The Beyond (DVD)

'The Beyond' is possibly Fulci's greatest film, and for some people, that is high praise indeed. For those who aren't aware of the master's work, this means you can expect shuffling corpses, mad camera work, grand guignol atmosphere, and of course, blood on tap. The plot is fairly simplistic: Kirsty MaColl plays a young woman, who inherits a crumbling old hotel in New Orleans. As she moves in, after a series of strange happenings and realises that there is something wrong with the place.....something eerie. Eevntually, as she investigates, and as the corpses start to pile up, it transpires that in the basement of the buildings is one of the ...  Read the complete review

This review refers to the Region 1 Anchor Bay limited edition tin of ‘The Beyond’. At the time of writing this review, I had recently learned that The Beyond had been awarded an 18 certificate uncut by the BBFC, and was due to be released in region 2 by Vipco. Nevertheless, I would strongly advise any potential buyer of this film on DVD to import the Anchor Bay version (or perhaps the Dutch release by EC Entertainment) … Vipco, in my experience, are one of the worst horror DVD producers around, their DVDs containing grainy prints cropped to fullscreen with terrible, crackly mono audio tracks and virtually no extras. For a film which ...  Read the complete review

Most people haven’t seen this film or even heard of it, in fact few of heard of Lucio Fulci because when it comes to Italian horror everyone thinks of Dario Argento, I bet there are people who think it was Argento who directed Zombie Flesh Eaters. But it wasn’t it was Lucio Fulci, but who cares because Zombie Flesh Eaters is one of the biggest pieces if crap to come out of Italy and is far, far over-rated, but The Beyond is the high spot, the example of a film made when the director was at the pinnacle of his (small) ability. If you’ve seen Zombie Flesh Eaters and liked it, you will love this, if you seen House by the Cemetery and thought it was amusing ...  Read the complete review

Arguably Director Lucio Fulci’s greatest piece of film, The Beyond is truly a horror classic. The story is a simple one, Liza played by Catriona MacColl inherits an old hotel in New Orleans unknown to her it is actual built upon one of the seven gateways to hell. During the hotel renovations several unexplained accidents happen to some of the workers at the hotel. And despite warnings from Emily a mysterious blind girl, Liza goes ahead with the hotel’s restoration. Liza also begins to be plagued by horrific apparitions and eventually meets and befriends local doctor John McCabe (David Warbeck). Both find themselves later on in a deserted hospital surround by ...  Read the complete review

‘The Beyond’ is the middle film in Lucio Fulci’s loosely related trilogy of bloody Gothic horrors, sharing with the other two films (‘City of the Living Dead’ and ‘The House by the Cemetery’) as it does several elements, including a narrative which, at first glance, does not seem to make obvious sense, a large amount of violence which is not so much inserted into an otherwise sparse plot but actually seems to constitute the plot in itself, and to be its own justification, and, of course, a starring role for British actress Catriona MacColl (here credited as Katherine). The Beyond is also probably Fulci’s best-known ...  Read the complete review