 Thanks for checking out this movie review video This is for the 1974 film beyond the door and it's an Italian film But it's dubbed into English much like a lot of Italian films of the 70s and 80s that were horror They did that type of thing in order to get international market Which you know made them pretty profitable So beyond the door had caught my interest and I was like I need to watch this because there was a trailer that I had seen On shutter which by the way, that's where I watched this film was on shutter The trailer looked really good now as the film as good as what the trailer showed No, but I do think this film is definitely worth seeing once at least At least the first about half of the film is probably worth watching again after that It really slows down and kind of gets a little incoherent at the same time. It's very weird after that, but definitely worth Enjoying once because it is kind of one of those films where it's so so quirky so weird so bad that it's fun At least for like the half first half of the film, but anyway since this is an older film This is a spoiler review So before I go any further if you haven't seen the film just stop here I would recommend seeing it like I said at least once so just go check it out and then come back So this film was directed by Ovidio G Asinitis who did films a tentacles madhouse, which I have seen madhouse And I enjoyed and over the line and also Robert Barrett who is involved in directing who did over the line as well Written by Asinitis Barrett Antonio Troiso Giorgio Marini Aldo Crudo Alex Rebar Christopher Cruz and Sonia Molteni Yes eight people involved with the script now I say eight people involved because not all those people actually were involved in the physical writing of it There were a bunch of the people who had story elements that they put into it So that's why I say involved so eight people involved in the script and it's usually My experience with films like that where it's a lot of people working on one script that it kind of becomes a mess And this film is no exception. That's why it kind of falls into the territory of like so bad. It's good I don't think it's like an overall good film because it is it's all over the place. It's quirky. It's weird It's incoherent like I said like the last half of pretty incoherent and it's just like it's out there And that's a lot of what you get but I think another component of it is this kind of What Italians think at least back then what Italians think of Americans at that point because this is done by an Italian director and a lot of Italian writers With Barrett involved as well who's American? But it seems very much like an outsider's view of like, oh, yeah, this is what Americans are like Not really But it all the interior stuff was actually done in Rome and all of the exterior stuff was done in San Francisco Because it's supposed to take place in San Francisco. So it's supposed to feel American, but it doesn't really it's it's interesting So it ended up costing $350,000 and it ended up making $15 million it did really really well Which is really awesome and if you like this film if you've seen this film and you really like it And you're like man, I'd love to own that arrow video actually has a blu-ray of it right now But the film is actually initially called even though it's going by beyond the door right now It was initially called the devil within her and you actually see that if you watch it on shutter The title actually comes up as the devil within her. So it's another one of those things The film Hellmaster, which I also watched it have a review for I don't know when I'm putting that out It might already be out on my channel, but Hellmaster is the same situation that film was called them But it's Hellmaster on shutter, but it still has that title of them in it. It's weird So critics actually hated the film and said it was a rip-off of the Exorcist, which There are definitely things in this film that are a rip-off of the Exorcist But I think it's also a rip-off of Rosemary's baby. It's just basically those two ideas just mashed together in a Much less Coherence less well thought-out more meandering type way Because a lot of the times it feels like they have an idea of what they want to do But then they just don't do much with it like they don't add a whole lot of story You know what the core concept of it is and that's pretty much all there is there like you see the core concept throughout the film but not a whole lot gets added to it and At like an hour and a half runtime actually a little bit more than an hour and a half runtime It just seems like the film just stretched out so thin on How much time you should have been able to get out of that concept or actually? I mean you could have still kept it very simple and got a lot of good stuff out of the concept if they did more of the Practical effects stuff that they showed more of the actual possession stuff But like I said like once they hit about the halfway point. They just kind of give up on trying to entertain people For the most part there are a few things that then kind of pop in but there's a lot of moments of people just kind of being in places and you're just like okay and Then kind of rehashing stuff that has already taken place or we have already established in the film. So yeah So Mario Baba's film shock and it actually ended up being rebranded afterwards To be on the door part 2 in 1977 now it has absolutely nothing to do with the first beyond the door But for purposes of trying to sell, you know get better sales on it They just change it to be on the door to and then there was even a connect There was even a film of beyond the door 3 that was released in 1989 Which also had absolutely nothing to do with the original or the sequel That's something that happened before Italian film back then they did that from time to time Interior or I already talked about the interior shots and everything starting the movie with a black screen is An intro I totally I totally skipped over this. Sorry backpedal Criticated the film Right, but obviously the fans did did quite like it And I think a lot of that being the year before the exorcist came out now There was an actual lawsuit that happened from Warner Brothers about How much of a ripoff it was of the exorcist and then ended up settling outside of court So there was actual litigation with this film of how much it was like the exorcist now why they weren't sued about You know for how much it was like Rosemary's baby I don't know I guess maybe it's because they took more of like the imagery from the exorcist And they didn't really take as much of the imagery from Rosemary's baby They took more just like the concept So maybe that's why so anyway starting the movie with a black screen and someone talking really isn't a good idea It's not very appealing. It's not engaging. It doesn't really pull the audience in I guess it's a way to make people really focus on what's being said, but It's just not very Catching, you know, it doesn't grab you like you kind of need to be grabbed in the beginning of a film It looked really funny because when the woman's naked body was laying there on the pentagram And then they had like the face laid over her head of like the dude It looked like it was like Jesus's head and I was like is that Jesus's head on a woman's body Is that like nipple Jesus? Well, he would have nipples anyway, like I think I said titty Jesus when I was watching it with a friend But yeah, it was so random They use a lot of image laid over Late over each other, you know to him images laying over each other in the beginning a lot And then they do it at the end again, and it looks Awful it is a stupid idea. It is very distracting It doesn't visually look good at all and it just it doesn't actually Accomplish much. I mean I understand the idea of like overlaying the guy's head on the woman's head During the pentagram part like that makes sense because it's like important for the film But all the other times they use that idea It doesn't really have that much importance to the actual film and it looks like garbage So yeah terrible stuff the intro song is awesome though. The music in general is really good in this In particular that intro song. It's really funky. It's really fun and cool. I love that scene that scene is great Kind of makes you want to move makes you want to groove to that music Showing the woman get everything on her grocery list is unbelievably excessive in the beginning I forget what her name is Jennifer Jennifer I believe when she's going out grocery shopping They just like they show way too much of things on this Especially like mundane daily life things like prime example like I'm saying Showing this woman get a lot of things at the grocery store when you definitely don't need to do that And once again, it's just like stretching the film stretching the film for no reason It gets boring it gets very boring But that's just kind of a funny thing in the beginning and then also the fact that you see her kid Ken Drinking soup drinking pea soup from a Campbell's can Which by the way, I theorize that that's a way that they kind of Draw the connection for you for the end of the film Between ken having been possessed by the demon all along and then it kind of passes over to jennifer Because when it's in jennifer, there's all that kind of like green stuff coming out of her mouth That's like pea soup versus ken is drinking that pea soup all the time So it's like when the demon is in ken, he's consuming all the pea soup Then when the demon is in demon is in jennifer that pea soup's all coming out. So that was kind of a um Visual cue like a visual like clue for people to to understand at the end Oh, there was this little clue there all along that the demon was in ken and then in jennifer So Because that's like the big reveal at the end with ken's glowing eyes after he throws that little car over the Over the side of the boat, which is you know kind of a weird moment. Obviously The mouths on those kids ken and gaol Oh my gosh the amount of profanity coming out of those kids mouths and so early in the film Like that's what catches you about it being so quirky and weird and so bad. It's fun um But then that really calms down when you hit about the halfway point because they actually get rid of the kids in The film and they're kind of the best part of it because you really never know what they're gonna say You really never know how they're gonna react to anything and it's um Yeah I mean even like something really to point out is the part where gaol is making food She's making like a cake or something And she's talking about like putting arsenic in it and like she's making poisoned food for her family Like this stuff is so weird and random So weird and random. It's crazy So was the destruction of the fish tank and urge from the demon That was within her I guess the demon baby Because that's another thing that kind of plays in this film when jennifer's pregnant She says that she feels like the baby's trying to like strangle her from the inside Now that kind of indicates that the baby is possessed and maybe that's actually what they're going to So I was having a hard time figuring out throughout the film And this is what I was talking about with being kind of like incoherent Because sometimes it seems like jennifer is possessed Sometimes it feels like she's talking about the baby being possessed because she's like feeling evil things about the baby Or maybe it's the situation where the baby is possessed Therefore the baby then influences the body kind of like a puppet master type thing I don't know it's very Kind of mind boggling because like how does that concept work? We're just used to possession films from the standpoint of The demon possesses a body but with this the demon kind of moves and possesses multiple bodies So I guess maybe it's a situation where sometimes it's just possessing the baby inside of her Sometimes it's fully possessing her sometimes it's possessing ken You know all that stuff. So it's It's crazy, man The levitation in this film when uh, jennifer gets out of bed and she starts levitating and then moving out of the room That actually looked pretty good. I would assume that something from 1974 like that would not look that great nowadays But it actually looked well, and I think they pulled it off. So nice work Italian horror from this time travels a little or feels a lot travels a lot throughout the film. What? Italian horror from this time travels a lot throughout the film I don't understand why I was putting there. They like to show a lot of different locations. Oh, okay. I'm sorry Sorry, sometimes my own notes. Yeah So there's a lot of kind of like showing you the scenery showing you different places That is something that italian horror from this time period really does like to do Is just kind of show you the architecture show you the community show you all the buildings Show you all these different locations and just kind of take you on a journey Like you're a bit of a tourist and I like that about those films. It's cool. It gives you a lot to look at Now unfortunately a lot of that goes away towards the end of the film and then you know things are boring But you know if things are boring taking you around and showing you a lot of stuff kind of helps Why was the mom making out with ken? That's a really weird point Her kid And then she punches gale in the face. I assume that's kind of well, I assume I'm sure that that's the demon doing stuff to her but That's some crazy stuff to put in a film Especially back then of like her making out with her child and then punching her other child in the face But it also makes for these moments to just shock you and you're like I did not see that coming. That's That's something they just did that that's crazy And you know You laugh I laugh Um So there's a demon possessing Jessica and a demon baby at the same time. Well, that's another concept that I wrote down I was like, so are there two demons like and that's a thing like it's hard to just keep figuring out like What is actually going on? Is it just the demon the demon baby possession? Is it Jessica being possessed by a demon? Is it the baby has a demon and Jessica has a demon? I don't know Someone in the comments, please The kids room like the possession type stuff going on in the kids room with all that light coming through the slats Like all the wooden boards and how the the room was like kind of moving that scene was awesome That was so good and then also leading up to that all the creepy stuff with those dolls That was really good too. That stretch of film was a really good portion of the film That's very engaging looks very impressive and cool and it's probably my favorite portion of it Other than the beginning when you first find out that these kids are extremely foul mouthed and out there Whenever someone says the child must be born that really means there's a demon baby I mean just think about every single film you've seen where someone says the child must be born It's because it's a demon baby or it's going to be the antichrist or something like that It's never a good sign and the other thing is it's something that as an audience member now you hear it and you're like demon demon Jessica moving just one eye was freaky and cool at the same time that moment when she's laying in bed And just the one eye both her eyes are open, but just the one eye is moving Nuts, so I'm assuming how they did that was they kind of like put like a prosthetic eye over one of them So she was actually moving both of her eyes at that time and it just didn't look like she was but It looked good. It looked very impressive. It looked real too. So I don't know. Maybe she just had that talent Once Jessica has the yellow eyes and is vomiting green goo You start to see the stuff stolen from the exorcist Obviously because that's kind of a hallmark of the exorcist Especially since the film had just come out a year prior So anyone seeing beyond the door aka the devil within her would be like this is Just like the exorcist and also the voice the changing of the voice is very much the same A lot of the stuff that she says is very similar to the stuff that was being said by Regan in the exorcist So yeah, they took a lot from that They take their sweet time getting anywhere in the film It seems like they needed to create a lot of filler because the story just isn't there I already kind of talked about that. That's one of the biggest problems with this film And I think if that wasn't happening, I would like this a lot more The scene with Dimitri in the apartment after Robert leaves is unbelievably drawn out and pointless Where he's kind of like up against the mirror for a while as it's shaking and then he's just kind of walking around And he's like looking at the door and it All that stuff with Dimitri as soon as he shows up towards the end the end portion of the film It's going to get insanely boring. They do throw in a few interesting, you know Moments that perk you up, but for the most part not so good The portion with Robert on the street with the musicians crowding him while he walks is unbelievably hilarious Especially because there's a dude playing like a recorder flute with his nose I mean It's wacky like and this is what i'm talking about with this film being so quirky and weird and wacky Those are the moments I love those are the moments I look for in this film And how extended that shot is is fine because it's so funny and weird You're just like how is this guy not losing it and like shoving these street musicians away He's just like totally fine with just like quickly walking and they just follow him as a group It's just such a funny concept The movie had points where it pauses quickly while the audio was uninterrupted, which was really weird Now I don't know if this has to do anything with the version that was put on shutter or them having technical issues When I was watching it But literally there would be moments where the the visuals would freeze but the audio keeps going and then it would snap back It did it numerous times and I was watching it with a friend over the phone And he said the same thing was happening. So I'm assuming it's that version of the film I assume it wasn't done intentionally. I would hope it wasn't done intentionally because it's terrible, but yeah The reveal of dimitri having already died would have been way more impactful if they hadn't started the film With him going off the cliff in his car Because like, you know, he was in the situation to die it would have been much better if they kind of Inter just introduced him as like this dude and then slowly you start to understand that like He's in league with the demon and then they do the big reveal of oh my god He's been dead all the time and then that would have impact But the fact that you knew that he was already gonna die and they even talk about it in the beginning of film with the voice over It just doesn't have impact. You're just like, oh, okay It could have been like a really whoa moment had they not had that in the beginning This demon won't shut the hell up. That's another thing. It was so annoying How much jennifer as the demon just kept talking and talking and talking and talking It's like, okay, like with a lot of scenes in this I was talking about just stretching it out stretching it out It's like we we got it. We can move on now um I already talked about the pea soup connection at the end. It is kind of a cool end to the film You know him throwing the car over and then the eyes and stuff and you're like, wait a minute It was ken all the time. He was a demon from the beginning. Wow Uh, the film goes from being quirky and fun to slow and incoherent already talked about that. That's so true It's very much like rosemary's baby with the fears of pregnancy and the future of your children That is something that's a big thing that gets played with in horror a lot as as far as themes and subtext of you know, just having this fear that Having children will change you which is that play in here, you know into a demon But also the kids coming out and being bad, you know, you can only control so much with the kid You can try and try and try and do everything you can but what if they're born with problems or Even though you do your best job to raise those children, they end up being bad people or they end up being a demon in a sense Yeah, so That's kind of what's going on with the film. So in the end, I'm very glad I saw this film Maybe I'd watch it another time But I might check out around the halfway point because like I was saying it just gets so slow and bad at that point But so I'm gonna gonna kind of have to rate this on two scales again in you know How is it as an actual film and then how is it as a so bad? It's good film. So As a how is it as an actual film? It's not terrible as an actual film. I'm but I Give it one and a half stars and go with a one and a half Now as far as a so bad, it's good film I'm gonna go two and a half just because Like I said, like half the film is that good time. Well, no I'm gonna upgrade it to a three because there are a few other cool moments in the second half of the film So three we're gonna go three that's good enough So anyway, introduce your friends to this film because it's definitely worth seeing once It's a you have to see it to believe it type thing And it's fun and I look forward to finding more gems like this, which I'm sure shutter will keep producing Not producing but you know putting forward putting on their service so I can find them we can all find them So anyway, put some comments down there your thoughts on beyond the door I've seen some people on social media really freaking out about it in a good way like oh my god I love it. It's so great. So put some comments down here. Do you love it? Do you hate it? Are you in between have you not seen it in which case? Why are you going this far in the review? I don't know but do me a quick favor hit that subscribe button And uh, yeah, it means a whole lot to me. It helps me with growing the channel Which obviously I'm trying to do and then um Make sure you hit the notification bell if you're gonna do that though Because then you know anytime I'm putting up a new review or doing a live stream or any of that jazz So regardless, thank you for checking this out and until next time keep it brutal