The Beyond is a Sick and
Twisted Film Without Plot or Logic.
The Beyond is the second part
of the Seven Gates trilogy and culminates
everything Fulci wanted to create – a must for the Fulci fan.
Written by The Zombie Master
Lee
Roberts August 1, 2007
Release:
1981 (U.S. 1983) Directed by: Lucio Fulci Written by: Dardano Sacchetti
Starring:
Catriona MacColl as Liza Merril David Warbeck as Dr. John McCabe Cinzia Monreale as Emily
“I have witnessed genius
and his name is Fulci.” -The Zombie Master
The Beyond is the second part of the
“Seven Gates” trilogy that began with City
of the Living Dead and ended with The House by the
Cemetery. It is also arguably the best film that Lucio Fulci
ever made. It has everything that a horror/haunted house/zombie/art
film needs to succeed, but I am getting ahead of myself.
The Beyond
starts out in Louisiana circa 1927. There
is a gentleman that is staying in the “Seven Doors
Hotel” and apparently he has irritated the locals. It seems
that he is a warlock and he has cursed the hotel and the town and they
do not like it so the townsfolk kill him. Oh yeah, did I mention that
the hotels foundation sits on top of one of the Seven Gates of Hell?
Fast
forward to 1981 and we find that our heroine, Liza Merril
(Catriona MacColl) has inherited the “Seven Doors
Hotel” and is in the process of fixing it up in hopes of
reopening the hotel to the public. A couple of accidental deaths, a
chance meeting with a blind woman (Cinzia Monreale) and the
“Lovecraftian” strangeness of “The Book
of Abel” puts a halt to any plans other than making any sense
out of what is going on and how to escape it.
Where does
one begin in describing The Beyond?
Earlier I mentioned that it succeeded in bridging the gap between
multiple genres so let’s start there. Horror films are
supposed to bring fear, suspense and disgust to the forefront of the
viewers’ emotional ledge and then slightly tap it in the back
so that it descends into places that the viewer secretly wants to go. The
Beyond takes this theory to the next logical step and, with
the use of inventive special effects and a great soundtrack, goes
further than any film had gone at the time. Haunted House films are
supposed to terrify with the supernatural, unexplainable happenings and
the “Seven Doors Hotel” is definitely haunted.
Zombie films are the epitome of the “sick and
twisted” mindset (I raise my lighter in homage) and this one has plenty of the undead lovelies running around.
Lucio
Fulci had this to say about The Beyond,
“My idea was to make an absolute film, with all the horrors
of the world. It’s a plotless film, there’s no
logic to it, just a succession of images.” There have been
plenty of people who complain that The Beyond has
no coherent plot but that was the idea. That is what makes it the
perfect art film.
For any fan of Lucio Fulci, the culmination of everything that he
wanted to do was made evident with the filming of The Beyond
and it should be a mandatory piece in your movie collection. Questions
or comments about The Beyond? Contact us!
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