Ok, I know I'm going to get bitched at by the Fulci fans for this review but too bad. Everyone is bound to have a different opinion. Besides, I have yet to really see a negative review of this movie so here it goes
------------------------
Well, after a long while, I finally got around to seeing
The Beyond, Fulci's unofficial sequel to
The Gates of Hell. I have to honestly say I wasn't impressed at all. In fact, I had an abysmal time sitting through this due to the execution.
The Beyond starts off on the right foot, opening with a surreal atmosphere as a woman reads through the Book of Eidon while Sweick, an artist guarding one of the seven doorways to Hell, is executed rather graphically by the townspeople that claim he has cursed the town. However, this is where the movie begins to lose its steam. It goes all downhill from there.
Flash forward to present day 1981 where a young woman named Liza has inherited a hotel which she plans to restore and reopen. Suddenly, within a day's time, a person nearly dies from falling off a scaffolding, a plumber named Joe gets murdered when some unknown person gouges out his eyes, and a corpse (which turns out to be Sweick) turns up in the basement. If all that happened to me in one day, that would be enough warning signs for me to tail it the hell out of dodge. But no, Liza decides to play it dense and push forward with her plans, saying this is her only chance to make it as a success. With a hotel with a bad history attached to it and now many accidents/corpses popping up already? Is she really that dense?! Not to mention she had ambitions to become a fashion designer before she got word she inherited the hotel. Liza, if I were you, I would hightail back to New York and pursue that career of a fashion designer once more.
Later on, Liza encounters a blind woman named Emily who we later find out is the woman reading the Book of Eidon in the beginning. Emily warns Liza to get out of dodge as well. However, Liza continues to play her role as a blonde relentlessly and refuses. Emily eventually pops up at the hotel and warns Liza again, telling her the history behind this place. Even when some supernatural events happen during this conversation, Liza insists she doesn't believe in ghosts and still pushes forward with her plans. Hell, even when the supernatural events happen to her, she still doesn't get a clue she might have overstayed her welcome. God, I wish this dense as anti-matter bitch would die already.
If that wasn't enough, we even get treated to the stereotypical and repetitive cliche of Liza telling her love interest, John, about these horrifying events yet he doesn't believe her to pad the runtime. Please insert numerous head smashes into wall here.
So, some more people die. A useless hunt for the Book of Eidon (which really serves no purpose now since we've learned the same things in the beginning prologue of this movie that we learn when it is rediscovered by John) is brought in to pad the runtime. Liza and John both finally get a clue about their situation and somehow end up at the hospital for a groan inducing climax which I won't spoil for you nonetheless.
As you can see,
The Beyond really skimps on the plot development big time. I mean, I know Lucio Fulci's films had simplistic plots to begin with, but they had 90% more story than this one does and were handled in such a way that the events would hold you by the balls relentlessly. It's really sad that all the stuff the characters find out we discovered in the very beginning of the movie!
The Beyond just feels like an excuse to show off a bunch of gory deaths and supernatural events strung together poorly by the most microbacterial plot ever. It's also amazing just how much Fulci sacrifices logic for the events that occur in the movie. I know Fulci tends to sacrifice logic here and there in previous movies but at least it was plausible to some extent like the characters were terrified to the point of shock or wanted to find out some more information from others before attempting their proposed actions to deal with the situation. But here... Just cap me like Old Yeller, please! For example, when John is taking out zombies with his gun, he goes for headshots because he finds that it puts them down permanently. However, when he encounters zombie Sweick, he shoots him in the torso multiple times instead, wasting all his bullets!
You goddamned fool!
Shoot him in the head!!
UGH!!!
Both you and Liza deserved your damned fates in this damned movie!!!!
What was even worse is that the film establishes no atmosphere outside the opening scene. It doesn't help that most of the action in the film happens during the day, eliminating suspense. This is not to say there cannot be any suspense in a daytime scene but the way this movie was shot, I felt only numb. Then this is beaten like a dead horse when the film drags along by focusing on a certain death/gory scene for way too long or the film foreshadows the events of what is to happen just a little too much. Wow, am I ever on the edge of my seat... ready to hit the eject button on the DVD player.
This brings me to another terrible point of the film, the effects. The makeup effects for the death scenes were especially cheap looking. You could tell what was liquid latex, prosthetic, a puppet, a dummy, a piece of wax posing as a chunk of skin, all the way through! What was also unintentionally funny is sometimes the blood would not squirt out of a person's wound, but out of some random spot. For example, when one of the doctors at the hospital gets a bunch of glass shards piercing his skin, most of the blood is squirting down his forehead instead of the actual wounds. In fact, Fulci didn't even bother to have most of the zombies made up. The only zombie that actually looks remotely decayed and creepy is Sweick. There isn't even that much gore in this film. Before any of the fans jump me and tell me I didn't see the uncut version, let me assure them that I have. There is gore, yes. But compared to Lucio Fulci's previous films, which beat this one out 2 to 1, there is nowhere near as much gore. Not to mention the gore is a lot more effective and shocking in his other movies. Man, did Fulci get extremely lazy with this half-assed job of an italian horror movie.
It's not just the gore effects that are cheap either. Some of the creature effects are really horrid too. For example, when the spiders attack Martin, you can tell which spiders are real and which are fake. It's especially amusing to watch the fake spiders wobble along. Hell, I didn't even know that spiders squeaked like rats either. I guess you learn something new each day...
Ok, I need to stop now. My head feels like a scanner has tapped it and is trying to make me a repeat of the highlight gore scene of that movie. I really cannot comprehend why or how people actually like this movie. This is the kind of film that makes me appreciate
Zombie, another Fulci movie I loathe, a lot more and believe me, that is saying quite a bit for me. Hell, that one at least had atmosphere and creepy & convincing gory deaths.
I need to watch something else to wash this piece of dreck out of my mind. I think Mario Bava's
Shock will do nicely.
For my closure of this review, a poorly thought out movie that exists as an excuse to show off some gore which isn't that good anyway. A backyard filmmaker could do much better with the material and the effects. You're much better off watching
The Gates of Hell. Either that or any Dario Argento or Mario Bava film. You'll have a much more pleasurable viewing experience.
It's a damn good thing I only rented this!
out of
1 out of 5 Wolfies
------------------------
WARNING: This is my review which shows my opinions so your opinions might reflect differently.
Linear Mode
