The Beyond (1981 film): Difference between revisions
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==Plot== |
==Plot== |
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The film starts off in [[Louisiana]], [[1927]], as a [[warlock]] named Schriek is nailed in the basement of a hotel and is killed by a mob as they pour acid down his face. A young woman known as Emily starts reading a book of prophecies called Eibon. It tells that the hotel was built upon one of the seven gateways to hell and only a warlock can stop the dead from rising. Once she stops reading, the room she is in bursts into flames and she dissappears. |
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In [[1927]], [[Louisiana]]'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. |
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After the title and credit sequence, the movies comes to year of 1981. Liza, a [[New York]] born woman inherits and moves into the hotel, and tries to renovate and re-open its doors. Then strange things occur such as one the builders mysteriously falls to the ground from a scaffolding for no reason. Then a plumber reawakens a zombie-like Schriek, who gouges out one of the plumber's eyes who dies and Emily reincarnates as a blind woman and tries to explain to Liza that she must close and get away from the hotel. |
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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. |
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Liza breaks into room number 36. This room is the trigger to open the portal into hell, which Emily was trying to tell her not to do. Eventually after this happens, many of the main characters die such as Martha and Arthur who turn into zombies by the warlock. Near the end of the film, Liza and a doctor escape from being trapped in a collapsing hotel basement. They run into their car and speed off into the hospital hoping to find someone that can save them. Along the way, they realise that there is no one around which suggests that they have ascended into [[heaven]]. This proves one of the prophecies in the book of Eibon and that this day is the day of judgement. |
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At the hotel they are attacked by zombies, including a girl that was possessed by Schriek near the start of the movie. They enter the door which teleports them to the basement. They see a small opening which is spewing out mist. The two make a dash as the footsteps of the undead get closer and closer. They come out on the other side and find that they are in purgatory. They try to escape but there is no way out and that they have become blind. Shortly afterwards they dissappear, meaning that they might have ascended into heaven. The credits then roll. |
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==Cast== |
==Cast== |
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Revision as of 13:46, 13 April 2011
| The Beyond | |
|---|---|
| File:Poster-the-beyond 0.jpg Official US poster | |
| Directed by | Lucio Fulci |
| Written by | Story: Dardano Sacchetti Screenplay: Giorgio Mariuzzo Lucio Fulci Dardano Sacchetti |
| Produced by | Fabrizio De Angelis |
| Starring | Catriona MacColl David Warbeck Cinzia Monreale Antoine Saint-John Veronica Lazar Anthony Flees Giovanni De Nava Al Cliver Michele Mirabella Gianpaolo Saccarola Maria Pia Marsala Laura De Marchi |
| Cinematography | Sergio Salvati |
| Edited by | Vincenzo Tomassi |
| Music by | Fabio Frizzi |
| Distributed by | Grindhouse Releasing Rolling Thunder Pictures |
Release dates | April 29, 1981 (Italy) March 1983 (U.S.) June 12, 1998 (U.S. re-release) |
Running time | 89 min. |
| Languages | Italian, English |
| Budget | $400,000 (Estimated) |
The Beyond (Italian: ...E tu vivrai nel terrore! L'aldilà, also known as Seven Doors of Death) 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.[1] 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.
Plot
The film starts off in Louisiana, 1927, as a warlock named Schriek is nailed in the basement of a hotel and is killed by a mob as they pour acid down his face. A young woman known as Emily starts reading a book of prophecies called Eibon. It tells that the hotel was built upon one of the seven gateways to hell and only a warlock can stop the dead from rising. Once she stops reading, the room she is in bursts into flames and she dissappears.
After the title and credit sequence, the movies comes to year of 1981. Liza, a New York born woman inherits and moves into the hotel, and tries to renovate and re-open its doors. Then strange things occur such as one the builders mysteriously falls to the ground from a scaffolding for no reason. Then a plumber reawakens a zombie-like Schriek, who gouges out one of the plumber's eyes who dies and Emily reincarnates as a blind woman and tries to explain to Liza that she must close and get away from the hotel.
Liza breaks into room number 36. This room is the trigger to open the portal into hell, which Emily was trying to tell her not to do. Eventually after this happens, many of the main characters die such as Martha and Arthur who turn into zombies by the warlock. Near the end of the film, Liza and a doctor escape from being trapped in a collapsing hotel basement. They run into their car and speed off into the hospital hoping to find someone that can save them. Along the way, they realise that there is no one around which suggests that they have ascended into heaven. This proves one of the prophecies in the book of Eibon and that this day is the day of judgement.
At the hotel they are attacked by zombies, including a girl that was possessed by Schriek near the start of the movie. They enter the door which teleports them to the basement. They see a small opening which is spewing out mist. The two make a dash as the footsteps of the undead get closer and closer. They come out on the other side and find that they are in purgatory. They try to escape but there is no way out and that they have become blind. Shortly afterwards they dissappear, meaning that they might have ascended into heaven. The credits then roll.
Cast
- Catriona MacColl – Liza Merril
- David Warbeck – Dr. John McCabe
- Cinzia Monreale – Emily
- Antoine Saint-John – Schweick
- Veronica Lazar – Martha
- Larry Ray – Larry
- Giovanni De Nava – Joe the Plumber
- Al Cliver – Dr. Harris
Production
Following the release of City of the Living Dead, Fulci decided to continue that film's exploration of metaphysical 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.[2]
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 purgatory 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 US release until 1983 through Aquarius Releasing.[3] The film was released to theatres 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 Japanese 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 US 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 currated 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 US 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.
DVD and Blu-ray releases
On October 10, 2000, Anchor Bay Entertainment 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.[4]
Arrow Video released The Beyond on Blu-ray for the first time on 14 March 2011.[5] A DVD version was also released.
All discs released are faulty with a uncorrect black and white opening and lower quality, instead of the original golden yellow. The correct Blu-ray version have higher disc size and picture quality, and have either the original golden yellow opening or sepia as Grindhouse Releasing and Anchor Bay Entertainment used. At the moment, it's unknown which tinting they used on the correct version.
The correct version of the DVD, won't have higher quality, since it has it the maximum picture quality from before. For more information to get the correct disc (DVD or Blu-ray), see this thread on their forum: http://www.cult-labs.com/forums/134439-post1.html
References
- ^ Danel Griffin, essay on The Beyond Film as Art: University of Alaska Southeast
- ^ The Top Ten Devil-Themed Horror Films for Christmas!
- ^ "Company Credits for The Beyond". imdb.com. Retrieved 2011-04-01.
- ^ Amazon.com – The Beyond DVD 28 Oct. 2008
- ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0041H7KSS/ref=cm_pdp_srp_img_2
Thrower, Stephen. Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci, Fab Press, 2002. ISBN 0-9529260-6-7