From Beyond (Unrated Director's Cut)

Suspending belief is practically a pre-requisite to watching a sci-fi or horror film, and doing so will be especially helpful when watching From Beyond. Stuart Gordon delivers another solid Lovecraft adaptation featuring the stars of the previous Reanimator, Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton.

Two scientists unlock a passage to another dimension via the intense vibrations emmitted from their invention "the resonator". Activating the pineal gland in the brain, it acts as a third eye through which the creatures from beyond, that we unknowingly co-exist with, can be visualized. When the experiment goes awry leaving one scientist dead, the other (Combs) is taken for criminally insane and placed in an institution. After being analyzed by a researcher (Crampton), it is decided that the two, along with a law official (Ken Foree), will return to the house to re-enact the experiment. When the resonator is restored, the group begins gradually venturing deeper into the beyond and for more extended periods of time until it becomes apparent that they are being overcome by its powerful influence.

The plot here is an interesting one considering all the real life speculation about the pineal gland, but at such a short run time, the emphasis seems to be more on the gore and creature effects rather than the story itself. Not to say that this is a bad thing, the effects here are really quite good especially for the time. The characters are all well acted, particularly Combs with his trademark over-the-top performance that manages to add a hint of humor to the story despite the grim goings-on. Though perhaps not as timeless as Reanimator, From Beyond is another fantastic Stuart Gordon film that is essential viewing as far as horror and science fiction go.

As a few others mentioned, it's too bad they didn't use the VHS artwork for this DVD as it is much cooler than the cover they used instead. (Actually I don't even know what the cover of this DVD is supposed to be, it's not something that appears the movie...), but life goes on. At least it's the movie in its uncut form. Be sure to check this one out!

The reviews here are skewed wayy positive by many viewers who are age-old fans rejoicing over a long delayed DVD release. Yes the uncut version must be a whole lot better than what has gone before and the video quality throughout is great. I can only imagine the travesty of a cut version, the restored bits all fit in quite well.

But keep in mind, this is B-Movie material and although I really really like B-Movies, this one did not make it to my "keeper" pile and I'm pretty lax about that, most movies I get are keepers. So if you're a fan, buy the DVD, but if you're new to this director or looking to expand your horror collection I recommend to skip this one.

I have a liking for both H.P. Lovecraft stories and off the wall horror films and few people do them better than Stuart Gordon. He misses the target occasionally, but you have to take his films in context. The production values are high, the direction good, and the acting, whilst not inspired, is competent and convincing. The special effects are OK for lowish budget features, and the sound, cinematography and editing are fine.

What seems to annoy a lot of people is that Gordon takes Lovecraft stories as the basis for his plots, and then fabricates a modern post-Halloween type horror story rather than staying "true to the master's original story". Get over it. Lovecraft had a fantastic imagination but stylistically he was a lousy writer who never evolved beyond pulp fiction. Without him there would be no Cthulhu mythos but face it - his prose is repetitive, precious and turgid.

Lovecraft also had a very conservative, post-Victorian background and wrote in an era when the silent version of "The Phantom of the Opera" was considered shocking. His stories are essentially unfilmable because it would be impossible to package his style and vision into a film that would truly horrify modern audiences. They would either laugh or be bored stiff.

Rather than criticising it for not being "accurate", "From Beyond" should be compared to films such as "Hellraiser" or "From Dusk Till Dawn" - that is its true mileau. In that case, it more than holds its place as a worthy modern splatter-horror.

The only films that really attempt to portray Lovecraft in an "accurate" manner are Carpenter's "In the Mouth of Madness" and the Lovecraft Society's "The Call of Cthulhu" (which is pretty good for an amateur attempt). The Carpenter film still uses a lot of gore, but it is not so gratuitous. The Lovecraft Society's film works because it is made as an imitation 1920s silent film, so the viewer accepts all its shortcomings.

It would be interesting to see a Lovecraft film made by a major director with a big budget, and not done as a splatter film, but I can't see it happening in the near future. In the meantime, Gordon's films are fine entertainment - but just don't expect them to be "accurate".

As for this particular release, it is very high quality and the commentary is interesting. Thank goodness it finally got to DVD.

Since I've given 5 stars here, I'm obviously a fan of films such as "From Beyond" and "Galaxy of Terror". Some clearly don't share my tastes for whatever reason, and they likely can't help that any more than I can help liking what I like, so although some detractors may be narrow-minded people, I realize this isn't necessarily true of all of them. However, there is one opinion that even some fans of these movies hold, and that is the fallacy that the acting is atrocious.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

I'm disappointed that even fans familiar with Lovecraft or "B" films don't catch on that the over-the-top performances are intentional. Think about the semi-formal dialogue, usually among highly educated turn-of-the-century (20th, that is) scientists and college students who populate Lovecraft's pulp-fiction stories where he got paid by the word. You'll find that the language in this movie has the feeling of being lifted right out of these stories. It would be impossible for even Val Kilmer or Gary Oldman to make these stilted conversations flow smoothly. Yet, as one watches, he or she realizes that he has fully accepted the characters and their motivations. That's the ingenuity of it, to give it that pulp fiction feel that a modern reader gets when he first samples one of these stories (and the "B" movie is film's answer to pulp-fiction). Yet, it must be done with a straight face or it will fall apart into a mindless, unfunny parody like "Attack of the Killer Tomatos" (I present the campy "B" movie as a separate category from outright horror-comedies like the excellent "Evil Dead 2", or "Dead-Alive"). While some vainly search for humor in the outrageous goings on, they don't realize that they aren't seeing the forest because of the trees. The humor lies in the ridiculous levels of outrageousness. A film of this type must still have some capability to scare or shock, and "From Beyond" has that, unlike, say, the Tromaville flicks. It takes skill to get just that right balance between outrageous shock, deep-rooted sleaze and seemingly inadvertant cheese which can give birth to the most subtle sort of camp as in Walter Hill's "Last Man Standing" starring Bruce Willis. And the vast majority of the credit for making "From Beyond" work must go to the witty and talented cast.

People who complain about the acting in these movies remind me of my brother-in-law dismissing Nicolas Cage in "Wild at Heart" as a bad actor trying to imitate Elvis Pressley, when in fact, Nicolas Cage was playing a trailer-trash type who was trying to be like Elvis. Or my dad who complained about the bad cinematography that resulted in too much red while watching "Angry Red Planet". These people just don't get it, much like those reviewers here who would rather emulate what they, in their lack of understanding, perceive to be elitists' taste.

So the next time you watch your copy of "From Beyond", or "Re-Animator", or "Rejuvenator" or "Dracula's Widow", remember that they are successfully recreating the ambiance of "B" movie cult classics like "the Brain that wouldn't Die" or "Lady Frankenstein", so look out for what is going on here in the performances. Compare low-budget box-office smashes like "a Fistful of Dollars" or the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" to cinematic losers such as the high-dollar U.S. "Godzilla" or "Alpha Dog" and it becomes obvious that while a cheap movie can entertain, technical excess cannot guarantee that a film has heart.

I would like to add that for those who complain about it not being very "Lovecraft-ish", too grisly, etc. I can only say that yes, Lovecraft was never about humor, but again, From Beyond plays it fairly straight-faced, so you can pretty much see the movie you want to see. As for levels of gore, remember that the LAST thing Lovecraft was about was restraint or trying to be "tasteful". The reason he wasn't overly graphic was because his prose was designed to bring the reader's imagination into play, and maybe I'm kinda twisted, but quite frankly, visuals such as what's in this movie are the kind of things Lovecraft's use of language bring to my mind. Most other HPL fans I've known have expressed a similar sentiment. It's one of the reasons he is still so popular.

In closing, I'd like to say that this DVD has absolutely fantastic picture quality. The technicians did a terrific job of remastering the prints and restoring the recovered film clips (previously thought to be lost) and the extra featuers are just the right amount to be interesting, not so many as to be drudgery. Fans will not be disappointed. Great job, MGM.

Wow,
I was Impressed by how much amazing and creepy footage was cut from this film even from the theaters. (saw it in 1986) Amazing how cool many of the effects still are and with all the gore and just plain creepiness you could remember PLUS More!
if you liked this film way back, then you MUST get this NOW before it goes out of print. it is simply as it should be a complete Horror film complete with jump-out scenes and all sorts of weirdness you would expect from the makers of Re-animator.
Jeffrey Combs (From Star Trek DS:9 and even Voyager and also the Re-animator series) does an excellent job in this film as a scientist working under Doctor Praetorius with a machine that enhances and stimulates the pineal gland in the brain. well, they begin to see creatures, and they see them! a nasty lovecraftian tale!
the deviant behavior the resonator seems to Induce in people was truly an inspired idea and was well thought out and even with a fairly small budget at the time they did an excellent job in both acting and in special effects. you cannot go wrong with this film in any way.

Loads of extras as well round off this dvd such as:
audio commentary by director stuart gordon and cast, Director's perspective featurette, The editing Room: Lost and Found featurette, interview with the composer, photo montage, storyboards for the film, commparrisons with introduction.

Truly a wealth of features for fans of the film.

5 Star film, cast and story.
5 stars for Extras!
5 Stars for making it the Right way.

earn another 5 stars buying it here!
From Beyond (Unrated Director's Cut)
I Love this Film!