From Beyond (film)

From Beyond
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stuart Gordon
Produced by	Brian Yuzna
Written by	Screenplay: Dennis Paoli Brian Yuzna Stuart Gordon Short story: H. P. Lovecraft
Starring	Jeffrey Combs Barbara Crampton Ken Foree Ted Sorel Carolyn Purdy-Gordon
Music by	Richard Band
Cinematography	Mac Ahlberg
Editing by	Lee Percy
Distributed by	Theatrical: Empire Pictures VHS: Vestron Video DVD: MGM Home Entertainment
Release date(s)	October 24, 1986 (1986-10-24)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$ 4,500,000
Box office	US$ 1,261,000

From Beyond is a 1986 American science fiction/ body horror film directed by Stuart Gordon, loosely based on the short story of the same title by H. P. Lovecraft, and was written by Dennis Paoli, Gordon and Brian Yuzna. The film stars Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Ken Foree and Ted Sorel.

From Beyond centers around a pair of scientists attempting to stimulate the pineal gland with a device called The Resonator. An unforeseen result of their experiments is the ability to perceive creatures from another dimension that proceed to drag the head scientist into their world, who returns as a grotesque shape-changing monster and preys upon the others at the laboratory.

Plot summary

The movie opens to Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs) working on a machine called The Resonator, which stimulates the pineal gland, allowing those within range to see beyond normal perceptible reality. He powers up the instrument and soon witnesses strange creatures in the air. He reaches out to them but is bit on the cheek, and runs to alert his partner and head scientist, the sadistic and deranged Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel). Meanwhile a nosy neighbor phones the police upon witnessing strange lights and noises emanating from the scientists' study. Her dog, Bunny, runs outside and into the open door to the scientists' house, where upstairs Edward is feeling the vibrations all through his pineal gland in his brain from the machine. He tells Crawford that it is like an "orgasm of the mind." Bunny runs up the stairs and as the pursuing neighbor grabs him, Crawford smashes down the door of the attic laboratory with an axe, screaming and running outside, with the neighbor at his heels. Bunny has gone up into the attic and is licking the blood off the decapitated corpse of Edward, as the police swarm the house, arresting Crawford.

The setting changes to a psychiatric ward, and we now see the physician-in charge Dr. Bloch (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon) being introduced to Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton), who requests a meeting with Crawford. Bloch introduces them, and Crawford speaks of the events that culminated in his arrest, including a description of the resonator and the death of Pretorius. They decide to have a brain scan and notice that his pineal gland (in the brain) has grown, and Katherine decides to have him return to the house and show them The Resonator. Dr. Bloch is extremely jealous and refuses, but a detective who is on the case of Dr. Pretorius's death overrides her authority, releasing Crawford to the supervision of Dr. McMichaels. Katherine tells Crawford that she believes him and together with the tough-guy detective, Bubba Brownlee (Ken Foree), she takes Crawford back to the house.

Once inside, while trying to find the power, Bubba and Katherine lose sight of Crawford and begin to look around the house, finding that the late Edward practiced BDSM. They locate Crawford in the attic with The Resonator, reliving the night of Edward's death. Katherine and Crawford immediately begin to rebuild the machine, which had been disabled by Crawford with an axe the night of the murder. Upon completing the repairs and eating dinner, Bubba joins them in the attic laboratory. Crawford tells them not to move when the creatures come out, since they can sense movement and will attack them. He turns the machine on and they see the leech-like creatures. They then start to feel the vibrations and begin to feel the pleasure. Bubba goes up to the leeches and touches one, only to have it bite his wrist. The presumed-dead Edward then shows up in the corner of the attic. His skin is slimy and lumpy, and he is naked, but speaking and behaving normally. He tells them that the world beyond is much more pleasurable than this world and that they should join him. Crawford touches Edward's shoulder which sinks in on contact, and as Crawford steps back in horror Edward's head begins to break apart and spew goo. Bubba draws his pistol and repeatedly shoots at Edward, but to no avail. Crawford shuts off The Resonator, making Edward and the creatures vanish.

It is now morning, and the three discuss the creatures over breakfast. Katherine - who insists that the Resonator could possibly cure schizophrenia - suggests that they turn the machine back on, but Bubba and Crawford disagree. They all go to sleep, each with a headache. But while everyone is sleeping, Katherine gets back up to feel the pleasure from the machine and turns it back on, bringing forth a worried Crawford and the now almost unrecognizable Edward who is mutated and covered in slime. Bubba enters the scene as Edward grabs Katherine and rips off her clothes, preparing to eat her mind and take her to the world of beyond. Crawford and Bubba go down into the basement to shut off the power, but encounter a giant worm-monster, prompting Crawford to conclude the vibration waves permeate the entire house. The worm begins to devour Crawford, but Bubba succeeds in shutting off the power, bringing a hairless Crawford back, and sending Edward away. The freed Katherine then turns off the machine and meets the others downstairs, crying and feeling ashamed and horrified for turning it back on.

Bubba decides that they should leave the house, but as Katherine puts lotion on Crawford's inflamed skin, she expresses her desire to monitor the machine to figure out where the creatures are coming from. Bubba refuses and tells her to go get dressed. She begins to explore other parts of the house, finding Edward's old S&M outfits and putting one on. She then starts to tease a sleeping Crawford, until Bubba comes in and tells her to snap out of it, which she does, throwing a robe over the outfit. All of a sudden the power returns and The Resonator turns back on, as all three of them run up into the attic to deactivate it. Katherine and Crawford are attacked by little bee-like creatures that strip the flesh off of their victims, and as Bubba pushes them out of the way, he is devoured to the bone. A now almost fully mutated Edward, without any legs or proper arms, grabs Katherine and starts to drag her flesh torn, bleeding body towards him. Crawford fights Edward and succeeds in freeing Katherine but then his enlarged pineal gland pops out of his forehead like an antenna. Katherine short circuits the machine by spraying it repeatedly with a fire extinguisher.

She then takes Crawford back to the hospital, where she is evaluated for insanity and schizophrenia, since her story was just like Crawford's and she is blamed by Dr. Bloch and the police for this evening's events. Vindictive Dr. Bloch then orders for Katherine to get shock treatment. Dr. Bloch then goes to perform an autopsy on an undead Crawford, who is on the lookout for brains to eat with the use of his antenna. As Katherine is being prepared for shock treatment by a sadistic staff member, Crawford attacks and eats Dr. Bloch's brain. Katherine escapes, gets new clothes, and drives back to the house with a bomb. Crawford follows her on a hijacked ambulance car. Katherine puts the bomb on The Resonator, sets it for 5 minutes, and goes to leave, only to have Crawford chain her up in Edward's S&M room, claiming that he loves her. As he is about to eat her brain, she bites off his exposed, enlarged pineal gland, reverting him to his senses. However, Crawford is pulled away by a completely deformed, mutated Edward. Meanwhile, Katherine manages to attract the leech creatures that sense her movement and bite through the straps, releasing her. Crawford fights Edward, only to be eaten by him. Edward chases Katherine into the laboratory, where Crawford's form begins to tear out through Edward's skin and muscles. The two fight for the control of the deformed body, until it dissolves in its own digestive fluids. Katherine finally frees herself and jumps out the attic window, right as the whole attic explodes. She lands on her legs, breaking one, and as the neighbors gather around her, she goes from sobbing to laughing hysterically as she tells them, "It ATE him!"

Production

From Beyond was shot in Italy with an Italian crew in order to save money. Gordon says that the film would have cost fifteen million dollars to make in the United States, whereas the foreign production enabled him to hold costs to approximately two and a half million dollars. It was shot on a soundstage called Dinocitta just outside of Rome. Dinocitta was originally constructed by Dino DeLaurentiis, but was seized by the government for nonpayment of taxes, and then sold to Empire Studios. From Beyond was one of the first films shot at that venue during its period of ownership by Empire.

As with his earlier film Re-Animator, Gordon made use of medical advisors to be sure that the actions taken by the doctors and nurses of the film followed proper medical procedures.

According to Gordon, securing an "R" rating from the MPAA was a challenging ordeal. He quotes them as initially saying his presented cut of the film had "ten times too much of everything". He was ultimately able to get away with making small trims, and without removing any entire sequences from the film.

Release

MGM has released a restored unrated cut of the film with extras. From Beyond has previously only been released in its edited R-rated form. The MPAA had required cuts to S&M footage and gore to allow it to be R-rated. This missing footage was reinserted into the film and the restored, longer version was aired on the Monsters HD Channel (copies of this release have been distributed on the Internet). The DVD was released on September 11, 2007.

Awards

The film score by Richard Band won the award for Best Original Soundtrack at the Catalonian International Film Festival in Sitges, Spain.

External links

• From Beyond at the Internet Movie Database
• From Beyond at AllRovi
• Article discussing DVD release