E tu vivrai nel terrore - L'aldilà

AKA The Beyond

Review by Nick Peron

Ah, Italy, it's a beautiful country (so far as I've hard, I've never been) it has the finest of all things: fine food, fine wine, and fine women (And I do not make this statement lightly, good lord, I don't know how fellow Micro-Shock writer Davide Venanzio Pagnimauri can function out there, my eyes would be bugging out of my head 24/7) and of course it also has some of the finest horror films ever made. Bava (both Mario and Amberto), Argento, Fulcci... All great directors -- if you have no clue who they are and what they have done, go out and see these movies, seriously, there is life out there outside the typical North American horror fare, and thanks to the magical world of digital media you can probably find it on DVD somewhere!

Anyway, before you do, please read this review (PLEASE! I NEED THE ATTENTION!) because I am going to do a review of an Italian horror film, so consider this the first part of your education. So today, I've decided to review the film The Beyond, because it's made by the late Lucio Fulci (1927-1996), and well those of you reading must have seen at least Zombi 2 (Aka Zombie) so the name must be familiar.. So here's one of his better movies. Yeah, Zombi 2 was pretty fucking awesome, but trust me, Mr. Fulci did some other great films.

The films original title is E tu vivrai nel terrore - L'aldilà, which literally translates to: And You Will Live in Terror: The Beyond. Now while that sounds like the title to a really bad Emo concept album, or if you're the kind who gets easily frightened by long film titles when they released this film internationally it was simply titled The Beyond.

The film was made in 1981, it's the story about an old Louisiana hotel, called the Seven Doors Hotel, is a secret gateway to Hell. In 1927 a man named Schweik (Antoine Saint John) would be staying there and would learn the secrets of the hotel. However, the towns people, fearing that he is a warlock come to the hotel and kill him -- whipping, crucifying, and then throwing lime acid on him, even after his dire warnings of evil yet to come.

Flash forward to the present, and young New Yorker Liza Merril (played by the stunning Catriona MacColl) inherits the hotel and decides to have it renovated and reopened. As renovations begin, they disturb the ancient power that has long since slumbered within. With each new horrific death, Liza learns more and more about her inherited hotel, and how it is a portal to hell.

I will leave it at that in terms of the summary, because I want you to go out and watch it. But here are some things you should know about the movie that will hopefully convince you to shell out and get yourself a copy:

Gore on the Floor:

If you thought that Zombi 2 was chocked full of blood and gore, you will find that it's like a gentle mist compared to the torrential blood letting that happens in this movie.

If you liked the scene in Zombi 2 where the woman's eye gets impaled on the piece of wood? Well belly up my friend because this movie has all the eye gouging you could ever want. This movie has a weird infatuation with eyes, and one of these infatuations is gauging them out. There is this great scene where a zombie grabs a woman and pushes her head into an exposed nail and (without any cut aways) they show her eyeball get rammed out of the socket from behind.

Hope you are also not squeamish about spiders, because this movie has a scene where a character has his face chewed up by spiders. They eat one of his eyes, chew on his face, and even take out part of his tongue, all in gory detail.

Faces being melted with acid, whippings, crucifixion, and a German Sheppard taking out someone's throat. This movie is a delight for anyone who loves gore, but it's also an impressive enough movie to keep those who like a story.

The Plot:

The part of the plot I like the best is the struggle with Dr. John McCabe (played by the late David Warbeck) is trying to convince Liza that the idea of the supernatural, zombies, and a gate to hell are scientifically impossible. As the movie progresses and the forces around the house beginning to show a larger and larger presence, McCabe has a harder and harder time trying to convince Liza. By the films end, John isn't trying so much to convince Liza anymore as he is trying to convince himself of the impossibility of what he is seeing, right until the shocking ending.

Creep Factor 9:

From the cateracted blind woman (played by Cinzia Monreale), near silent zombies, creepy spiders, you have to ask yourself how much more creepy can this movie be? Well I'll tell you: Creepy redheaded child.

Creepy orphaned redheaded child that gets possessed by demons from hell.

But it has by far possibly one of the best head explosion scenes this side of Joe Spinel's Maniac.

Wait.. What now?

The only thing wrong I can find about this movie is that some of it's story telling is a little loose in that the movie does not go into a lot of exposition. It doesn't explain where the freaky magic book comes from, it doesn't explain why there is even a gate to Hell in Louisiana (although I can think of a few offhand)

The acting is a little wooden, and well if you're watching the dubbed version then all the female characters sound pretty much the same, with a few minor modulations in their voices. There is also this really weird edit where they show the same clip of the blind woman and her dog running out out the hotel over and over for no apparent reason.

That all said, this is a great movie to watch as long as you don't take it very seriously, don't think about the plot too much, or the fact hat it takes John McCabe forever to realize that he has to shoot the zombies in the head, don't think about the minor plot holes. For it's few flaws it is a beautifully filmed movie with some kick ass special effects, creepy music (By none other than Fabio Frizzi, who also did music for Zombie 2) So sit back, and enjoy this great movie.

Word to the wise my friends, there are many many versions of this film out there that have different cuts, different audio tracks and the like. The best one out there, that provides the film uncut, and has great special features is the one that is distributed by Grindhouse Productions, accept no substitute.

Download Micro-Shock Trading Cards #43-48 - Featuring The Beyond