A young woman inherits an old hotel in Louisiana where, following a series of supernatural "accidents", she learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell.
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Nate H. reviewed The Beyond (1981)
Review from the comment
It took me a minute to figure this one out. I'm in a group online with fans of cult films, and a lot of them love Fulci, and of those a lot cite The Beyond as their fave of his. This was my first foray into the director's body of work, and I must admit I had an eyebrow cocked for about the first 35 minutes or so.
The Beyond is built on a flimsy plot which is executed by terrible actors reciting equally bad dialogue. A woman inherits a mysterious hotel which--unbeknownst to her-- has a room sealed off with a gateway to Hell. Of course once she takes control of the property, bad things happen.
This actually sounds pretty cool on paper, but the storyline jumps all over the place and does not build on that premise well. And in the end, it doesn't really matter. Fulci's m.o. (here at least) is to create multiple scenes of gore and terror that shakily ties it all together. The majority of these scenes strictly from an artist's point of view without considering the overall story are pretty well done by themselves. Lot of blood, lot of cool shots, lot of old school practical effects that are missing in today's CGI everything universe. On that note, I can see why some people love Fulci. He was really good at throwing out compelling imagery. But for me, visuals are not everything. I need substance behind it.
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