutes. He is more concerned with creating a series of sequences meant to scare you. Horrify you. And hopefully, even gross you out." This fits Fulci perfectly, but also is not a bad way to describe Italian horror in general. (Fulci freely admits the film has "no logic" and is "plotless".) I love the smile Catriona MacColl flashes as David Warbeck tries to put a bullet in the front of a pistol while in the elevator. Clearly, anyone who knows how to use a gun would not load it this way. But also, Fulci could have cut the film a second earlier and avoided the momentary smile that appears in an otherwise tense and terrifying scene.

Any die-hard horror fan or fan of Italian horror must see this film. It is a true classic, regardless of the fact it may be overlooked by some horror historians (Italian horror has always taken a backseat to American or British horror, and even among Italian films, Fulci takes a backseat to Argento.) Check this one out.

If you think Dario Argento doesn't give a damn about coherent plots, check out Lucio Fulci! 'The Beyond' does have a (Lovecraftian) plot as such - a woman inherits a hotel in Louisiana that contains one of the doorways to Hell - but that is basically an excuse for Fulci to string together a series of fantastic and frequently gory images. These include zombie attacks, eye gougings, a better dog attack scene than 'Suspiria', the crucifixion of a Satanist, and a sequence involving tarantulas which has to be one of the high points of horror, anywhere, anytime.

'The Beyond' is sensational and a bona fide modern horror classic. Absolutely essential viewing!

This is probably my favorite horror movie of all time, and that stacks up against the pure genius of stuff like Phantasm, Evil Dead, Phenomenon and Dead Alive or any Romero. We have "Shocktoberfest" at my place every year over several nights, and I remember it being the 2008 election season when we watched The Beyond (like we do just about every year). We were totally blown away by John McCain and Joe the Plumber being in the same movie from 1981!!! Well, it's actually "John McCabe" but being that close to the election we could only hear "McCain," and our heads probably weren't on completely straight. Fulci is a master and transcends space-time to bring us the ultimate in fear and gore.

The idea of a gateway to hell being opened has potential but this movie doesn't pull it off. The story lacks details, the characters trait's are not developed enough, and the dialog is utterly ridiculous ("Attack Dickie! Attack!"). The only reason someone might want to see this movie is because of the gore, which the movie has a lot of, but some scenes are unrealistic. I advise people that aren't fans of Fulci's work to steer clear.

Let me start by saying that my initial review was uncharitable at best, and in a completely wrong context. Time to fix that.

If this had been my introduction to his work, or 'Don't Torture A Duckling,' or literally any of his movies but 'The House By The Cemetery,' I would have warmed to Fulci much sooner than I did. He knows his brand, and sticks to it like a pointy object to an eyeball in his signature style of gore. His footprint in the genre is undeniable, from 'The Dead Hate The Living' to the 'Terrifier' franchise. All that commands a certain level of respect, one I couldn't grasp the first time around.

You have to meet this thing where it's at: the work of a filmmaker so in his groove that he seizes the opportunity to go absolutely nuts. The movie is jam-packed with indulgent unrealistic "gore" effects, eyeball carnage, questionable plot points, an iconic Argento scene reproduced badly and for too long, all followed by an expectedly puzzling ending.

It's a decent setup, a woman inherits a hotel in Louisiana, and finds it's haunted. Bloody chaos ensues. A classic trope ripe for Fulci's maximalist approach to the genre. And boy does he deliver everything you'd expect from him.

The one paragraph I will leave in here is this: From a technical, traditional perspective, and looking at 'The Beyond' in a vacuum as I did at first, Fulci seems to have NO idea how to build tension or suspense. It's like he thinks that the longer he draws out the buildup to a kill, the more suspenseful it is, and the longer he draws out a kill, the scarier it is. In reality, all it does is leave you so bored with the buildup that you don't care about the kill anymore, and so bored with the kill by the time the character actually dies that you can barely remember how it's supposed to serve the plot...

...but having seen his giallo works, I can only conclude that this is on purpose. For some reason. It's not that he can't do these things, he did them quite well in 'Don't Torture A Duckling.' But when it comes to horror, he just ... chooses not to. I don't get it, but his hard-core fans regard it as part of the charm, in which case I have to say it does what it's supposed to in tremendous fashion.

I sometimes find the Argento rips annoying, but I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? It's certainly true of this movie and 'Terrifier'--watch them in chronological order and you'll recognize the scene I'm referring to.

All in all, I'm actually glad I watched this thing. It's not really my style, but it's given me an appreciation for the genre as a whole that I didn't have before, and for the legacy he left behind. I wouldn't have "gotten" the end of 'The Dead Hate The Living' without it. I wouldn't have enjoyed 'Terrifier' half as much as I did. It's made my experience as a horror freak richer.

I would definitely class it as essential viewing, which is why I've given it 8 stars--the two I knocked off are just pet peeves. If you know what you're getting into, it's a hell of a ride. If you want to apply 'Night of the Living Dead' standards to it... well. The sign says "Do Not Entry."