THE BEYOND (1981)

Can’t believe I snoozed on posting this… Not intentional, as this is one of my all-time favorite movies. Top 5, easily. The New Beverly screened the restored and uncensored print Tarantino made back in the late 90s. I remember seeing that at a midnight screening at the Sunset 5 around 1998/99 with Felix from Lifes Halt.

The Beyond is like a nightmare put up on screen. Like a dream it doesn’t always make sense, like the army of spiders (tarantulas, actually) that come out of nowhere when someone falls from a ladder at a bookstore, but this has atmosphere and looks great. Steeped in despair with bits of gore, everyone in this movie is damned, and when you contemplate the ending, it’s pretty grim. On this viewing Emily really stood out for me. When she pleads, “I did what you asked of me” to whatever spirit in the room with her and Dicky, you have to wonder what brought her to that fate in the first place. One of Fulci’s best.

Outside the New Beverly, May 7, 2022. Photo by: Matt Average

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Badtransfer

Movies and music your (husbands and) wives despise. We cover what we like: Gore, grindcore, Euro crime, horror, giallo, spaghetti westerns, metal, Blaxploitation, hardcore punk, cheerleaders, noise, samurai, improv, women in prison, slasher, arthouse, 1970s and 1980s teen comedies, and all points in between and beyond. If you're looking for dry academic treatises you are in the wrong place. Lowbrow is how. Send material for review (physical formats only, please) to: PO Box 25605 Los Angeles, CA 90025

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