THE BEYOND

(A.k.a. SEVEN DOORS OF DEATH; E TU VIVRAI NEL TERRORE - L'ALDILA)

You know the story: demure Liza (Catriona MacColl) inherits a Louisiana hotel, discovers it's been built on one of the seven gates of Hell, and enlists the help of suave doctor John (David Warbeck) to little avail.

For a more expanded synopsis, check out the reviews already existing on the Reviews page of this site.

However, working on the notion that visitors to this site are either familiar with Lucio Fulci's 1981 zombie classic, or totally lost, that's surely all the précis I need to provide.

In truth, the storyline means nothing. Fulci's zombie films are as infamous for their lack of internal logic as they are for their eye-popping gore. And, although the living dead pop up in THE BEYOND as little more than an afterthought, this is still a zombie film. Correction, a zombie film par excellence.

You see, it's also so much more. It's a haunted house yarn. It's a supernatural chiller. It's an explicit metaphor for the filmmaker's fear of the ultimate debilitation (blindness). It's FX artist Giannetto De Rossi's (SWITCHBLADE ROMANCE; ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS; THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY etc) finest hour.

If the plot is hokum that exists merely to propel the action from one elaborate gore sequence to the next, and the script is silly rubbish which drops from the mouths of a largely incompetent International cast ... who cares? The fun's to be had in the uber-gore, the surreal nightmarish set-pieces and unnerving atmosphere of impending doom.

In a 1981 interview with 'Starburst' magazine, Fulci described THE BEYOND as his "absolute" film, That is, a film that he perceives as pure cinema: creating its ambience and own logic through visuals and sounds, freed from the conventional requirements of storytelling and characterisation. All of which may sound like an excuse for shoddy filmmaking but, thirty years on and after numerous releases in various formats over the years, there's no denying that the Maestro's 'plotless' movie remains a feral beast of creative, visceral horror.

From the Gothic 1927 opening which leads to a particularly gruesome crucifixion (preceded by a gory extension of the whipping scene from DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING - gorier here, but more fantastical and consequently less disturbing), through the creepy hotel helpers Martha and Arthur, to the climactic hospital zombie face-off that leaves Al Cliver with a skull-full of broken glass and one little girl with a huge hole in her cranium ... THE BEYOND is peppered liberally with classic chunkblower moments, all delivered in a stylised manner that prevents it from being nasty, which have earned it a reputation as a classic of Italian fantasy. And rightly so.

The film was withdrawn from UK circulation during the days of pre-certificate video, having been caught up in the midst of the DPP's ridiculous 'video nasties' scare. This, despite the Vampix video release being shorn of many of the film's juicier moments.

Its history on British soil has been chequered since then. Elephant Video's late 80s VHS release was butchered. And, of course, Vipco had a couple of stabs at inflicting sub-standard video and DVD releases of the film onto us. At least they resubmitted the uncut version (and got it past the BBFC). But soft, dark pan-and-scan transfers are not the way to view THE BEYOND's colourful widescreen compositions.

Now it's 2011, and Fulci's surreal classic is finally available on blu-ray and 2-disc DVD in the UK, fully uncut and in widescreen, courtesy of Arrow Video.

The film is presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 on this review DVD. My first remark upon viewing this version of THE BEYOND was that the opening pre-credits sequence is in black-and-white. It should be in sepia or, per the German theatrical release, in colour. I'd never seen it in monochrome before and this was extremely jarring.

To their credit, Arrow have addressed concerns over this unfortunate turn of events, stipulating on their own forum that they will look into the matter urgently and do what they can to rectify any colour correction errors.

Beyond the bizarre black-and-white opening (a cock-up attributed to the Italian-based restorers), the film looks generally good throughout. Fine grain exists, images are bright and colours seem natural. It may not be the sharpest presentation at all times and some of the darker scenes do get a little heavy on the colour, but by-and-large this is a solid transfer for a film that relies on frame after frame of expertly considered visuals.

A quick comparison with the Grindhouse DVD shows that this new transfer is a little brighter and generally cooler in terms of colours. There is a little more detail, but the lighter palettes may distract those familiar with earlier presentations of the film.

English 5.1 audio was good throughout, offering a clean, consistent and well-balanced playback. Optional audio mixes in English and Italian audio are also serviceable, while differing English subtitles are offered for each of the mono tracks.

An attractive animated main menu page leads into a static scene-selection menu allowing access to the film via 12 chapters.

Disc one opens with a stunning 3-minute high-octane commercial for Arrow Video's current line of horror titles, accentuating all the sterling work they've been doing over the last couple of years with the likes of MARTIN, SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, DAY OF THE DEAD and so on. It's stirring stuff.

From there, we get an all-new 34-second introduction to THE BEYOND from co-star Cinzia Monreale (spooky blind chick Emily in the film). It's English, and she still looks hot at 53 years of age.

There's also a nice new chat with Monreale in the guise of the 24-minute featurette "A.k.a. Sarah Keller" (her English name in the credits). She's at ease chatting to the screen about her work in BEYOND THE DARKNESS, meeting Fulci on the set of his Western SILVER SADDLE and her experience on the sets of THE BEYOND. Laced with gory clips from various films, this is presented in Italian with English subtitles.

A Q&A session with MacColl, filmed at the Glasgow Film Theatre in March 2010, follows. It's 19 more generous minutes of chat with the ever-affable MacColl, following what was a sold-out screening of THE BEYOND. Subtitles are provided where required (audience members without microphones, for example). It's an interesting shot-on-digital affair that offers more anecdotes about Fulci as a demanding but ultimately gracious director.

Disc one's official extras are rounded off by two audio commentary tracks. The first, from MacColl and the late Warbeck, has previously been made available on special edition DVD releases from Anchor Bay and Grindhouse Releasing. It remains an excellent listen, with Warbeck on fine witty form despite slurring from the medication he was taking at the time. The second chat track is new to this release, and comes courtesy of Fulci's daughter Antonella, in conversation with moderator Calum Waddell. She speaks English well and focuses a little on the film before speaking more generally about her dad (she prefers ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS and CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD to this, after all).

I found an Easter Egg on disc one. It's a 4-minute interview with A DAY OF VIOLENCE director Darren Ward, in which he fondly remembers working with David Warbeck on his feature debut SUDDEN FURY.

Disc two opens to an animated main menu page painted in Rick Melton's all-new cover artwork.

The extras here begin with "Beyond Italy: Louis Fuller and the Seven Doors of Death". This 20-minute featurette examines the debacle that was the truncated, rescored and retitled American release of the film. US distributor Terry Levine actually seems a nice bloke, but his trailer for the bastardised American version of THE BEYOND is laughable. Fascinating stuff though.

"One Step Beyond" is 29 more minutes of MacColl reflecting on her work with Fulci. Interspersed with welcome clips from key films, it's a good featurette ... but, what with the commentary and Q&A on disc one, and her enthusiastic contributions to last year's CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD special edition, there's not really much more for her to say on this subject ... surely?

"Butcher Baker Zombie Maker" is the 30-minute highlight of disc two: an informal chat with De Rossi, reminiscing over his illustrious career and (inevitably) discussing his working relationship with Fulci. Again, good clips punctuate the spirited interview regularly.

"Fulci Flashbacks" is almost as good though, a nifty 25-minute reflection on the director's impressive legacy. Anecdotes from colleagues are met with more clips from various Fulci films, and it's all good stuff. My only qualm is that this must be only the tip of the iceberg ... PAURA remains the best way to remember the old geezer.

The German opening sequence, in glorious colour, follows. It's a juddery, soft presentation but at least you get to see that bloody whipping and crucifixion in all its lurid glory.

Finally, we get the original International theatrical trailer for the film (3 minutes in length).

Completing the set but unavailable for review, THE BEYOND comes in the usual Arrow Video packaging: a choice of four covers, a booklet and a fold-out poster. Both discs are region 0 PAL encoded.

THE BEYOND gets an exhaustive release from the ever impressive Arrow Video stable. Here's hoping they can correct the pre-credits issue because, as it stands, it seriously hinders an otherwise impressive set.

Also available on blu-ray.

Review by Stuart Willis