From Beyond (1986) User Reviews

A Strange Vision From Those Who Brought Us Re-Animator

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 10 February 2013]

Scientists create a resonator to stimulate the pineal gland (sixth sense), and open up a door to a parallel (and hostile) universe. Based on a story by H. P. Lovecraft.

I first saw this film a few years ago (maybe 2009) at a film festival in Chicago, but it apparently did not stick with me well. I neither wrote a review at the time (which is a rarity) nor did I remember much beyond the very skeleton of a plot when I revisited it again (2013). Perhaps because, sadly, it is not among the better films out there.

This is the sort of movie a horror fan wants to love: based on Lovecraft, directed by Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Ken Foree. Even the producers are noteworthy -- Brian Yuzna and the Band family when they were till in their prime. The opening credits are a veritable horror hall of fame. And seeing Combs interact with Foree is timeless fun and entertainment.

John Carl Buechler's effects need to be praised. They have been compared to Rob Bottin's "The Thing", which I think is fair. But Buechler often gets the short shrift, perhaps considered inferior to Bottin, Robert Hall, John Vulich, KNB and others... look at these effects and tell me he is not among the greatest effects artists out there. Ted Sorel, not typically associated with horror, did extremely well, too, and should be recognized -- horror fans can also check him out in "Basket Case 2".

But the film leaves something to be desired. While the concept of opening another dimension is very cool (and classic Lovecraft), and the focus on the pineal gland is a good way to address that (as one character remarks, the gland has been a metaphysical mystery at least since the days of Descartes), it seems like screenwriter Dennis Paoli did not adequately find the right way to adapt a seven-page story into an 85-minute film.

The film remains strong for the first half, but after that the audience (or at least me) grows weary, wondering how many times the group can return to the attic, or how many times a machine can be destroyed and still work. And then the story spirals off in a very strange direction, as if it suddenly picked up another script to get directions from. If this could have been condensed to 60 minutes, it probably would be a masterpiece, but instead it sort of lingers as Stuart Gordon's red-headed stepchild.

So, in short, die-hard horror fans are going to love (or at least enjoy) this film, seeing their favorite stars on screen (sort of a sequel to "Re-Animator" -- with three cast members, a director, producers, writers and even Miskatonic University returning). For the rest of the viewing public, this is not going to be a top pick...

one of the wildest and most entertaining horror films

[fred-83 · 8/10 · 21 November 2005]

Its been a while since I saw this, but I fondly remember it as being one of the wildest and most entertaining horror films of the 80s. I liked it even more than Re-Animator, partly because there is something more intriguing about parallel dimensions and the connection to schizophrenia, than Re-Animators simple (though still entertaining ) "dead come back to life"-scenario. Some of the outlandish effects seem to be influenced by Dali, bodies in a constant state transformation and re-evaluation. It is mind-boggling that it is still so hard to get a hold of on DVD, I only watched a British VHS copy years ago which had some cuts and I still long to see the original unrated version. The score, by Richard Band, is also impressively aggressive and atmospheric. Would somebody please just release it on DVD! They just don't make them like this anymore.

Classic 80's Horror

[ElijahCSkuggs · 7/10 · 17 February 2008]

Mention H.P. Lovecraft and you betcha I'll pay attention. Mention slimy effects and Jeffrey Coombs....you bet your sweet ass again I'll be paying attention. But when you mention Stuart Gordon or Brian Yuzna....ehh, either dude is hit or miss with me. Thankfully, From Beyond delivered enough entertainment to make this bizarro movie lover pretty satisfied.

The movie revolves around some type of resonator thingy that enlarges your Pineal Gland in your brain. This gland, when given the right magnetic frequencies (?) enables you to see creatures that secretly reside in our world. Include a nerdy yet sexy psychiatrist and a ex-football player cop, you have a trio of true 80's weirdom. And for many fans of 80's horror, this film is a gem and probably a favorite of theirs.

From Beyond delivers well on a couple things: The slimy special effects are all well-done, which is no surprise if you've seen Brian Yuzna's Society. The script and acting overall is completely weak and cheesy, but if you know anything about 80s horror, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I thought it was alright, 80s horror fans will love it, anyone else will probably completely dislike it. And the violence was on a pretty high level as well, which was surprising, I wasn't expecting so much blood, that was a nice surprise. Unfortunately though, the movie just doesn't entertain like you'd hope it would. The resonator scenes are done well, but most of the other scenes are rather uneventful and kinda dull. But this is no surprise, especially considering Yuzna or Gordon. Like I said before, they are both very hit or miss.

Overall though, the movie does deliver a unique scifi/horror 80s feel, great slimy effects, some 80 cheese and even a couple nipples. From Beyond is a bizarre flick that all true fans of 80s horror should enjoy...to some degree.

Stomach Churning Contents Revealed

[rexhableur · 24 September 2004]

This seminal film by Stuart Gordon reeks pure 80's. Following the success of the far superior Re-Animator, Gordon experiments with one of the works of his favourite literary sources: HP Lovecraft. The film tackles the popular sci-fiction theme of the sixth dimension -- and considering the small-budget limitations placed upon the director, it is a reasonable treatment of the multi-dimension theme. The resonator depicted in the film demonstrates strong Lovecraftian imagery . . . not easy to achieve. What strengthens the film are the grotesque F/X and Jeffery Combs/Barbara Crampton: both of these elements are excellent (for the genre and budget). Some of the F/X are really stomach churning -- try eating jello or fried liver and Chianti when watching the film . . . If your are a HPL, Gordon, Combs or Crampton fan, this film is an essential viewing for you.

Deliriously entertaining

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 19 July 2016]

The cast and crew of the horror hit RE-ANIMATOR team up again for this stomach-churning ride through (literally) the human mind. Once again using Lovecraft as source material, Gordon and friends take the original story and add their own gruesome elements to the stew. Much overlooked alongside its more popular and altogether more famous brother RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND, while lacking some of the frenetic pace and macabre gags which made that film so good, still stands alone as a deliriously gory horror film, full of slime, blood, and body bits.

The film works best when it sticks close to Lovecraft's original tale, and the opening scenes in which Jeffrey Combs sees the mysterious eel-like things floating around in the air invoke thrills and fear at the same time. Unfortunately, as the plot progresses it rapidly unfolds and moves to a hospital, which is where the film is at a low point. However the climax - a predictably slimy and visceral conclusion - is well worth waiting for, if only to watch the special effects.

The acting is definitely tongue-in-cheek and in this respect is effective all round. Jeffrey Combs can do no wrong, even in the worst of bad films, and he's once again on hand to deliver the chuckles and chills with his particular brand of over-acting. Combs' transformation into a monster is rightly disturbing to watch. Barbara Crampton makes for a good heroine and looks very fetching in a black leather outfit, something you probably won't see anywhere else. As well as the two leads, DAWN OF THE DEAD's very own Ken Foree has a comic relief role as a policeman caught up in the horrific events. Watching Foree prance around in underpants made me think just how much I like this great actor, it's a shame he hasn't been in more films since Romero's classic gave him a certain cult status.

The special effects are the real stars of FROM BEYOND, and they range from the typical (brain eating, eyeball gouging) to the superb (big slimy monster things). The effects are used a lot and all are totally brilliant in conception, being wonderfully weird and odd, especially the slime creature and the monster in the basement. With a spine-tingling soundtrack and collaboration from three notable names in horror - Charles Band (a cheapie producer who now owns Full Moon Entertainment), Brian Yuzna (a delightfully sick individual) and finally Stuart Gordon, there is no way this film could miss the mark really. Overall, FROM BEYOND is a delightfully entertaining film which thankfully never takes itself too seriously and can be watched over and over again.

A very disturbing but also creative movie...

[tom_koopa · 7/10 · 7 September 2009]

I had no idea what to expect when I downloaded this movie. The plot summary on IMDb seemed interesting to me. I didn't look at any other aspects to keep myself spoiler-free.

I have to admit that the movie surprised me in many ways. As it happens, I apparently watched the uncut (director's cut) version of the movie.

There are some really strange and disturbing scenes in this movie. There is a scene where a woman dresses herself in black leather and continues by touching a man in... certain places. I don't know if the normal version of the movie has that, but that's what I saw.

HP Lovecraft's From Beyond tells of two scientists experimenting with a device called a Resonator. With it they are able to amplify a part of the brain known as the Pineal Gland. To their amazement, they see a new world inhabited by creatures unknown. However it becomes clear too soon that these creatures aren't very friendly...

A clever, creepy and sometimes disgusting or disturbing movie. You need to have some sort of experience with movies like this or else it could be too much for you.

I recommend this movie to any fans of strange, gory movies. Fans of HP Lovecraft's work will love it, I'm sure.

7 out of 10 stars. It's certainly not a bad movie, just very strange...

Great little horror flick from a very accomplished team of horror film makers.

[The_Void · 9/10 · 20 July 2004]

From the team that brought us the horror classic; Re-Animator comes From Beyond; a tale of a mad scientist and his search for the ultimate pleasure.

Like Re-Animator, From Beyond is based on a story by the fantastic horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. The acting here comes courtesy of two of Re-Animator's best actors; Jeffrey Combs, a man that is well known in the world of B-Movie, and Barbara Crampton; the scream queen that we all remember from the infamous 'head' sequence in Re-Animator. There is also a role in this movie for Ken Foree, whom horror fans will instantly recognize from the classic film, Dawn of the Dead. I didn't know he was in this movie, so it was a nice surprise for me. From Beyond is also brought to the screen by the same team that brought Re-Animator to the screen; Stuart Gordon in the director's chair and Brian Yuzna producing. With a group of people as accomplished in the horror genre as this fine bunch, what could possibly go wrong?

The plot of this movie is good because it very much plunges into the unknown, and as well all know; it is that which makes horror frightening. This movie is also made good by the fact that once the horror starts, it doesn't stop and that's always a good thing for a horror movie as nobody likes waiting for the next horror sequence to turn up. The team of Gordon and Yuzna obviously knows that relentlessness makes a good horror movie as it is evident in all horror movies that they have worked on, together or separately. The idea behind it is also an original one, as ever with H.P. Lovecraft and it leaves a lot open for creativity, which is capitalized upon very well by Stuart Gordon with his interesting and effective creatures that are brought into the film as a result of the scientist's foray into 'the beyond'. The story, it could be said, is unrealistic, which is true of most horror films. However, the way it is brought to life seems realistic and as there is some explanation to the point of the machine and that which it does, so the audience can somewhat believe it; much to the film's credit.

In the 80's, horror reached a new point; gone was the creativity of the 60's and 70's, and a new area of over the top and extremely gory horror was opened up. From Beyond very much capitalizes on this 'new wave', but unlike a lot of the 80's films that did, From Beyond manages to pull it off so it is both interesting and creative and therefore it is a cut above the majority of other 80's films of the same ilk. From Beyond is not a masterpiece, but it is very good and fans of the horror genre will certainly find something to like about it. Recommended.

Funny Trash

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 25 June 2015]

Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel) and his assistant, the physician Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs), 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 (Bunny Summers) 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 (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon). However, the prominent psychiatrist Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) requests the custody of Crawford and Detective Bubba Brownlee (Ken Foree) 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.

"From Beyond" is a funny trash produced by Brian Yuzna and Charles Band and directed by Stuart Gordon that works with the cult-actor Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton from the Re-Animator. The result is a gore and gruesome black humor horror movie filmed in Italy to keep the low-budget. In the 80's, "From Beyond" was very creative and unique; in the present days, it has lost part of this impact but still entertains. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Do Além" ("From Beyond")

Campy and cheesy at times but spine tingling all the way thru

[ElvesBrew · 10/10 · 20 April 2002]

This is done by the same crew that gave us ReAnimator and while it follows in the same tradition of camp, cheese, and corn, "From Beyond" offers something more. There is sexier sex from Barbara Crampton, fresh from the Young and the Restless daytime soap. It is hard to decide if it is her Femme Fatal or her Black Leather Dominatrix that is the sexier. She does them both so well. Jeffery Combs gets a true starring role in this time out and offers much more depth to his reluctant hero character. His mentor/adversary Dr. Pretorius, played by Ted Sorel, is the essence of perverse genius. The special effects are also more intense and a step beyond anything else you're likely to have seen. Especially the battles between Pretorius and Combs' character, Crawford Tillinghast. With all the tongue in cheek humor, the campy sets and costumes, and the cheesy dialogue there still lies a truly spine tingling and disturbing storyline beneath it all. This movie could have easily been just another campy horror film but the terror of perversion makes it so much more.

This film disturbs and entertains, excites and amuses a unique vision unlike anything else.

Well worth a look - do like a bit of Stuart Gordon.

[ewolfw · 6/10 · 30 August 2021]

There's Jeffrey Combs doing his bit! "The Resonator, it's working! We know that, 'cos weird worms pop out of the air and try to eat your face! Love a doctor called Pretorius complete with mad laugh! Acting dialled up to 11 - "I want to see more than any man has ever seen!" Lovely makeup and gore effects - only Gordon does Lovecraft like this and has so much fun doing it - but it just gets silly as they totally lose it at the end!

Something is lacking from this sci-fi horror

[Red-Barracuda · 4/10 · 29 November 2010]

Despite the undoubted talent in front and behind the camera From Beyond was a disappointment to me. Director Stuart Gordon was of course responsible for the earlier Re-Animator, which was also an adaption of an H.P. Lovecraft story. It, therefore, seemed like From Beyond would be a winner, especially when two of the principal actors from that film returned here, namely, Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton; with the welcome addition of Ken Foree of Dawn of the Dead fame. Sadly, for some reason, things just never seem to truly take off and the film never really catches fire.

As I said before it does follow the template of Re-Animator. Even so far as casting Combs as a serious minded scientist dabbling in dangerous science but also in its use of great sticky 80's special effects. They are rather good it does have to be said. I just don't think they were incorporated into an interesting enough narrative. The wicked humour of Re-Animator was for the most part missing here, which I think worked to this movies detriment. The best moment for me was when Barbara Crampton kitted herself out in bondage gear and went slightly nymphomaniac on us. A little bit more of this and I might have been more generous with my final assessment but overall for me From Beyond just never kicks into first gear. It isn't a bad film as such but has to go down as something of a misfire when you consider the personnel involved.

Another Creepy, Gore-Drenched and Brilliant Lovecraftian Gem from the Team that Brought Us "Re-Animator"

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 9/10 · 15 February 2010]

With a story based on the works of the almighty H. P. Lovecraft, Stuart Gordon as the director and Jeffrey Combs as the star, great Horror is guaranteed. After the success of the masterpiece "Re-Animator" (1985), Gordon, Combs, producer Brian Yuzna, as well as the stunning Barbara Crampton teamed up again for yet another incredible piece of Lovecraftian Horror that is creepy and utterly fascinating. "From Beyond" of 1986 is a wonderful classic of 80s Horror cinema, which delivers in all regards, be it the insanely morbid storyline, the wonderfully eccentric characters and great performances, the eerie settings and creepy atmosphere, the pitch-black humor or the grisly makeup and incredibly gore-drenched splatter effects.

Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs) is assistant to the sinister Dr. Pretorius (Ted Sorel). Together, they have developed a device that stimulates the pineal gland and open the gates to a hellish parallel world. When their experiments go terribly wrong, Tillinghast is sent to a mental institution. Both out of good will and out of interest in their scientific achievements, the beautiful Dr. Katherine Michaels, a prodigy in psychology, gets Tillinghast out of the institution in order to investigate the circumstances in the eerie mansion where the experiments took place...

Jeffrey Combs, doubtlessly one of the greatest Horror/cult actors alive, is once again great in his role here. As opposed to his own Dr. West in "Re-Animator", Combs' character of Crawford Tillinghast isn't insanely obsessed with his work, but actually wants to prevent further experiments with the menacing device of his and Dr. Pretorius' creation. The ravishing Barbara Crampton is once again absolutely wonderful in the female lead here. Unlike her equally lovable, but more innocent character in "Re-Animator", she plays a fearless and very dedicated scientist here. As in the earlier film, Crapton is witty, sexy and absolutely wonderful in all regards. Ted Sorel is wonderfully creepy, sleazy and diabolical in the role of the villainous Dr. Pretorius (Horror fans will immediately recognize the reference to the mad scientist in James Whale's brilliant 1935 Universal Classic "Bride of Frankenstein"). The role of Dr. Pretorius is comparable in its sleaziness and creepiness to that of David Gale's Dr. Hill in "Re-Animator", both characters being unscrupulous scientists and, simultaneously, perverts. Other notable performances include Ken Foree as the likable black cop who joins Crawford Tillinghast and Katherine Michales to Pretorius' mansion, and director Gordon's real-life wife, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, who plays an malicious psychologist hostile to Katherine.

"From Beyond" is extremely creepy from start to finish, and yet it always includes the wonderfully morbid and pitch-black humor that makes Stuart Gordon so inimitable. The gore-effects are once again extremely bloody, the make-up is truly grisly, the deformed character from beyond alone looks incredibly nauseating. "From Beyond" is a breathtaking and stunningly suspenseful cinematic experience from start to finish, with which Gordon once again proves that Horror can be scary and funny at the same time. My favorite Stuart Gordon film will always be "Re-Animator" (which happens to be one of my favorite films of all-time), but "From Beyond" comes very close. An absolute must-see for all Horror fans!

nice try...

[Jonny_Numb · 7/10 · 7 October 2005]

"From Beyond" has the unfortunate task of following up one of the most vivid, effective, and hilarious horror films ever made–"Re-Animator"–and comes up short in almost every area. Once again, director Stuart Gordon is adapting an H.P. Lovecraft tale, this one about two scientists who create a device that stimulates a "sixth sense" and allows slimy creatures from another dimension to seep through. Stars Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, and Ken Foree ("Dawn of the Dead") do their best, but the script is too limited, and neither the humor nor horror is as strong as in "Re-Animator." Still, this is incomparably better than most of the dreck lining video shelves these days.

Barbara Crampton's assets can't save this one...

[boondocksaint20 · 4/10 · 9 November 2002]

Okay, I loved Re-animator. It contained a wonderful blend of camp, humor, gore and sexuality, as well as great acting from B-movie legend, Jeffrey Combs and B-movie hottie, Barbara Crampton. After reading so many positive reviews on this one on this site after seeing Re-Animator, I had to check this one out. When I brought this one home, I was shocked at seeing not only Jeffrey Combs and Barabara Crampton (from Re-Animator), but also Ken Foree in the cast, I was excited, thinking this should be a good time of a movie, just like Re-Animator was.

I must say, overall, I was very disapointed with this one. I thought the plot was good; the two scientists in the beginning create a machine that stimulates the brain's 'sixth sense' called the penial gland which controls all pleasures in the body and of course, human sexuality. The film starts off just like Re-animator did, having an experiment gone wrong and the protagonist escaping, making the viewer wonder what the hell just happened. I won't go into the plot as much, you can check other user comments for that, I will say that this movie just isn't Re-animator, on any level.

The special effects are sub-par, ranging from ultra-cheesy 80's animation to not bad, deformed monster menacing action. The leads, Jeffrey Combs (The Lovecraftian Actor, a true gift to the trade), Barbara Crampton (a good actress who doesn't mind showing off her 'talents' on screen) and Ken Foree (the main lead of Dawn of the Dead) all do well, though you can tell, the script does not give them much to work with at all.

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

This movie pretty much bored me the whole time...I was waiting for something interesting to happen...no, we get a good plot, but the follow through is aweful. There is very little explanation to what is going on, except that our sense of pleasure derives from creatures of another dimension who want nothing but to suck our brains out. This movie is not paced very well...it spends most of it's time with the experiments and ludicrous actions by our protagonists (Ken Foree, the cop, actually agrees for them to spend the night(?) in the house before leaving after seeing the horror the machine creates...why not just leave right then? Who in their right mind would want to spend a night in some stranger's house who had an obsession with dominatrixism? Of course, the movie would only be 30 minutes long, right?). The final 30 minutes are okay, I guess...trying to make something of the film by having Jeffrey Combs suddenly go nuts from the effects of the machine and start eating people's brains...if only THIS plotline could have begun 15 minutes into the film, there might have been something to be entertained with. But no, we're given a cheesy b-movie with good performances, yet, a horrible script, below average effects, and an incoherent plot line. Even though Barbara Crampton made her eventual naked contribution to the film, From Beyond is barely more than a waste of time, and this is coming from a true Re-Animator and Jeffrey Combs fan. Only for fans of Lovecraft or Jeffrey Combs...trust me, this one doesn't satisfy the 'Evil Dead' fans (like myself), or even the Mad Scientist fans. I like the macabre, but maybe if I was a little bit more obsessed with it, maybe I'd enjoy this film more...highly unlikely though. I was expecting so much, and I got so little. This film could have been so much more, given a better script. 4/10 stars.

Another horror classic from the team of Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna.

[Infofreak · 3 June 2003]

Stuart Gordon's debut 'Re-Animator' is a horror classic, and 'From Beyond' is an attempt to get lightning to strike twice. Once again Gordon and producer/co-writer Brian Yuzna make a gory horror/black comedy loosely inspired by a H.P. Lovecraft story, and get cult hero Jeffrey Combs and scream queen Barbara Crampton to star. And you know what? It's actually as great in its own way as 'Re-Animator'. They really pulled it off! Combs isn't quite as outrageous this time round, but he's still excellent, and Crampton has a more important role, which includes her memorably dressing up in bondage gear. Another 'Re-Animator' actor Carolyn Purdy-Gordon also appears in the supporting cast, as does Ken Foree, one of the stars of Romero's zombie classic 'Dawn Of The Dead', and Ted Sorel plays Dr. Pretorious (a deliberate reference to 'Bride Of Frankenstein'), in a role one could almost imagine was written specifically for the late David Gale ('Re-Animator's Dr. Hill). The story is original and unpredictable, the humour dark and surprisingly subtle, and the special effects are excellent and very effective. For me this movie is extremely underrated and gets better with each subsequent viewing. If you enjoyed 'Re-Animator' you'll love 'From Beyond'. Gordon and Yuzna's subsequent careers, both separately and together, have been extremely uneven, but give credit where credit is due, this one's a winner! Highly recommended.

Pineal Glands are Getting Larger on 666, Benevolent Street

[gedikreverdi · 7/10 · 21 August 2021]

I had no idea it'd be this sexual and I'm not complaining to see Barbara Crampton in leather mistress outfits but I liked Re-animator better than this. They have a resonator in the old mad scientist's house which made people see the world beyond. But their pineal glands got larger and that made them more sexually-driven than they were. They developed a phallic organ on their foreheads as a sign of this I guess. The monster ate the heads of the old scientist, the ex-Re-animator and Bubba and Barbara Crampton blew it up with dynamites and saved the day. The scientist claimed that schizophrenics being able to see the world that can't see the others and I liked that because at least they didn't demonize them. I liked Ken Foree and Barbara Crampton in this and it was quite entertaining.

At Least I'll Die Happy!

[view_and_review · 6/10 · 28 January 2020]

Does Jeffrey Combs ever tire of being a mad scientist? He was a mad scientist in "Re-Animator" (1985) in which he used a serum to bring dead bodies back to life. Now he's a scientist, not quite as mad, that is tampering with other dimensions and somehow it has to do with the pineal gland.

The pineal gland is a small endocrine gland in the brain that produces melatonin which is a hormone which modulates sleep patterns.

Why did I add that definition? Because it was a critical part of the plot and it's a good reference for how sci-fi movies throw in the most bogus terms.

Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs) was a physicist working under Dr. Pretorius (Ted Sorel) on an invention. They invented something called the Resonator which allowed them to tap into another dimension of sorts. The Resonator, when working, enlarged the pineal gland which supposedly allowed them to see creatures from another dimension and those creatures to see them.

This is pure fiction and no science though they make it sound convincing. The creatures were immaterial really. What was more important was how addictive the Resonator was. They never really explained it, but it clearly was linked to the libido and drove some people into sexual overdrive. Silly, I know. The objective doctor, Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) found herself fixated on sexual pleasure after experiencing the Resonator.

Honestly, if that machine worked in that manner men everywhere would be lined up to buy one. Imagine turning on a machine and making every woman go into heat. I'm laughing right now just thinking of the absurd ways in which it would be used. Oh yeah, there's the one bad side effect: you might die. Still, I'm sure it would be well worth it for many guys out there. I can hear it now, "At least I'll die happy." LOL!

Humans are such easy prey!

[KillMe666 · 10/10 · 30 September 2001]

This film is without a shadow of a doubt, the best film ever - believe! Pure twisted weirdness that pummels you into submission, without ever letting you catch your breath. Starring the great Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator), as the unfortunate Dr. Crawford Tillinghast who is assisting his superior - Dr. Edward Pretorius in creating a resonator with the intent to stimulate the pineal gland in a dormant part of the brain (to create a sixth-sense). Unfortunately, things don't go as planned (it would be pretty boring if they did!) and Dr Pretorius gets his head bit off ("Like a gingerbread man!") after weird slimy creatures start to appear while his sidekick gets away from the house but is blamed for the death and put into an asylum. A very sexy doctor - Dr. Katherine McMichaels accompanied by a Shaft wannabe - Leroy 'Bubba' Brown ("I'm the LAW here!") remove Crawford from the institution and back to the dreaded house to recreate the experiment and prove Crawford's innocence, needless to say, Crawford is a bit miffed about leaving his cosy straitjacket and; relative safety.

There are GREAT lines (especially from Combs) - "Alright! Come and get me...EUNUCH! This time I'm not running away!", gross-out effects aplenty - heads being twisted off, killer bees that reduce their victim to a bloody, boney mess, and just look at how Dr Pretorius slowly changes into something vile;

Crawford - "My God Edward, what have you become?"

Pretorius - "Myself!"

Pure genius.

I love this film, I really do. If not for the fact that there is never a moment of boredom, the fact it has a real Lovecraftian sense of dread, or the way it manages to come off looking like some kind of acid trip, then just to see, Barbara Crampton in full S&M gear.

Oh, the movie was filmed using some sort of pink filter, which just adds to the weirdness. Did I mention how great it was?

See it (wo)man, just see it!

It ate him... bit off his head... like a gingerbread man!

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 30 March 2010]

An interesting journey into the world of science fiction.

Jeffrey Combs (Bride of Re-Animator, The Frighteners) does a great job as the lab assistant thought responsible for the death of Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel). He is proved innocent by Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton - "The Bold and the Beautiful", "The Young and the Restless"), who quickly develops problems of her own as the machine starts to change her.

The special effects were tremendous as Dr. Pretorious returns from beyond in a new form. Dr. McMichaels is subjected to his unwelcome advances in a very funny scene.

Crawford (Combs) changes too and things get gory.

A real (third) eye opener.

[lost-in-limbo · 8/10 · 23 February 2008]

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.

FROM BEYOND {Unrated Director's Cut} (Stuart Gordon, 1986) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 13 January 2008]

This is the third film I’ve seen from minor horror expert Stuart Gordon – after THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1991) and EDMOND (2005) – but the first from his 1980s heyday; for the record, I’ve been interested in RE-ANIMATOR (1985) for years, have fairly recently acquired DOLLS (1987) and will perhaps eventually rent his sci-fi opus, FORTRESS (1993). Anyway, to get back to the film under review: once one gets past the outrageously repulsive make-up and special effects – which belie the fact that this is a 22-year old movie and would certainly have put me off completely had I caught it back in its day (although, I do recall coming across it in video stores at the time) – FROM BEYOND is a thought-provoking if single-minded sci-fi/horror piece which quite deserves its cult status.

Taken from an H. P. Lovecraft original – of whose work Roger Corman’s underrated THE HAUNTED PALACE (1963) is still the best cinematic adaptation – the film deals with a mad scientist (amusingly named Pretorius) who invents a machine which implants a sixth sense within anybody near it, thus enabling one to realize his most repressed and hidden desires: so the scientist is turned into a sadistic torturer of women, the nerdy female psychiatrist (investigating the latter’s beheading) takes a liking to fetishistic attire, etc. The lead is Gordon regular Jeffrey Combs (as the scientist’s assistant who is taken to a mental asylum after narrating the events leading to the latter’s demise) and, also on hand, is skeptical police officer Ken Foree (who, unfortunately, bows out too soon). It goes without saying that tampering with nature and science is not without its consequences and I’d venture to say that rarely have they been so disgustingly realized on screen – via indescribable, stomach-turning creatures (which are always invisibly floating around in our space but animate themselves through the use of the machine) which make the notorious effects for John Carpenter’s THE THING (1982) look positively tame.

Tiresome and offensive to Lovecraft fans

[Groverdox · 3/10 · 16 February 2016]

From Beyond, for all its fantastic source material, is really nothing more than a tiresome Hellbound Heart rip off. When the spooky scientist who has crossed into the other dimension keeps appearing in ever more deformed shapes, I couldn't help yawning. You're supposed to be frightened and horrified. You're not. He's like a party guest that won't leave.

The attempt to shoehorn sex into a Lovecraft story would have the great horror maestro turning in his grave. It's sacrilegious, and of course, not even handled well. Apparently crossing over into a transdimensional vortex doesn't just deform the body and make your forehead grow worms. It also makes you... horny. But for all those freaks out there, don't think that that means you're going to see monster-on-human sex or anything like that, just a stupid scene where the scientist-creature rips off a girl's top. This is "explained" by a laughable scene where the heroes are apparently going through the scientist's video collection and find a bondage porno. When you are working from one of the world's greatest horror writers, do you really have to try so hard to rip off a horror novel that came out the year before? You may remember that one of the things that made Barker's early fiction so transgressive and dangerous were his intimations of BDSM. In Lovecraft, well, you'd be hard pressed to find any such reference. The man was clearly not interested in love or sex and this is part of his success; the man's world was utterly scientific in its refusal to acknowledge humanity: he was the horror writer for the post-Darwinian age. In short, he'd have scoffed at this nonsense.

Look out for the scene at the beginning where the other scientist, played by Jeffrey Combs, who has been institutionalized after witnessing what happens to his colleague, is frothing at the mouth and raving about the things he saw, and actually starts shouting "why don't they believe me? Why don't they believe me?" Think about it. He has just witnessed the most incredible discovery ever made by any man in human history. As a scientist, he should know this, so why would he expect ANYONE to believe him? He is either actually crazy, and therefore it is a good thing he is locked up, or a total moron. The movie doesn't want us to believe either, yet it provides us this evidence to the contrary.

All up, this is a very stupid and crass movie, the equivalent of using the master of horror's work as toilet paper.

From Beyond (1986)

[jonahstewartvaughan · 8/10 · 7 August 2023]

Cult Cuts Volume 32 (Return to the Video Store: The Empire Strikes Back Part Two)

#2/4: From Beyond (1986)

(8/10): Humans are Such Easy Prey...

From Beyond is a Loose Adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's short story of the same name (that is only seven pages long) that is about a scientist, Pretorius, who was conducting experiments with his assistant, Crawford, with a machine called the Resonator that was built to stimulate the Pineal Gland and allow anyone who is in its field to see beyond the normal perceptible range.

The Field allows anyone in the field to see beyond normal human comprehension and they are able to see creatures that are always around them but not visible unless stimulated by the fields of the machine, however it works the other way around as they can also see us under the influence of the machine.

Pretorius is soon devoured by an unknown creature and Crawford is locked up as being a paranoid schizophrenic and is under suspicion of the murder of Pretorius.

There is a doctor that meets with Crawford and after hearing what he has to say and looking at a scan of his brain she believes that he may be telling the truth.

As her superior is unable to explain the crime scene he grants her custody over Crawford under the terms that, with the surveillance of a law official, to recreate the experiment in order to attempt to prove his innocence but they are soon visited by a Familiar Presence in Pretorius who has transcended human physiology and is preying on their every fear and every desire.

The film is again, very loosely based on the short story as it doesn't have much to really adapt to the screen however it leaves room for creative liberties to be taken and for eighties horror to do what it does best, Practical Effects.

This is honestly one of the best films to watch if you want absolutely crazy good practical effects.

Directed by Stuart Gordon, Produced by both Charles Band and Brian Yuzna, with four separate effects teams working on the visuals one of them includes Greg Nicotero and a Cast Comprised of Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Ken Foree so when I say that this film is stacked, it's stacked.

Now let's talk about the effects as they steal the show, although there's some pretty fantastic acting at times.

The effects are some of the best practical effects ever put to screen in my opinion and they still hold up today.

There's various stages of transformation that Pretorius goes through and each is more gooey, gross and distorted than the last.

There are Giant Worms and Jellyfish creatures that swim through the air along with eel creatures.

Pretorius breaks down and morphs and changes with elongated fingers, peeled off face and a head that splits in half down the middle and has little tentacles come out of it.

He completely changes his head into a four sided mouth that tries to eat peoples heads.

It has a very strong sexual theme that is present as the over-stimulation of the Pineal Gland not only opens up the brain and allows it to see things it cannot normally see but it also stimulates the sex drive which begins to take a mental toll on them as they lose touch with themselves.

Now let's talk acting, there's one line that sticks out that takes a lot to deliver convincingly. Jeffrey Combs delivers a line with a completely straight face that would make anyone else laugh if they attempted it, "It, BIT off his head, like a Gingerbread Man..." that's acting folks, to deliver a line like that and be dead serious about it.

All together it's one of the best examples of Practical Effects that very few other films can trump on the "How the hell did they do that?" Scale and the fact that it remains consistently entertaining throughout is just the icing on the cake.

Classic Eighties Splatter

[Rathko · 6/10 · 3 March 2010]

An eighties minor classic from Stuart Gordon, the cult-king of cinematic Lovecraft. A young physicist, accused of the murder of his research partner, is accompanied back to the scene of the crime by his psychiatrist and a cop. There, they activate The Resonator, allowing terrifying creatures from a hidden dimension access to our world. The movie features the most cutting edge physical special effects of its time, with a half ton of latex, slime, blood, and puppetry being employed in bringing the monsters to life. Twenty five years later, however, it's tough not to laugh. The acting is hammy, and the plot completely nonsensical at times, with a particularly WTF scene that involves Barbara Crampton discovering her inner freak in Dr Pretorius' S&M dungeon. But it's still entertaining, particularly once Jeffrey Combs starts sucking out eyeballs, and well worth watching.

Down with the Amoebas......

[FlashCallahan · 5/10 · 11 October 2012]

Dr. Pretorius and his colleagues are working on a sensational experiment, they want to open the human mind to higher dimensions.

When the experiment succeeds, however, they are immediately attacked by terrible life forms, which are floating around us all the time.

When Pretorius is killed by one of them, Dr. Tillinghast is under suspect and thrown into a psychiatric ward due to his stories.

Only the ambitious psychologist Dr. McMichaels believes him and wants to continue the experiment...

The thing is about cult movies, is that if you have never seen it, it has a lot to live up to. Like movies you enjoyed when you were a kid, if you hadn't seen one at a certain age, it wasn't really that good.

And here lies the problem with this film. Combs himself is a cult with all the films he's featured in, and it started okay, I thought it was going to be like Waxwork, with a hint of Yuzna thrown in.

But as soon as Combs goes back to the house, it falls apart into nothing more than blue lights, body horror, and Ken Foree running around in his pants.

The cast are good, even Crampton convinces slightly as a doctor, but just the content of the film is drivel, the original story was okay, but apart from some okay effects, it's all a bit boring really.