The Beyond

A Victorian house that is one of the seven gates to hell and a pretty blonde New Yorker who wants to live in it after it has stood empty for a long time. In various interviews, Lucio Fulci himself says that this is an impressionistic film and the plot is secondary. However, the movie also has plot fundamentals and is only (richly) adorned with surrealistic interludes. Its greatest asset is its atmosphere and, for Fulci, a surprisingly elegant stylishness, which is achieved with great cinematography and dark music (with the exception of the appalling central motif). The latex effects are mostly deplorable. However, the film’s biggest drawback is the disastrous script, which is full of holes that cannot be explained away even by Fulci’s alibi about the film’s impressionistic nature. And the lumbering climax in the hospital could also have been brisker and more suspenseful. (05/09/2002)

I really liked this a lot! Formally, I have nothing to fault, it has an extremely impressive horror atmosphere, solid music and some really cool scenes that hit you over the head with the impact of a meat cleaver (the scene with the drowning men, the acid in the hospital, the scene with the dog). The actors, especially the likeable lead, give, with few exceptions, decent performances. After recently watching D'Amato's B-movies, this film was a balm for me. And just for the record, a very surprising moment for me was the scene where Fulci cruelly deals with a little girl – a bold breach, I would say, of the film industry's unwritten rule about the inviolability of small children. That guy really didn’t mess around :) (23/09/2003)

A couple of good bloody scenes connected by a shaky plot and a strong and dreadful atmosphere. The ending in the hospital pulls the film up, but the main impression The Beyond left me with is of a crude film full of gratuitous scenes without a pinch of logic or sense. (31/07/2008)

A script without a plot and actors without characters under the guidance of a controversial director. Fulci's ingenuity in creating atmosphere cannot be denied, as he builds upon the shadow, which holds many mysteries. Together with exemplary gore effects, it creates a unique and effective synthesis, but it is immensely self-indulgent, sacrificing everything, including logic, in its favor. Observing a group of spiders devouring the face of an immobile person or nailing them to the wall certainly captivates, but why does the gun have bullets at times and then suddenly not have any later on? What is the purpose of the entire collection of perversions when it is taken without a drop of perspective that would also elevate the visual richness "somewhat higher" in terms of content? Despite the aforementioned, the film is incredibly gripping and fascinating, especially when I realize I won't see anything similar anywhere else today. I can't find a single reason that would allow my conscience to rate it any lower. (02/10/2005)

In my eyes, Fulci, rather than a good filmmaker, is a great painter of celluloid, but in The Beyond that is not a problem. (15/08/2005)

Probably Fulci's most avant-garde film, often described by his fans as his best. The director himself said that he wanted to make an "absolute film" with all the horrors of the world, no story and no logic. There is no reason why any of what happens in the film should happen. Fulci exposes his characters to the cruel illogic of a strange world without any order. There is no escape from the horror. Everything the characters do is completely pointless and goes nowhere. Evil supernatural forces seem to attack the very cohesion of the film, which gradually disintegrates into utter chaos. Some will see this as a display of creative dilettantism, others as part of a dreamy irrationality. The Beyond is a difficult cinematic experience to grasp. But lovers of kinky gore effects will thoroughly enjoy it. Fulci's fixation on eyeball mutilation is on full display. As Fulci used to say: “eyes are the first thing you have to destroy because they've seen too many horrors.” The eyes are thus blinded, eaten and gouged out. I'm not too keen on this, but I'll always remember the film for its final scene, which represents the best of Italian horror at the time. (15/08/2023)