The Beyond Review

Wasting no time at all with its eerie presence and stature, The Beyond showcases flashes of lightning in darkly lit rooms, well-suited men riding in boats to nowhere and an eerie presence like no other. The past sets up the future. There is an immediacy in that which director Lucio Fulci grasps with clarity and confidence. His pan toward a book on the floor, a grainy hangover on the screen and a real, articulate understanding of the horrors and scope at a property passed down generations builds up with tension and fear at the heart. What follows is graphic violence, a nice and immediate switch of pace that sees characters an audience has barely any relation to beaten and bloodied. Fulci’s inference, rather than his depiction of violence, is stronger. The Beyond is a tender and staggering surprise in that regard.

Naturally, it would not be of Italian standard to not showcase some margin of truly horrific violence. Fucli shores that up nicely with some bloodied and intense moments that briefly replicate religious imagery of the most obvious source. Where Fulci separates himself from divinity and worship is in the torture so brutally and frequently displayed. Actively disgusting, and with a synth beat underlining it that initially sounds like a riff on The Bob Ross Show theme tune, The Beyond gets itself into gear and holds firm throughout. Fulci’s finest hour. Haunting and unnerving moments are frequent yet make sense for the narrative, a pairing that feels so perfect and daunting. From white rooms filled with cadavers to the extreme-close ups that showcase their degenerating state, there are true horrors for Fulci to play with.

Supernatural elements are the promising draw of this piece, and The Beyond manages to separate itself from the horrors of the time with such small changes. What might be wax and a plentiful amount of melting faces, but also time taken to reflect on the real horrors and curses that play up the usual, happenstance meetings that take place between protagonist and problem. Passing by bookstores, stumbling into rooms and that slow burn of quality storytelling is as smart as it is exciting. Catriona MacColl is tremendous, to say the least. Embodying the necessary fear of the haunted hotel, her lead role marks an incredible asset for the horror genre that was relied upon time and time again by Fulci. Strong characters doomed by their own destiny.

Yet somehow this MacColl and David Warbeck-led feature soon shifts from the supernatural to the zombification. Ghouls and zombies are interchangeable to some extent, to be fair. The Beyond makes that a smooth transition, although it is rather telling how John (Warbeck) doesn’t click on to what kills off these beasts. Still, if a flimsy door can stop them but glass can’t, maybe they’re more unpredictable than The Beyond lets on. What it does make absolutely clear is that fear is around every corner, and in demonstrating that, Fulci demonstrates a broad and intensely unique work that plays ball with action set pieces, disturbing visuals and a brutal physicality needed of the most memorable horror villains. Those final moments of the beast in the corner are as stunning as they are shockingly demented.