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[tab title="Movie Review"]
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Operating like a fever dream about some bizarre nightmare in a haunted house, The Beyond – directed by Lucio Fulci – is still considered the director’s masterpiece. This underrated film is still, in my opinion, a movie without the proper audience. Unique in its ability to mesmerize viewers with a lot of hallucinatory images of the utmost terrifying like click-clacking spiders gnawing upon a man’s face, the Italian film is certainly a product of its era. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, mind you, and The Beyond proves that with matchless imagination and some great effects.
Starring Cartonia MacNoll, The Beyond is what happens when an unsuspecting woman inherits one of the seven deadly gateways to Hell. Located beneath the Seven Doors Hotel in New Orleans, she arrives from New York to take over the property and refurbish what she can. Unfortunately, everyone working on the property start to die in some pretty gnarly ways while trying to “clean” it up: a painter plunges to his death after seeing a piercing eye staring back at him from inside an empty room, a plumber has his eye gouged out, another gets attacked by ravaging spiders.
When MacNoll as Liza reaches out for help from Dr. McCabe (David Warbeck), all Hell breaks loose and the real owner of the hotel is revealed. Written by Giorgio Mariuzzo and Dardano Sacchetti, Fulci’s film continues his exploration of metaphysical concepts first seen in City of the Living Dead and how the living and the dead realms might weave into each other on a continual basis. Forgive it, then, if it truly doesn’t flex its logical muscles more often.
The film suffers because – like a lot of Italian horror flicks – nothing is truly explained. People appear on isolated bridges (while an insanely cool image) without reason, faces are harmed by unperceived vats of acid (another cool moment), and a rather disjointed opening keeps it from being truly appreciated. That being said, nothing about The Beyond is formulaic and predictable. This is pretty intense material and, while pretty muddied in its rollout, is still engaging as it works its audience up into its own particular brand of madness.
The Beyond speaks to the Twilight Zone location in all of our twisted imaginations. With neither a happy or sad ending, this is truly a film that tackles any notion of purgatory.
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[tab title="Film Details"]
MPAA Rating: Not rated.
Runtime: 87 mins
Director: Lucio Fulci
Writer: Dardano Sacchetti
Cast: Catriona MacColl, David Warbeck, Cinzia Monreale
Genre: Horror | Foreign
Tagline: 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.
Memorable Movie Quote: "You have carte blanche, but not a blank check."
Distributor: Grondhouse Releasing
Official Site:
Release Date: March 1, 1983
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: March 24, 2015
Synopsis: A young woman inherits an old hotel in Louisiana where after a series of supernatural 'accidents', she learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell.
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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]
Blu-ray Details:
Available on Blu-ray - March 24, 2015
Screen Formats: 2.40:1
Subtitles: English
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono; English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (192kbps); Italian: Dolby Digital Mono
Discs: 25GB Blu-ray Disc; Three-disc set (2 BDs, 1 CD)
Region Encoding: A
Supplements:
Commentary:
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There are a total of two commentaries for this release from Arrow. There’s an old one featuring actors David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl, and a new one featuring the director’s daughter Antonella Fulci.
Special Features:
Spreading the love across the Blu-ray disc and a bonus DVD, Arrow has gone all out with the extras for this splatter classic. Accompanying the film are two commentaries, a lengthy interview with actress Cinzi Monreale (she also provides a short video intro to the film) and a Q&A with Catriona MacCall from a screening in Glasgow last year. Over on the bonus DVD you’ll find more interviews (including an excellent piece with US distributor Terry Levene and another where the likes of Dario Argento and Sergio Stivaletti pay tribute to Fulci), a colour version of the pre-credit sequence and a trailer. As always, the set also includes a poster, postcards and choice of sleeve art.
- Cinzia Monreale: Remember The Beyond (26 min)
- The Beyond: Q&A with Catriona MacColl (22 min)
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[tab title="Trailer"]
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