That ending is still so surreal and epic. Just one of the best endings in horror films. So well done.
Lucio Fulci's "the Beyond" has some amazing scenes, some eye-popping bloody special effects, horrible acting, a strung together plot with an amazing/beautiful ending, loads of falling down, brutal deaths, zombies, blood and one of the seven gates to hell.
Yes, you could point out some of the flaws in this Fulci film but it is just so damn enjoyable and makes you want to watch more of his stuff. Because I think the ending shows just how amazing Lucio Fulci can be.
The Beyond is the best film Fulci ever did, and it's one of my absolute favourite films. It was one of the films that opened my eyes to horror films outside the established franchises back in the early 90s when I got a copy of this on VHS from my friends uncle. I was totally blown away then, and still am...every time I watch it. If you are a fan of horror, and haven't seen it, The Beyond should be a top priority for you.
I guess I have no one to blame but myself for sitting through this tripe more than once. Thanks to Trakt, though, I won't ever make that mistake again. I kept thinking "This seems familiar" but it wasn't until the dancing tarantulas came prancing out of the woodwork that I realized, "Oh cripes, I have sat through this one before..." As a huge fan (back in the day, mind you...it was back in the day!) of Lucio Fulci's The Gates of Hell I wanted to see this one when I found his name attached to it on a horror movie blog. The overall presentation was par for the course for those eye-popping, brain-squishing, shuffling, blind zombie flicks from the 70's and 80's: cheesy horrible music throughout, innumerable macro-lens close-ups of staring eyes, shuffling, moaning, gasping, groaning, tossing the head about in despair while remaining frozen in place (as opposed to the real-life scenario of screaming and running away). The plot had holes in it that were big enough to drive a truck through...and in all my born days, with my true-to-life arachnaphobia, I never realized that if you were lying on the ground paralyzed from a bad fall, that chirping, squealing tarantulas would slowly eat your lips off your face, burrow into your eyeballs, and chew out your tongue while you laid there unable to move or even make a sound. Overall, the eyeroll effect was a perfect ten; the gore was a ten; the stupidity of the characters was a ten; the sudden appearance (from somewhere, still not sure where?) of a whole new round of bullets for his empty revolver rated a ten; the inability to escape from zombies whose speed would make a sloth look like the Flash was most definitely a ten, and Dickie, the German Shepherd: definitely a TEN. (I loved the scene where it prominently showed - in slow motion - Dickie running out of the house, his balls just a-flapping; wouldn't catch a scene like that in today's animal scenes! LOL) So, I suppose if you add all the incredibly, unbelievably horrid parts of this movie together, it rates ... well, at least CLOSE TO a perfect "10" on the "AWFUL" meter. Now that I've sat through it (again) and made notes, hopefully, I'll never make that mistake again.
FINAL NOTE: If you're really, really...I mean like REALLY into gore movies, then by all means, you'll probably enjoy this one...as long as an actual story doesn't matter. Because there is no story...in fact, most of this doesn't make any sense, but at least it's gory. :face_vomiting:
It's surreal and doesn't offer up much in the way of a conventional plot. It's a movie that relies on striking imagery and dream-like sequences, but it offers those up well. Great score and gore, as usual with Fulci. What's with his obsession with eyeball destruction though? Awesome ending.
3 Thoughts After Watching ‘The Beyond’:
Plot holes and continuity issues PLAGUED this movie. And I’m not just talking about unexplained mysteries and unanswered questions. I can deal with that. NONE of the relationships were established. I have no idea how any of these characters knew each other. Not a one. So why are we supposed to care them?
There was essentially no solid plot. It was a collection of random ghastly moments. You could probably loosely build a plot out of the haunted hotel that’s apparently a gate to hell, but we the viewer shouldn’t have to.
The atmosphere and practical effects were fantastically effective. From the high-pitched, jarring squeaks of the gurney to the cringey sounds of the gnawing spiders. Properly discomforting. And New Orleans is always fun for horror. If only these awesome moments were properly connected, there could’ve been something great here.
Bonus Thought: John not catching on to the zombie headshot method was INFURIATING.
Yikes, this was very nasty and mean. I had no idea it will be so gross sometimes. Someone definitely wanted to trigger some phobias in this one. It caught be off guard, and this old, strange movie made me feel very uncomfortable. But between those scenes it's kinda a dreamy and atmospheric horror movie. The music was not always on point but contributed to the overall anxiety. I have to admit, that the second half almost lost me, it got a little bit hard to follow what was the actual problem now until it kinda revealed itself, very anticlimactic. The ending though was very poetic and together with the nasty horror elements this movie definitely deserved some extra credit. I guess I was a little bit overhyped, but still had a good time.
One of my favorite Fulci movies. Fabulous cinematography and an excellent grindhouse film. Sometimes in films like this the story gets a little muddled or lost in translation. This one doesn’t fall to that problem.
Enjoyed the practical effects as well.
an Italian zombies, with a lot of offal, is fine although the lack of means is noticeable, the ending a bit surreal
Shout by willard_hBlockedParent2021-02-13T06:04:36Z
The best horror movie ever made as far as I'm concerned. And for me, I would even say it the best movie ever made.