Rent The Beyond (1981)

A collection of gruesome set-pieces ... - The Beyond review by NP

I quite enjoyed this beautifully shot, nicely directed, highly brutal and gratuitous horror film. When we were all a lot younger, it was known as a ‘video nasty’ and gained its reputation by being banned on several levels. I do have reservations, however, and fairly sizeable ones.

A Lucio Fulci film, it suffers from dubbing, which is a turn-off for some viewers. It doesn’t bother me, but some of the voices are inappropriately camp. Secondly, and this is the stinger – there’s no real plot. No sense or feeling of growing jeopardy or effective pacing that would make the gloriously gory moments ever more powerful; the anticipation is the thing, and it’s not allowed in this choppy narrative.

Ultimately, it seems to be a series of set-pieces strung together in which to highlight particularly gruesome moments, but without context in a comprehensible story, isn’t as effective as it could be. My score is 6 out of 10.