The Beyond

2015 • 87 minutes

About this movie

From legendary Italian horror master Lucio Fulci comes the ultimate classic of supernatural terror. A remote and cursed hotel, built over one of the seven gateways, becomes a yawning malevolent abyss that begins devouring both the bodies and the souls of all who enter in a graphic frenzy of gory crucifixions, chunk blowing chain-whippings, eyeball impalement, sulfuric acid meltdowns, flesh-eating tarantulas, throat-shredding demon dogs and ravenous bloodthirsty zombies. THE BEYOND is a towering achievement in hairraising, mindbending cinematic terror!

Ratings and reviews

I'm not sure how to feel about this movie. I was impressed with the gore factor, which made me squirm a little bit and I have what some might call a disturbing indifference towards horror (classics are better in my view). The music score was well above par also. I just...I can't name it exactly but I felt something lacking in this for me. I found the not so bright and shiny ending to be refreshing.

This is not one to be missed. Fulci is a master of the horror genre, with up-close, in your face details to scenes, beginning with the first murder in the cellar. I saw this movie when I was a child and loved it, and was ecstatic to find and see the original uncensored version.

Unfortunately once you get past the gore, there's little substance here. The basic script is pretty thin, the zombie horde is deeply mediocre, and plot elements get introduced and then forgotten without any ceremony. It's mentioned, for instance, that when our heroine purchased the hotel, it came with two staff attached (despite being a dump). The local doctor is perplexed by this, as he didn't know of anyone associated with the place. Is there some sinister significance to the characters? Well, apparently not, since they just get eaten by monsters later on. If you really have to check out an Italian zombie film, either go for the same director's Zombi 2, or track down Bruno Mattel's dreadful Zombies: The Beginning, since at least then you have the fun of watching a transparent rip of Aliens.