The Beyond
Encyclopedia
The Beyond is a 1981 Italian
horror film
directed by Lucio Fulci
. It is considered by some horror film fans to be one of the best movies made by the Italian director. The second film in Fulci's unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy (along with City of the Living Dead
and The House by the Cemetery
), The Beyond has gained a cult following over the decades, in part because of the film's gore-filled murder sequences, which had been heavily censored when the film was originally released in the United States in 1983.
's Seven Doors Hotel is the scene of a vicious murder as a lynch mob crucifies and pours quicklime upon an artist named Schweick, whom they believe to be a warlock
. The artist's murder opens one of the seven doors of death, which exist throughout the world and allow the dead to cross into the world of the living. Several decades later, a young woman from New York
inherits the hotel and plans to re-open it for business. But her renovation work activates the hell-portal, and soon she and a local doctor find themselves having to deal with living dead, a ghost of a blind girl who seeks to get them to leave the house, a mystic tome called the Book of Eibon that supposedly contains the answers to the nightmare at hand, face-eating tarantulas, a young girl whose murdered parents become zombies and is herself possessed by undead spirits — and Schweick, who has returned as a malevolent, indestructible corpse, apparently in control of the supernatural forces.
All hope is lost by the end, as the hero and heroine find themselves transported impossibly from a hospital stairway back to the hotel's basement. They enter a wasteland that Schweick was seen painting at the beginning of the film. After wandering around amidst fog and lifeless mummified bodies, the two go blind and fade into oblivion.
concepts — in particular, the ways in which the realms of both the living and the dead might bleed into each other. Fulci also wanted to do a film that would pay homage to his idol, the French playwright Antonin Artaud
. Artaud, a sometime member of the early 20th Century Surrealist movement, envisioned theatre being less about linear plot and more about "cruel" imagery and symbolism that could shock its audience into action.
Thus, Fulci's original outline for The Beyond was of a non-linear haunted house story with the only solid plot element being that of a woman moving into a hotel built on one of the seven gates of hell (another such gate is depicted in City of the Living Dead). This original story focused on the dead leaving hell and entering the hotel with little outside of the ensuing carnage to link the scenes together.
However, the German
distribution company that owned the release rights to Fulci's films at the time were not interested in a haunted house story. Zombie
movies were still popular at the time in Europe and Fulci's backers wanted something similar to his previous zombie films. Fulci agreed to rewrite his film, adding zombies and completely rewriting the film's final act to include a shoot-out between the main characters and a zombie horde at a local hospital. Despite these revisions, the final product is considered by many fans to be one of Fulci's best films and has even been praised for its oneiric
incoherence.
Filming took place in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, with studio work completed in Rome. The historic Otis House at Fairview-Riverside State Park was used as the main location, the 7 Doors Hotel.
for souls, with the presence of the blind girl as evidence of it.
Despite its heavy editing, the film gained a cult following over the years and bootleg tapes of the uncut version of The Beyond (produced from an uncensored Japan
ese Laserdisc
of the film) widely circulated among horror fans. As years went on, demand for an official uncensored release of The Beyond grew considerably, especially as the VHS
copies of Seven Doors of Death went out of print and became next to impossible to find.
In 1998 Quentin Tarantino
acquired the U.S. distribution rights to The Beyond from Bob Murawski
and Sage Stallone
of Grindhouse Releasing
who had personally gone to Italy and met with director Lucio Fulci
(and subsequently with his daughter) in order to distribute the film. Murawski and Stallone had completely digitally remastered and produced the DVD, uncut and completely uncensored, and meticulously curated all the numerous bonus materials. In order to receive a wider audience, Tarantino lent his name to the finished DVD and it was re-released through a division of Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Production Company and Miramax Films. The film played throughout the U.S. as a midnight movie feature and earned Miramax Films
a respectable one million dollars during its re-release, despite receiving mixed reviews from a few film critics.
The film made it at #60 on Bravo Television's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
released The Beyond on DVD in both a limited edition tin-box set, and a standard DVD. There were only 20,000 limited edition sets released for purchase, and were discontinued after. The limited edition set was packaged in a tin box with alternative cover artwork, including an informative booklet on the film's production as well as various miniature poster replications. Soon after the limited edition set went out of production, Anchor Bay's standard DVD did as well. The film was unavailable for home video purchase until it was given another DVD release on October 28, 2008 through Grindhouse Releasing
.
Arrow Video
released The Beyond on Blu-ray for the first time on 14 March 2011. A DVD version was also released.
Cinema of Italy
The history of Italian cinema began just a few months after the Lumière brothers had patented their Cinematographe, when Pope Leo XIII was filmed for a few seconds in the act of blessing the camera.-Early years:...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is perhaps best known for his directorial work on gore films, including Zombie and The Beyond , although he made films in genres as diverse as giallo, western, and comedy...
. It is considered by some horror film fans to be one of the best movies made by the Italian director. The second film in Fulci's unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy (along with City of the Living Dead
City of the Living Dead
City of the Living Dead is an Italian horror film from director Lucio Fulci. It has numerous alternate titles, such as Gates of Hell. It is the first installment of the unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy which also includes The Beyond and The House by the Cemetery. Fulci makes an uncredited cameo...
and The House by the Cemetery
The House by the Cemetery
The House by the Cemetery is a 1981 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Lucio Fulci and is the third instalment of the unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy which also includes City of the Living Dead and The Beyond Its plot revolves around a series of murders taking place in a New England...
), The Beyond has gained a cult following over the decades, in part because of the film's gore-filled murder sequences, which had been heavily censored when the film was originally released in the United States in 1983.
Plot
In 1927, LouisianaLouisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
's Seven Doors Hotel is the scene of a vicious murder as a lynch mob crucifies and pours quicklime upon an artist named Schweick, whom they believe to be a warlock
Warlock
The term warlock in origin means "traitor, oathbreaker".In early modern Scots, the word came to be used as the male equivalent of witch ....
. The artist's murder opens one of the seven doors of death, which exist throughout the world and allow the dead to cross into the world of the living. Several decades later, a young woman from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
inherits the hotel and plans to re-open it for business. But her renovation work activates the hell-portal, and soon she and a local doctor find themselves having to deal with living dead, a ghost of a blind girl who seeks to get them to leave the house, a mystic tome called the Book of Eibon that supposedly contains the answers to the nightmare at hand, face-eating tarantulas, a young girl whose murdered parents become zombies and is herself possessed by undead spirits — and Schweick, who has returned as a malevolent, indestructible corpse, apparently in control of the supernatural forces.
All hope is lost by the end, as the hero and heroine find themselves transported impossibly from a hospital stairway back to the hotel's basement. They enter a wasteland that Schweick was seen painting at the beginning of the film. After wandering around amidst fog and lifeless mummified bodies, the two go blind and fade into oblivion.
Cast
- Catriona MacCollCatriona MacCollCatriona MacColl is an English actress who has worked extensively in both film and television across Europe.-Acting career:In 1979, MacColl made her debut in the title role of "Lady Oscar" directed by Jacques Demy in Japan...
as Liza Merril - David WarbeckDavid WarbeckDavid Warbeck was a New Zealand actor best known for his film roles in Europe.-Career and move into Italian cinema:...
as Dr. John McCabe - Cinzia Monreale as Emily
- Antoine Saint-JohnAntoine Saint-JohnAntoine Saint-John is a French actor.Born in Avignon, France, he found work as a stage actor until the early '70s, when he began working on films. Most of his films are virtually unknown outside of Europe...
as Schweick - Veronica LazarVeronica LazarVeronica Lazar is an Italian actress.She made her debut in Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris , and also appeared in some of the director's subsequent films, La Luna , The Sheltering Sky , and Besieged . Lazar is probably best known for her role as the demonic Mater Tenebrarum in Dario...
as Martha - Larry RayLarry RayLarry Dale Ray is a former Major League Baseball player. Ray played for the Houston Astros in the 1982 season. In five games, Ray had one hit in six at-bats, with one RBI. He played Right Field, and batted left and threw right-handed. He was drafted by the Astros in the 4th round of the 1979...
as Larry - Giovanni De Nava as Joe the Plumber
- Al CliverAl CliverAl Cliver is an Italian actor who is perhaps best known for starring in horror and exploitation films, especially ones by directors Lucio Fulci and Jesús Franco.-Career:...
as Dr. Harris - Michele Mirabella as Martin Avery
- Gianpaolo Saccarola as Arthur
- Maria Pia Marsala as Jill
- Laura De MarchiLaura De Marchi-Selected filmography:- External links :...
as Mary-Ann
Production
Following the release of City of the Living Dead, Fulci decided to continue that film's exploration of metaphysicalMetaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
concepts — in particular, the ways in which the realms of both the living and the dead might bleed into each other. Fulci also wanted to do a film that would pay homage to his idol, the French playwright Antonin Artaud
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
. Artaud, a sometime member of the early 20th Century Surrealist movement, envisioned theatre being less about linear plot and more about "cruel" imagery and symbolism that could shock its audience into action.
Thus, Fulci's original outline for The Beyond was of a non-linear haunted house story with the only solid plot element being that of a woman moving into a hotel built on one of the seven gates of hell (another such gate is depicted in City of the Living Dead). This original story focused on the dead leaving hell and entering the hotel with little outside of the ensuing carnage to link the scenes together.
However, the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
distribution company that owned the release rights to Fulci's films at the time were not interested in a haunted house story. Zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
movies were still popular at the time in Europe and Fulci's backers wanted something similar to his previous zombie films. Fulci agreed to rewrite his film, adding zombies and completely rewriting the film's final act to include a shoot-out between the main characters and a zombie horde at a local hospital. Despite these revisions, the final product is considered by many fans to be one of Fulci's best films and has even been praised for its oneiric
Dream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
incoherence.
Filming took place in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, with studio work completed in Rome. The historic Otis House at Fairview-Riverside State Park was used as the main location, the 7 Doors Hotel.
Themes
According to Fulci, the ending of The Beyond is not a happy ending but at the same time not an unhappy one. The other-dimensional realm that the main characters find themselves trapped in at the end is, according to Fulci, a refuge of sorts that exists outside of time and space. Some fans, citing the fact that Fulci was a known atheist, have taken the notion that the realm is the afterworld seen through the eyes of an atheist. Others have taken the notion that the realm is a sort of purgatoryPurgatory
Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...
for souls, with the presence of the blind girl as evidence of it.
Release
Though it was released in Europe in 1981, The Beyond did not see a U.S. release until 1983 through Aquarius Releasing. The film was released to theaters for a brief theatrical run under the name Seven Doors of Death. Besides changing the name of the film, the film was heavily edited to tone down the film's graphic murder sequences and a brand new musical score was inserted into the film. This version was quickly released on video by Thriller Video and remained in circulation during the 1980s in two separate releases.Despite its heavy editing, the film gained a cult following over the years and bootleg tapes of the uncut version of The Beyond (produced from an uncensored Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
of the film) widely circulated among horror fans. As years went on, demand for an official uncensored release of The Beyond grew considerably, especially as the VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
copies of Seven Doors of Death went out of print and became next to impossible to find.
In 1998 Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
acquired the U.S. distribution rights to The Beyond from Bob Murawski
Bob Murawski
Bob Murawski is an American film editor as well as a film distributor of cult horror and independent films under the "Box Office Spectaculars" and "Grindhouse Releasing" labels. He was awarded the 2010 Academy Award, BAFTA, and A.C.E. awards for "Best Film Editing" on the feature film, The Hurt...
and Sage Stallone
Sage Stallone
Sage Moonblood Stallone is an American actor, director, producer and writer.-Early life:Stallone is the son of Sasha Czack and actor Sylvester Stallone. He is the brother of Seargeoh Stallone, and half-brother of Sistine, Sophia and Scarlet Stallone. His uncle is actor/singer Frank Stallone and...
of Grindhouse Releasing
Grindhouse Releasing
Grindhouse Releasing is a Hollywood-based cult film distribution company owned by director/actor Sage Stallone and headed up by film editor Bob Murawski...
who had personally gone to Italy and met with director Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is perhaps best known for his directorial work on gore films, including Zombie and The Beyond , although he made films in genres as diverse as giallo, western, and comedy...
(and subsequently with his daughter) in order to distribute the film. Murawski and Stallone had completely digitally remastered and produced the DVD, uncut and completely uncensored, and meticulously curated all the numerous bonus materials. In order to receive a wider audience, Tarantino lent his name to the finished DVD and it was re-released through a division of Tarantino's Rolling Thunder Production Company and Miramax Films. The film played throughout the U.S. as a midnight movie feature and earned Miramax Films
Miramax Films
Miramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...
a respectable one million dollars during its re-release, despite receiving mixed reviews from a few film critics.
The film made it at #60 on Bravo Television's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
DVD and Blu-ray releases
On October 10, 2000, Anchor Bay EntertainmentAnchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
released The Beyond on DVD in both a limited edition tin-box set, and a standard DVD. There were only 20,000 limited edition sets released for purchase, and were discontinued after. The limited edition set was packaged in a tin box with alternative cover artwork, including an informative booklet on the film's production as well as various miniature poster replications. Soon after the limited edition set went out of production, Anchor Bay's standard DVD did as well. The film was unavailable for home video purchase until it was given another DVD release on October 28, 2008 through Grindhouse Releasing
Grindhouse Releasing
Grindhouse Releasing is a Hollywood-based cult film distribution company owned by director/actor Sage Stallone and headed up by film editor Bob Murawski...
.
Arrow Video
Arrow Films
Arrow Films is a UK distributor of classic, horror, and cult films on Blu-ray and DVD.-Arrow Films:Arrow Films is one of the UK's leading independent distributors of world cinema, arthouse, horror and classic films...
released The Beyond on Blu-ray for the first time on 14 March 2011. A DVD version was also released.