Gore Reigns Supreme: The Beyond

This is going to be a pretty short write-up. It's not that there's not a lot to say about The Beyond but that it's so visceral and the story matters so little that it's hard to get much across without just saying, "you just have to watch the movie." It's the second film in Lucio Fulci's "Gates of Hell" trilogy, the others being City of the Living Dead and The House by the Cemetery (the latter of which I enjoyed far more the second time I saw it). The Beyond is easily my favorite of the trilogy even though there's little that makes sense in the film (which is kind of the case with the whole trilogy).



Roughly, The Beyond deals with a woman who inherits an old hotel in Louisiana and is trying to prep it for reopening. The problem is, this hotel is one of the seven gates of hell. That's all you really need to know. Just strap yourself in for a steady flow of plasma, eyes getting mutilated, stabbings, and a head explosion (The Beyond gets the formula for that right, unlike some other film I know). The scene that fucked me up the most is when the tarantulas attack. Fulci lingers on them walking and something about watching all eight of their legs move at different times gave me the willies.

The Beyond is loaded with great, stylish shots and awesome gore effects. There's an annoying blind woman and when the doctor is shooting at  zombies at the end, you'd think he was a moron, but those are just about my only complaints for the movie. It's perfect to watch with a crowd as there's lots to elicit vocal responses. Seriously... you just have to watch the movie.