The Beyond (1981)

[slayrrr666]

"The Beyond" is easily one of the top films of all time.

**SPOILERS**

Inheriting a Louisiana hotel, Liza Merril, (Catriona MacColl) begins to be discouraged by the increasing number of accidents happening around the locale, even before it opens. Still unable to come up with an explanation for anything, despite meeting Emily, (Cinzia Monreale) who tries to warn her away, the accidents and weird deaths continue, eventually finding comfort in Dr. John McCabe, (David Warbeck) who helps her continue on with the project. When others who work there repeatedly tell her that the cause of the accidents is due to the house being constructed over one of the Seven Doorways to Hell and that an alchemist who was killed there in the past has come back with an army of the dead to take over the world, she initially laughs off the stories, though she is eventually forced into believing them and races with the other survivors of the attacks to get away from the hotel before others are harmed.

The Good News: This is probably the greatest movie ever made. What makes it so good is the atmosphere here, which is absolutely perfect for creating an air of dread. The hotel itself, where it all takes place in, is a spectacular setting that does this one nicely. From the different rooms and their layout to the manner in which they're designed, this is fantastic. It even manages to help out from the rather fun sequences that work this dread into the film. The first attacks, from the glaring eyes appearing in the window before causing a man to fall off a windowsill to the zombie appearing in the drained bathtub are simply perfect. Other stand-out scenes, as the sequence in the basement is great, with the crumbling, moss-covered structure, water-covered surroundings and a fantastic ending to it all make it rather fun. More fun can be had at the hospital's morgue, which is set-up with the creepiness of the dead bodies mixed with the sterile location, and then the chilling chase with the acid following the one survivor around the room. Even small little scenes, as the back-story explanation through the house, complete with hallucinations of events that occurred before, to the dream-like confrontation where she vanishes into the night are just more examples of how utterly creepy and atmospheric this is. The other stand-out scene is the final resolution for the blind prophet, where the zombies appear following a lengthy walk-through of the house, followed by a rousing battle between a dog and zombies, which is a really outstanding scene all around. It also ends on a high note with one of the most rousing and enjoyable encounter with zombies in the hospital, all there's nothing but fun to be had here. With tons of zombies in a desolate, creepy location providing tons of action and gore, there's not a whole lot wrong and it just works beautifully. The fact that it's such a long encounter, filled with tons of graphic gore, close encounter after close encounter and a sense of desperation that makes for an utterly thrilling time. The zombies here look spectacular, with the rotting and distorted appearance, as well as the tattered clothes and dripping with blood allow them to be quite memorable, living up to the traditional European standard of excellence. Perhaps, though, what makes the film most enjoyable is it's utterly graphic and revolting gore. This here has just a ton of blood and gore in this one, which allows for a variety of interesting and incredibly creative violent demises. It starts right from the beginning, as the first minutes show a victim who has a chain whipped across their face, nails shoved through their hands before finally having the rest of their face melted away with acid. The rest of the film isn't worse off, and actually gets better as well, with a ferocious eye-ball removal, an incredibly extended and much more graphic facial removal with acid that burns much more away and cuts deeper, a head forced backward onto a spike that impales through the eye, another has their face eaten away by a swarm of spiders as well as bites that rip out the throat and an ear, among others. That's not to even take into account the multitude of gunshot wounds in here, including one powerful enough to blow a hole clear through the side of the face upon impact, though the other wounds inflicted are no less messy. All are also done convincingly, coming off as quite realistic and not in the slightest bit fake at all, looking spectacular as a result. These parts here make this one of the best films ever made in any genre.

The Bad News: There's only one real flaw to this one. That flaw is the utterly confusing and hard-to-understand conclusion, which makes no real sense. From the hospital sequence it goes into the underworld, with no explanation of how it occurred or rather the point of it all, and it comes off as just incredibly confusing, and rather than offer up any real clues or rules as to why it happens, it just ends without rhyme or reason, leading to a real headache-inducing scene to try to explain what happened. It's also a little sad to see a zombie film without them going berserk and ripping a person to shreds, but it's not detrimental to the film at all, compared to the ending at least.

The Final Verdict: An absolutely beautiful entry, with tons to like about it and nothing at all wrong, making this one simply spectacular all around. Highly recommended to all fans of European horror or of anyone from the crew or cast, while anyone with a passing interest in the genre or horror overall should give it a look.

Rated UR/NC-17: Extreme Graphic Violence and some Language

[Bartwald]

It is indeed beautiful - and pretty unsettling, too. I remember watching it as a kid and laughing at the maneating spiders scene (even at a rather young age it made no sense to me), but then reliving all the creepiest images from the rest of the movie in my dreams. A movie doesn't have to make sense all the way to scare you stupid, I learnt.

[slayrrr666]

I actually consider this one a pretty coherent film, if you look at it in a specific manner. Since this isn't a traditional zombie film in that you have them out and running rampant through the majority of the film and the main focus early on is the supernatural entity they've unleashed during the renovation project, a lot of it is simply the power of the supernatural being unleashed and that doesn't have to make a lot of sense. It shows that they're not bound by the limits of this plane of existence and that they're far more powerful than an ordinary human being is, forcing them into ever-more dangerous situations in order to finally defeat those forces. The zombies being unleashed are simply another demonstration of their power, in a "Look what I can do" sense rather than in the more traditional films where it's a virus or a disease that raises them. Here, they're used more as a tool to display his powers on the world, and when combined with all the other displays he puts on, it makes it that much more of a challenge in overcoming him, making your connection with them all the closer in hopes of defeating him and making the ending that much more of a downer. Try looking at the film in that light, you'll be surprised.

[Bartwald]

You've got a point there.

But what about the man-eating spiders?

[slayrrr666]

A way to enhance the gore? Best explanation I've got. ;D