August 29 2026, 19:18

The Beyond

Director: Lucio Fulci

Release year: 1981

Liza inherits a derelict hotel in Louisiana swampland and, short of other options in her life, decides to repair it and open for business. Fifty years before, an artist at the hotel is accused of being a warlock and brutally killed in the basement. In an attempt to drain the flooded basement, a plumber discovers the bricked up area of the killing, awakening the dead warlock and opening one of the seven gates of hell.

Catriona MacColl is the lead in all three of Fulci’s "gates of hell" trilogy. In this one, she is joined by David Warbeck, amusingly the backup James Bond for Roger Moore, as the local doctor who gradually comes to terms with the situation’s hellish reality. She also meets Emily, a blind woman with an Alsatian, who seems to have a connection with the underworld and warns Liza to leave town while she can.

As a story, it’s straightforward, but it’s told through a series of outlandish, unexpected deaths that make you wonder if any of it makes sense. The Beyond is like the gory goth cousin of The Amityville Horror. Instead of a nuclear family, we get Liza and her group of misfit workers, who are gradually picked off by the ever-increasing undead. The ending is infamous for its bleakness, and it’s a clever link back to the warlock’s painting, but there’s too much bad dialogue and narrative confusion for this to be a favourite.

I also reviewed this as part of my #31DaysofHorror 2020 challenge. Interestingly, I felt the opposite to how I do now, and I made some connections that I didn’t see this time around.

All films in #ShadesofAutumn2026...

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