 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. This is for the 1986 film from beyond not to be confused with it The Beyond which is a Lucio Fulci film. This is a Stuart Gordon film and RIP Stuart Gordon We lost him earlier this year That is sad. The guy definitely loved attempting to do HP Lovecraft films Obviously from beyond is an HP Lovecraft film reanimators an HP Lovecraft film. He did um One of his masters of horror films was I think it was called Dreams in the Witch House That was an HP Lovecraft film. He loved to pull from HP Lovecraft. So From beyond not my favorite. I mean after watching reanimator The comparison is not so great. I will say I'm glad I watched this film when I watched it. It was kind of blowing up a little bit in this horror group I'm in on facebook Because a lot of those people have shutter and it shuttered I added it recently when I'm recording this So a lot of people were kind of discovering it for the first time or rediscovering it and just being like oh wow And there are good things about it. Don't get me wrong. The practical effects are awesome This film is 100 worth checking out at least once just for the practical effects. They are great Which you know, it's Stuart Gordon. Brian Usina is involved who did society And some of the practical effects feel a little bit like the ones in society because there's a lot of like Kind of goo on them So yeah, for that reason it felt a little society-esque But for some of the big names involved in doing the practical effects, you know, you have Robert Kurtzman You have Greg Nicotero. You have Mark Schostrom people who have done really big name amazing film practical effects and It's on full display in this and they do throw a lot of practical effects into this film Which is something I really appreciate now On the other side what I don't appreciate is it feels like there's a great concept for the story introduced And then it just doesn't go Far enough like there's not enough story to it It feels like they get into a story and then they're just kind of treading water until the runtime runs out So for that reason, I think the script could have used a lot of work It just needed to go somewhere more But anyway I put too much of that up front, but that's fine Once like I said it's directed by Stuart Gordon who did reanimator dolls the pit and the pendulum Castle freak and Dagon just a few other ones Now not only was brian using it involved with this film as a producer But so was charles band who as we know charles band has done full moon studios. That's his label or his studio It was written by Dennis Paoli who had written scripts for reanimator Gullies too Uh and the pit and the pendulum and Dagon. So has worked quite a bit with Stuart Gordon Also, there was input from Stuart Gordon and Brian Usina For the script and obviously based off h.p. Lovecraft It has jeffrey combs in it. I love jeffrey combs his acting to me whenever he's on screen His acting is it's not only good acting. It's fun acting You know what I mean like those actors you see and you don't just look at him and be like, oh, they're a good actor You're just like I have so much fun watching them act on screen And jeffrey combs is one of those actors for me. So whenever I see jeffrey combs in a film I have to watch it So obviously he's been in reanimator the man with two brains cellar dweller bride of reanimator Castle freak the frighteners Beyond reanimator. Those are just a few of the films. He's done a lot But those are the you know the bigger names of better ones Barbara crampton is always in this. I love Barbara crampton Her acting from the 80s is solid Not the best but solid And I think I like her most right now in the present because her presence on social media Is unbelievably positive and she seems just like such a nice person It's just really nice to follow her on twitter and just kind of see the positive things She's doing and saying each day and it's it's uplifting because you know, sometimes we need that every now and then So I think as a person. I think she's wonderful. She's good in this film Although I think her character was A little underused in a sense. She could have been a stronger character and I think should have been a stronger character in it Uh, she was in films like body double obviously worked with combs in reanimator and sir gordon She's in chopping mall castle freak. You're next the lords of salem We are still here beyond the gates puppet and puppet master the littlest rike just to name some but she's still working She's doing a lot and then ken for re is in this big name from the past dawn of the dead texas chainsaw three The devil's rejects halloween the lords of salem So the guy's been in some good stuff and he was fun in this film as well. I will say Although I also think his character was a little bit underutilized although he had some kind of funny lines I liked the little bit of like a comedic aspect that his character Injected into situations. He kind of seemed like the dude that kind of like stepped in between um Dr. Mick michaels and crawford Uh multiple times in in in many ways So this film we had a budget of 4.5 million and it only made a bit over 1 million So not a success not a success. Um, I And like I was saying before like I see why it's like the story doesn't really go far enough You just it ends and you kind of like wanted more especially because you wanted more from the development of What was really going on with the um, what is it the resonator? The whole idea behind the resonator. I know they touch on it a little bit But I feel like they need to flesh that out more and then dr. Pretorius like his real motivations I feel like his motivations were just set up as like this really vague like man. He's into like Pleasure and a lot of kinky sexual stuff. So like obviously he wanted to take feeling something to the next level So he wanted to get to a parallel universe like Like give me a little bit more than that like it feels a little bit lazy I think and I don't know and it and it feels also like hellraiser even though Hellraiser the first hellraiser came out a year after this film It feels kind of like hellraiser and hellraiser did it better And more in a more interesting way, but With less practical effects though Well Maybe less grandiose. I will say practical effects Uh, Gordon chose combs and crampton for familiarity of lovecraft material since he'd work with them before And they would know that he would end up asking them for very odd things in the film So it's they it's this kind of thing is I don't want to have to explain to new people That I asked for some weird stuff for these films because they're kind of weird films and from beyond People have to admit is a pretty weird film. It's it's definitely weird It was shot in italy with an entirely italian crew in order to cut costs down So even with that it was 4.5 million and from what I read They actually ended up running out of money by the time they needed to shoot the finale of the film So that kind of sucks because I wonder if The finale would have been even bigger even more grandiose and they really would have gone for it more had They actually had more money at that point because a lot of times when productions get to the end Then they still have some extra money with a film like this in particular. They'll kind of be like Well, let's go bigger. Let's do more practical effects. Let's do more things. Let's make it look bigger and look better Just saying Much like with reanimator gordon had medical advisors to ensure that what the doctors and nurses did made actual real life sense I that's one of the things that like an attention to detail that I loved about steward gordon Especially when I was doing my review for reanimator, which is on my channel Um is finding out that he really looked into the actual medical aspects of things and then he did it again here Now he didn't even need to do that in this film Because there's not a whole lot of real medical stuff that goes on It's mainly like the scientific like everything having to do with the resonator and the parallel universe. So But the fact that he did go to that length respect for that Uh, it was challenging apparently for steward gordon to be able to cut this down to an actual r rating Now I assume I didn't see an uncut for well, you know, maybe it was an uncut version I don't know what I saw But if it was an uncut version that I saw on shutter, then I don't get how it had to be cut down Uh, it's not that crazy. I've seen films that got r ratings that are way less crazy than that back then So anyway The large scale of the resonator in this film works very well in that kind of big open room Which is in the attic of that building And the color lighting looks really really awesome I just think that there's set construction of the room with the resonator is very cool And they build it big enough that they can make sure that there's room for things to like really happen in there And obviously they could, you know, move the cameras around enough, but It because it's in such a big room and because the resonator and its apparatus all the machine setup around it Are so large it gives this feeling of it being a big deal and being Something that had a lot of work and a lot of time put into it And that just kind of adds to the aspect of the the awe of this resonator machine So I like that setup for it and all those lights the colored lights in this the use of the colored lights Especially the pink ones look really really cool the way they shot it and I dig it I'm always for colored lights They can really add a lot of aesthetic interest to a film and it does with this one The line it bit off his head like a gingerbread man I laughed at when it came up when um crawford said it uh jeffrey combs character because It caught caught me off guard because I thought it'd be more of like a serious type line coming When he said it bit his head off like and then he said gingerbread man and I just like Not only did I laugh but since charles band was involved with this It just made me think of ginger dead man with gary bucy So I was just like oh my gosh Just a side note Early on you see clear ties to reanimator The whole thing about messing with science And basically coming to an unintended terrible result by messing with science And it truly is one of those things of just like in reanimator Doing something because you can do it not doing something because you should do it And in this in from beyond it's a little further than reanimator because doctor I think it was dr. Hill I think was his name in um reanimator. He was going after the reanimation serum because He wanted to be you know, he wanted to do it. He kind of wanted to feel like a god He wanted to be noticed within the scientific community as having done this amazing thing whereas Pretorius in from beyond like he's not looking for notoriety. He's just looking for that next level Of pleasure that he can experience so it's it's more of a personal thing and I Guaranteed that he didn't he really want anyone to know about it, honestly So but there's some ties between the films and it makes sense because they're both love craft material based on it Crawford has a tough choice to make in this early on you stay in an insane asylum Or you go and recreate the experiment that is very very dangerous Obviously, he chooses the second one because Who wants to just spend their time in an insane asylum? I mean, maybe if he goes and takes the chance and does the experiment again, it comes out way better But as we see it doesn't I did not see the reveal of the snm room coming up And this is kind of something that's been used in the past in films Uh, especially horror films as like a shock value thing Is this like sexual deviance aspect and obviously it's very strong in this film and sexuality in general is very strong in this film now I would have a big problem with the sexuality in this film because Uh of just being there to be there, but it's not just there to be there Like it is kind of the whole reason that the resonator exists and that's who pretorious was so I'm not mad at it. Like it's fine. It's just Something that I noticed is like the whole snm It In the past has been used as like this deviant behavior sexually that people are supposed to be so shocked by but you know Over time it's been very very different. You know, there's a whole kink community now that is advocated for people to not You know put things like that in film to make it so um Uh taboo, I guess and then you know things like 50 shades of gray like that's kind of Popularized I don't know if I can say popularized but made it a little more mainstream the whole snm aspect of things You know, there are people who are into that and that's fine. You know, it's not my thing But I don't care what people do in their bedroom. If it's too concerning adults or more whatever I don't care. That's fine But it just I didn't see the snm room coming. So when they reveal something like that, you're like, oh, okay You just don't see it coming It's an interesting tie between dr. Pretorius's desire for some stimulation And that leading to the remu the resonator creation It's similar to hellraiser. Like I said, even though hellraiser came out later Now that said I would say the hellraiser films are better While the first two hellraiser films are definitely better than from beyond in my opinion I'm sure there are people who disagree you can put comments down there and that's all good It's a pretty high concept with this film Having a parallel dimension Existing around us and we can only see it and interact with it When the right frequency is emitted from this resonator machine That is really cool And then the fact that they tie it into the the concept of maybe having a play with people who have schizophrenia And then maybe being able to use the resonator in order to solve that mental illness problem This is what I'm saying interesting high concept But then I just don't think they do enough with it in the film because they introduce these concepts And they just don't do enough with the concepts after they've been introduced in my opinion And that's one of the things I just wanted more. I wanted them to go deeper. I wanted it to be smarter Because when they introduced that concept, you're like, whoa, okay, this film is interesting This is high concept. They're gonna get deep and then it's like they kind of back down from that It's just like, well, here's the concept and we're just gonna play with it in the most kind of base way possible So I I just wanted more All the crazy body stuff that happens to praetorius is really fun. Obviously, that's the amazing practical effects coming into place Whenever praetorius showed up, I was just like, here we go. We're gonna get some cool practical effects and it did not disappoint Nothing kills the sexual mood faster than a deformed old guy watching the part where um Crawford and mc michaels are like getting together and they're making out hard and then all of a sudden this This deformed praetorius pops up and starts like talking and making noises. Yeah, nothing kills the mood more than that um There's a lot of sexuality. Oh, I already talked about the sexuality in the film Which which I said I would normally bother me because it doesn't need to be there But it doesn't need to be there because it's in the story. So that's fine Just like in hellraiser. It's a part of the story. Obviously So it's weird when they bring the forehead penis into play. That's what i'm calling it like the forehead penis because It's another sensory thing. That's kind of what it feels like but I guess you call it like an antenna or something like it's weird when that comes into play because I don't know. It's just weird like you don't see that coming And then the fact that like when it it goes out and then goes back in so many times and then also like The movement of it especially combined with jeffrey combs acting where he's kind of like Like great acting for it, but it's just like It's kind of uncomfortable to be honest and it's weird And then I guess they're kind of he's seeing colors When that's active like he's not using his his normal human senses that it's all just filtered through that like forehead penis um I guess that's what's going on. That's the idea. I got but if you have a different idea go ahead put it in the comments When crufford was eating the brain In the hospital It appears that he didn't actually know what he was eating because he was being consumed so much by just going through The senses of the thing coming out of his forehead and then eventually when he kind of Snaps back to it. It goes back in his head. He realizes. Oh my god. I'm eating a human brain. This is this is crazy But then I don't understand what what the thing is when he starts attacking people and he's like sucking their eyeball Is he trying to get to their brain through their eye socket? Or is he legitimately trying to eat their eyeball at that point? That just seems kind of odd to me like I just I couldn't tell what was going on and it happens a few times. So once again ideas put it down there Where the hell did dr. McMuggles get dynamite and a timer That's what I don't know when she escapes finally from the asylum They're gonna, you know Electro shock therapy her and then she makes it back to the house and she's gonna blow up the resonator How how did she have time to get dynamite and a timer? Where did she get it? Like it's such a random thing that like all of a sudden She's got this big big pack of dynamite with a timer on it Makes no sense. It's very out of nowhere Pretorius and Crawford fighting within the same body is an awesome scene And when like, you know Crawford's kind of like coming out of his mouth and then he like swallows him back in and it It's a cool scene and I don't know how you conceptualize that in the first place And be like this is what we're gonna do and then further I don't know how you make it a reality But you know with the people like Kurtzman, nicotero and showstrom You know the talent is there to do it obviously It doesn't really feel like there's enough story like I've been saying It's just having a concept and then treading water in that initial concept The main goal of Pretorius seemed to be getting mcmichael But why? Just for pleasure It just doesn't seem like enough like you understand why the resonator was created in the first place because Pretorius Wanted to get that next pleasure moment like that next level of pleasure You know another sense So that makes sense Then he gets sucked over to basically his head gets eaten then he's living in the other dimension Okay, we get that much But then after that all the conflict that ends up happening between Uh mainly between Crawford and Pretorius Why like what's the point is is it because it seems like it's because Pretorius wants to get a hold of mcmichael But why like there's no real motivation there it's it's not fleshed out at all And it's it's just this kind of like confusing Why is this happening like you need to know the motivation for the main villain You know the motivation for him to have gotten into the situation he was in But then past that What's the motivation for all this fighting and everything going on like there really isn't one So that's another aspect of what's missing from the film in my opinion but That's all I have to say about it. I did enjoy watching it one time through it does feel a little bit slow And it's only like an hour and 25 minutes. So that kind of sucks that it feels slow because it's not long So but like I said practical effects so good um With five stars possible half stars in play I'm gonna give it a two and a half because I do feel pretty you know in the middle Yeah, if you take out all the amazing practical effects, I probably put it like a two But the practical effects definitely knock it up that half star Because they're fun like they you know It could be going very slow and you're not that interested and then the practical effects happen and it sucks you back in so Anyway, I would love to hear other people's opinions on this. I'm sure there are people who love this Uh, there might be some people who hate it some people in between. I don't know but let's go ahead and talk about it But do me a quick favor hit that subscribe button. I really appreciate it Helps my channel grow and it you know motivates me to keep doing these so if you could hit that subscribe I would personally very much appreciate that Uh, also hit the notification bell if you're gonna do that because then you know whenever I'm putting up a new review Or in a boxing or doing a live stream, but regardless Thanks for checking this out and until next time keep it brutal