Fella_shibby Review of The Beyond

The Beyond (1981)

Forget the non linear plot, check out the gore n some of the best special effects.

[7/10 · 2 February 2017]

I saw this first on a VHS in the late 80s titled as Seven doors of death. The VHS guy told me that it was a rare copy. Revisited recently on a blu ray. The film may be frustrating to some viewers because it does not follow a linear path. The movie starts in 1927 Louisiana hotel where v get to see an angry mob, some arriving in boats while others in cars. Yeehaw! They torture n kill a painter, crucifying him on the wall. The blood which comes out from his hand resembles dirty muddy water. Fast forward, a girl from New York inherits this hotel n she starts renovation. How she inherits this hotel no explanation given. A painter falls off after he sees a girl with the creepiest contact lenses. Later we see the new owner of the hotel driving on a seemingly endless bridge to nowhere n the same creepy lenses blind girl standing with her dog on the bridge. A plumber goes to repair the mysterious flooding in the basement n there is the most nastiest eye popping scene. Later the bodies of the plumber n the painter (who's now a decayed n dead zombie) r moved to the morgue where the doc puts ECG machine on the zombie. Crazy science! The painters wife comes to dress the body for funeral n she sees something which we don't get to see n she screams n v get to c an open jar of acid (who keeps an open jar of acid) kept on top of a shelf which is shaking n slowly the acid is dropping on the mothers face, while the daughter who entered hearing the scream tries to escape the acidic froth which goes on like a wave. Cut back to the funeral n we get to see the daughter of the plumber too turned blind with similar creepy lenses. A contractor goes to the city hall to retrieve some old plans of the hotel n he falls down the ladder n is attacked by tarantulas n they do eat his eyeballs. Whats the eyeball obsession? Now the original blind girl who's been dismissed as a ghost or someone who doesn't exist, is attacked by her dog. Who was she is never explained. Do we care? Nope. In the end v get to c hordes of slow walking zombies. The doc keeps on firing, sometimes on the head n sometimes on other body parts. Maybe his aim wasn't that good or else how can he not know about shooting the zombies on the head. The best part is that without reloading the gun, he keeps on firing. One very good scene of a head-shot. Superb effects there. The ending is done surprisingly well and offers a nice little final touch of horror. The doc n the owner r trapped in the painting. Technically, Salvati did a good job with the cinematography. Germano Natali did some stunning special effects. All in all the director Lucio fulci did a terrific job with the lil resources he had to work with.