The Beyond (1981)
Typically considered by most genre aficionados (myself included) to be Lucio Fulci’s best film, “The Beyond” is Fulci at the peak of his powers, crafting a supernatural tale that while mighty short on logic is long on trippy atmosphere and, of course, blood, guts, and legions of the undead.
The “plot” as it is concerns a cursed hotel that was constructed, either knowingly or unknowingly, on one of the seven gateways to hell. In a terrific blood soaked prologue we learn that a warlock/painter type has been tinkering with a book called “Eibon”, which I believe falls under the same trip as the “Necronomicon” as being one of those things full of spells and such. Our warlock is soon executed in great style by a local lynch mob for his evil ways as Fulci’s camera lovingly films the execution in great detail as we see the poor sap whipped by chains, crucified to the wall, and has some type of molten substance splashed over him, resulting in a massive sanguinary meltdown. Attempting to cover up their crime, they then wall his corpse up in a secret room thinking that was that. However, what they should have done was burn the “cursed” hotel down as well, but since they goofed that up the building is of course set to reopen in the year of 1981 by Fulci regular Katherine MacColl. Soon all sorts of weird shit starts going down, and MacColl is joined by a local doctor played by the late David Warbeck to try and get to the bottom of things.
“The Beyond” is, visually speaking, a work of art. This film is loaded with tons of gothic atmosphere and when accompanied by the terrific Fabio Frizzi score, really creates a creepy mood. I love the fact that even under such low budgets Fulci’s films always look like they cost so much more to make, ala Mario Bava.. Besides just having a plain kick ass look to it, “The Beyond” is chock full of nasty killings in what I think is Lucio’s most blood soaked film. We get eyeballs scraped out by zombie fingers, eyes impaled on steel spikes, the opening execution scene, death by a “pack” of tarantulas, throat’s ripped apart, and plenty of blown off heads as well. The main drawback to this one would be that practically nothing makes sense in a linear style, and the plot is threadbare to say the least. Fulci himself has always said that the film is nothing more than a succession of violent images and forsakes plot for style, but no matter. Fans of Italian horror are no strangers to this as most Italian horror flicks are more style over substance, but American audiences may get frustrated with nothing really making sense. “The Beyond” really is a bit of an acquired taste so if you have seen this one and you loved it; don’t be disappointed when you show it to a friend and the say “what the hell is happening here”? They just ain’t, in true “Freaks” fashion, “one of us, one of us”. It's not for most mainstream viewers but “The Beyond” is, however, a classic Italian horror film and I recommend you watch the UNCUT and LBX Anchor Bay DVD to truly soak it all in. Rest in Piece Maestro.