The Beyond

The Beyond is a 1981 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Lucio Fulci. It is based on an original story created by Dardano Sacchetti, starring Catriona MacColl and David Warbeck. Its plot follows a woman who inherits a hotel in rural Louisiana that was once the site of a horrific murder, and which may be a gateway to hell. It is the second film in Fulci’s Gates of Hell trilogy after City of the Living Dead (1980), and was followed by The House by the Cemetery (1981)

The cellar of an old hotel is built on top of the door to the beyond. Bloody zombies roam there. A young woman who is the heir of the hotel wants to restore it. She is confronted with strange events: a painter has a lethal fall, the plumber vanishes, and her friend breaks his neck. When she escapes to the hospital of a friendly doctor, she doesn’t know that a nightmare is waiting there.

Filmed on location in and around New Orleans in late 1980 with assistance from the Louisiana Film Commission, additional photography took place at De Paolis Studios in Rome. Released theatrically in Italy in the spring of 1981, The Beyond did not see a North American release until late 1983 through Aquarius Releasing, which released an edited version of the film titled 7 Doors of Death; this version featured an entirely different musical score and ran several minutes shorter than Fulci’s original cut, and was branded a “video nasty” immediately upon its release in the UK.

WARNING: Very graphic gore!

Following its release, reception of The Beyond was polarized. Contemporary and retrospective critics have praised the film for its surrealistic qualities, special effects, musical score and cinematography, but note its narrative inconsistencies; horror filmmakers and surrealists have interpreted these inconsistencies as intentionally disorienting, supplementing the atmospheric tone and direction. The Beyond is ranked among Fulci’s most celebrated films, and has gained an international cult following over the ensuing decades.

Although Fulci originally intended to cast Zombi 2 star Tisa Farrow, English actress Catriona MacColl was chosen after having worked with him previously on City of the Living Dead. She would go on to appear in the subsequent final film of Fulci’s “Gates of Hell” trilogy, The House by the Cemetery, as well. MacColl would later deem The Beyond to be her personal favorite film of the trilogy, stating that she remains drawn to the “decadent Italian macabre poetry” that she feels the film exudes. David Warbeck was cast as Dr. John McCabe after he and Fulci became friends during the making of The Black Cat (1981).