From Beyond

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From Beyond

May 13th 2009 00:56

From director Stuart Gordon who gave us the wickedly over-the-top cult fave Re-Animator (1985) came another adaptation from the work of the legendary H.P. Lovecraft, author of all nightmares weird and otherwordly, From Beyond (1986), which suffered horrendously at the scissor-happy fingers of the MPAA when it was first released.

Finally an uncut version supervised by Gordon has been released on DVD and I can safely say that the re-inserted trims that were left on the bloodied floor of the editing room in order to avoid an X rating would have been considered appropriately disgusting and depraved, but twenty years down the track they’re nowhere near as shocking and vulgar as they would’ve been to a mid-80s audience. In fact much of From Beyond’s envelope-pushing comes across as cheesy and unintentionally funny; curious how tolerance and taste change with time.

Jeffrey Combs as Dr. Tillinghurst

In fact, From Beyond has to be one of the silliest, most absurd horror movies I’ve even seen. Keeping in mind that there is a modicum of black humour running wild through the screenplay, but it’s not nearly as obvious as in Re-Animator. Methinks the screenwriter Dennis Paoli, who worked from a treatment put together with Gordon and producer Brina Yusna, was opting for a more serious examination of what lies beyond human primal desire and base instinct, but producer Yusna, who loves a grindhouse cheeseburger (if you get my drift), was more interested in the carnal exploitation of the flesh (I can see David Cronenberg chuckling in the audience thinking to himself, “And I thought I was pushing boundaries of good taste …”)

Barbara Crampton as Dr. McMichaels

Dr. Tillinghurst (Jeffrey Combs) has been assisting Dr. Pretorius (Ted Sorrel) in his outrageous exploratory experiments with the pineal gland (located at the front of the brain), in the hope to unlock the mysteries of the supposed sixth sense. By stimulating the gland they hope to open the mind to a higher dimension. Unfortunately the machine Pretorius has built to do the job, The Resonator, exposes a horrifying reality, and a ghastly mutation of the flesh is unleashed, along with evil eels from beyond.

From Beyond Barbara Crampton and Ted Sorel

Dr. McMichaels is violated by a transmogrified Dr. Pretorius (Ted Sorel)

Pretorius is consumed (well, his head anyway) into another dimension, so Tillinghurst and an ambitious psychologist Dr. McMichaels (Barbara Crampton), with the aid of law intermediary Bubba (Ken Foree), attempt to take control of the matter with alarming, chaotic and truly nightmarish results. If you think Re-Animator was squelchy, try From Beyond on for slime, saliva, blood, cranial fluid, and goo.

Bubba (Ken Foree) is reduced

The acting is dreadful (not even Jeffrey Combs’ hammy acting or the cult presence of Ken Foree can save this cosmic wild card), with many of the scenes risible in their attempt at seriousness. Not one character is convincing in their role, but that’s not what makes From Beyond so memorable. It’s the sheer outlandishness and phantasmogorical chutzpah that outs the movie on its own strange pedestal. Much of this is owed to Lovecraft’s original short story, but there is much liberty taken in constructing a movie from the original source material. Sometimes it seems the point of the movie is simply to see how gross and preposterous the situations can get. Altered States seems positively restrained!

Dr. Pretorius as Lovecraftian monster

The special effects are both inventive and dodgy. The prosthetic and creature effects work from Mark Shostrum and John Carl Buechler, while nothing compared to the inspired brilliance of Rob Bottin’s work on The Thing (1982) or the disturbing realism of Tom Savini’s work on Day of the Dead (1985), is solid. But the basic compositing has come a long way since.

From Beyond Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Jeffrey Combs

Tillinghurst's pineal gland says peek-a-boo to Dr. Bloch (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon)

From Beyond is really only for fans of Jeffrey Combs, or those interested in Lovecraftian ideas. But if you’re in the mood for your horror dripping with pineal cheese from the beyond then peel the scab off a bevvie, roll up a fat one, and you might just be in for a perverse treat, just don’t expect to be wowed. More than likely you’ll raise an eyebrow, your lips might curl, and you’ll think, “Gee, they just don’t make ‘em like this anymore …”

Here's the trailer (lo-res, I'm afraid):

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

4 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Damo

May 15th 2009 01:01

This looks like something that the Japanese would dream up.

It works for the Japanese because subtitles hide poor acting.

'Bit off his head like a Gingerbread Man?" You don't get lines like that in films these days.