The Beyond is a very overrated Italian/horror film that is incomprehensible. The film is filled with creepy atmospherics, insane gore and is probably one of the most unique zombie films of the past, but different doesn't always lead to a good film. I just couldn't take it seriously, whether it was intentional or not, the script was a mess and laughable and the scares weren't effective enough as they could have been. The soundtrack was also a hit and miss, with some of it being completely out of place. The horror cult classics that came out during the same year like The Evil Dead etcetera were miles better, The Beyond just doest stack up. Definitely one of the most disappointing Italian/horror cult classics out there.
The characters were pretty illogical, doing most things people should not do in horror movies. For example, not shooting a zombie in the head, what a waste of bullets you fool! The other is hooking a clearly dead person to a heartbeat monitor, really! The acting was mostly just horrid to me, with overreaction to not enough reaction to what is happening around them. Catriona MacColl, who plays Liza Merril, a young woman who inherits an old hotel in Louisiana, is definitely easy on the eyes and carries the film quite well, she makes it bearable. The other standout was Cinzia Moreale (as Sarah Keller) who plays a blind woman pretty effectively, who comes out of nowhere into Liza's life to warns her about the sinister hotel. Good effort from those two, but the hackneyed script consumed them and everyone else.
The late Italian/horror director Lucio Fulci definitely made strange, one of a kind horror films. The type of films you don't see being made anymore, but The Beyond's plot had major development problems that were a huge distraction from everything else. Lucio goes wild here though, with a hypnotic, nightmarish atmosphere, intense close up shots of ghoulish imagery that will stay with you. The film is out there and beyond, too bad the rest of the film wasn't as lavish. To me his best and creepiest film is The House By The Cemetery.
Overall, not the horror extraordinaire people make it out to be, nor is it complete trash. The Beyond goes by its own beat and it's as clear away from mainstream as one film can get. None of it was clear though and just got lost in its own spiral of wackiness, at the end all I was thinking was WTF did I just watched? 5.5 out of 10
The characters were pretty illogical, doing most things people should not do in horror movies. For example, not shooting a zombie in the head, what a waste of bullets you fool! The other is hooking a clearly dead person to a heartbeat monitor, really! The acting was mostly just horrid to me, with overreaction to not enough reaction to what is happening around them. Catriona MacColl, who plays Liza Merril, a young woman who inherits an old hotel in Louisiana, is definitely easy on the eyes and carries the film quite well, she makes it bearable. The other standout was Cinzia Moreale (as Sarah Keller) who plays a blind woman pretty effectively, who comes out of nowhere into Liza's life to warns her about the sinister hotel. Good effort from those two, but the hackneyed script consumed them and everyone else.
The late Italian/horror director Lucio Fulci definitely made strange, one of a kind horror films. The type of films you don't see being made anymore, but The Beyond's plot had major development problems that were a huge distraction from everything else. Lucio goes wild here though, with a hypnotic, nightmarish atmosphere, intense close up shots of ghoulish imagery that will stay with you. The film is out there and beyond, too bad the rest of the film wasn't as lavish. To me his best and creepiest film is The House By The Cemetery.
Overall, not the horror extraordinaire people make it out to be, nor is it complete trash. The Beyond goes by its own beat and it's as clear away from mainstream as one film can get. None of it was clear though and just got lost in its own spiral of wackiness, at the end all I was thinking was WTF did I just watched? 5.5 out of 10