“You mean you guys were serious about that demon stuff?”
Al-The Gate (1987)
I’m fully prepared to admit Lucio Fulci isn’t for me. I watched City of the Living Dead last year and thought it wasn’t very good. The Beyond has similar themes and similar issues. The Italian zombie film is legendary in horror circles because of Fulci’s films, but for me, his films focus on gore and atmosphere over story and plot.
The Beyond stars Katherine MacColl as Liza, a young woman who inherits an old hotel in Louisiana where, following a series of supernatural “accidents,” she learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell. City of the Living Dead was also about a gate to Hell opening.
MacColl’s performance isn’t good, but I’m not sure it’s her fault. The script doesn’t ask her to do much outside of screaming and acting dumbfounded. Cinzia Monreale as Emily, a blind psychic or mystic, I’m honestly not sure, gives the film’s best performance. Other than Monreale, the cast is forgettable and bland.
Fulci is a visual effects master. His makeup and practical effects are outstanding and make his films more watchable than they genuinely are. There are multiple scenes that are terrifying because the visuals are so unsettling. A scene with a bunch of spiders horrified me. It’s almost five minutes of spiders crawling over a man’s face and biting him. The camera zooms into his mouth, where you see fangs from the spider pierce his tongue. I’m crying as I type this.
I can understand the draw of Lucio Fulci’s films, but they aren’t for me. The set design, effects, and makeup can’t balance out the underwritten script and poor acting. The lack of character development and cringeworthy dialogue is inexcusable. Katherine MacColl’s performance is terrible and, at times, laughable, but it’s hard to know if it’s her, the script, or Fulci’s direction. Outside of the fantastic effects and makeup, it’s hard to appreciate anything about The Beyond.
Rating: 4/10
