The Beyond

From The Grindhouse Cinema Database

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Also Known As

  • 7 Doors of Death
  • L' Aldilà (Italy)
  • And You Will Live in Terror: The Beyond
  • E tu vivrai nel terrore - L'aldilà (Italy)
  • The Beyond

Taglines

  • Behind this doorway lie the terrifying and unspeakable secrets of hell. No one who sees it lives to describe it. And you shall live in darkness for all eternity.
  • The seven dreaded gateways to hell are concealed in seven cursed places... And from the day the gates of hell are opened, the dead will walk the earth.

Main Details

  • Released in 1981
  • Color
  • Runtime: 87 min
  • Aspect Ratio: (2.35:1)
  • Rated: Unrated
  • Distributed by Fulvia Film/Aquarius Releasing

Cast and Crew

  • Directed by Lucio Fulci
  • Written by Dardano Sacchetti
  • Starring: Catriona MacColl, David Warbeck, Cinzia Monreale, Antoine Saint-John, Veronica Lazar, Anthony Flees, Giovanni De Nava, Al Cliver, Michele Mirabella, Gianpaolo Saccarola, Maria Pia Marsala, Laura De Marchi
  • Produced by Fabrizio De Angelis
  • Original Music by Fabio Frizzi
  • Cinematography by Sergio Salvati
  • Film Editing by Vincenzo Tomassi

Film Review

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Lucio Fulci's original film print of The Beyond had been lost for over 25 years until Sage Stallone and Bob Murawski found a print and put the film together under their Grindhouse Releasing label. What they did was something horror lovers were waiting a long time for. This print of The Beyond is beautifully restored and remastered. You can now watch it in all its Italian gory glory. We also have to thank another gorehound named Quentin Tarantino for his great DVD label, Rolling Thunder Pictures, which The Beyond is co-released under.

The film opens in Louisiana, 1927. We see a painter named Shweik (Antoine St John) alone in his room at a hotel working on his art. Meanwhile, some townspeople are floating down a river nearby towards the hotel. We can only suspect that they are going to cause trouble with the constant cross cutting. The look of this opening sequence was shot in color, but cinematographer Sergio Salvati uses a brown sepia tone to give it that spaghetti western flashback effect. After the locals find Shweik in his room, they proceed to lash him with iron chains and this is where Lucio Fulci's trademark gore FX comes into play. With each crash of the chain, Shweiks skin is torn open and blood begins to seep out. Fulci takes great care to let each shot play out so that we are repulsed, but thrilled at the same time.

After dragging Shweik to a dark, grungy basement, and lashing him even more, the locals nail him to a wall with metal spikes. This isn't the worst part... after successfully pinning him to the wall, they take buckets and shovels full of quicklime and throw it on Shweik's body and face. Then, as Fabio Frizzi's funky score kicks in, we watch as the acid slowly corrodes Shweik. What an opening!!!

Flash forward to 1981. A young beauty named Liza Merrill (Catriona MacColl) has come into owning the hotel and she's trying to restore it. A local painter is on a scaffold and suddenly he sees a white eyed woman. He then falls to the ground and blood dribbles out of his mouth. Liza and company take care of the injured man and they try to find out what made him fall. He screams "The eyes!"

The room the painter saw the mysterious woman in is Room 36, the same room Shweik inhabited. Liza hires a plumber named Joe to fix the leak in the basement. Joe is of course unaware that the wall he's working on is one of the 7 Gates to Hell. A hand flies out at Joe and proceeds to gouge his eyeball right out!

Throughout the rest of the film, Liza meets several people including Emily (Sarah Keller), a blind girl who warns her about the evil in the hotel and a local doctor (played by David Warbeck) who helps Liza get through all the events going on. You might notice that the film doesn't really have a solid storyline, instead it's a sequence of images and sounds that are meant to give you the feeling that you are IN The Beyond where no one is safe from evil forces. NOTE: Watch out for some funny little moments including a shot of a "DO NOT ENTRY" sign in the hospital and Liza delivering the line: "You have carte blanche, but NOT a blank check."

Lucio Fulci's cinema team, headed by make-up/FX artist Gianetto De Rossi, did an incredible job of creating the visual effects. The Italian film crews really were masters of on-the-spot invention and they were brilliant at creating something from nothing. The Beyond contains things you just wont see in other horror films, including acid destroying skin, heads exploding, a killer tarantula attack on a man's face and lots of eye gouging and popping. You'll also see a dog ripping out a woman's throat.

Fulci's style of directing was very exploitive, but he also had an artistic style as well. I think that's one reason many film lovers consider Fulci a master. He was capable of really grossing you out, but also adding an intelligence and surrealistic quality to a story that by another director just wouldn't have the same impact.

This movie is one of my personal favorite films. Fulci really took horror to another level with his style, FX and atmospherics. He was not afraid to be over the top or to go too far with his art. I definitely appreciate that.

A wonderful job by Grindhouse Releasing and Anchor Bay on this Italian gore classic.

Reviewed by Popeye Pete - 4/25/07

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