From Beyond (1986) Revisited – Horror Movie Review

A couple of things that we’ve covered on the channel at length are the works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and the films of gone too soon writer and director Stuart Gordon. For Lovecraft, we have looked at everything from behind-the-scenes drama on The Curse to the accuracy and differences of literary adaptations like The Resurrected. We have given Gordon his time in the sun as well, with deep looks at both his movie Dolls and his Poe adaptation of The Pit and the Pendulum. These two titans have also intersected more than a few times with Gordon making movies out of Lovecraft stories like Dagon and Castle Freak and, most famously and something we have covered on more than a few occasions, Re-Animator. Lost in the shuffle is a collaboration of these two greats that may be the greatest achievement that nobody talks about. From Beyond takes a lot of the elements, and I do mean A LOT, that made Re-Animator so special but in a lot of ways improved the formula to deliver something special. How did they achieve so much on such a small budget, how did they skirt past the MPAA for an R rating, and what did the cast think of the special effects? Carefully turn on your resonators as we revisit From Beyond.

Before getting into the elements that make the movie so special let’s take a look at the movie itself. From Beyond was able to use sets that were formerly owned by Dino De Laurentiis, even having a name themselves in Dinocitta, that were sold by the government after Dino failed to pay taxes on them. The studio that bought the massive stage area was Empire Pictures and Charles Band. In fact, From Beyond was one of the first movies to use the sets and Gordon later recalled that the movie would have cost about 20 million stateside but because of the sets, shooting in Italy, and being an Italian co-production, the cost fell down to less than 5 million. Re-Animator was one of the big successes that Empire, later rebranded Full Moon, would have so it made sense to have the same creative team adapt another Lovecraft story. Herbert West – Reanimator was published in parts over time where he was paid for each installment but From Beyond is just over 3000 words and about 6 pages. The team had to get creative for a movie around 90 minutes.

The short story follows a narrator explaining his experience with a scientist named Tillinghast who has built a machine that creates a resonance allowing for different planes of existence. There are creatures in this plane and when the machine is on, we can see the creatures and they can see us. While open, a creature kills all of the servants under the employ of Tillinghast and right before it kills him, the narrator shoots the machine which causes Tillinghast to die of essentially an aneurysm. The police blame Tillinghast for his servant’s death even though the bodies are never found. Writers Dennis Paoli, Brian Yuzna, and the director Gordon all adapted the work with extra story bits and the screenplay fell to Paoli who was a frequent collaborator with Gordon. He helped write this movie, Re-Animator, Pit and the Pendulum, Castle Freak, Dagon, and both Masters of Horror episodes that Gordon directed while also gifting the world Ghoulies II, Meridian, the 90s Body Snatchers adaptation, and spiritual Gordon universe film Suitable Flesh.

Yuzna was a producer as well as some time writer and director that did both Dentist movies with Corbin Bernsen, all time body horror Society, Return of the Living Dead III; Silent Night, Deadly Night 4, and both Re-Animator sequels. The three men used the very short story as the basis of the pre-credits sequence of the film. Jeffrey Combs plays Tillinghast and acts as the narrator here while his scientist character from the short story is now a Doctor Pretorius, a nod to Bride of Frankenstein. Jeffrey Combs is a living legend who never really got leading roles outside of horror but made the most of those, usually with Gordon, and has great supporting turns in things like The Frighteners and House on Haunted Hill while making a fun niche in the TV world with his run on Star Trek. Pretorius is played by Ted Sorel who only really appeared in Basket Case 2 for other horror but did have smaller roles in Lenny and Network. The pre-credits sequence is pretty much the story with the audience seeing the Resonator and Pretorius left dead while Tillinghast is taken by police to a mental hospital.

Dr. Bloch, a riff on Psycho author Robert Bloch who was friends with Lovecraft late in his life, is played by the directors’ wife Carolyn Purdy-Gordon and she eventually releases Crawford into the care of Dr. Katherine McMichaels. Katherine, after a CT scan reveals Crawfords enlarged pineal gland and a story she believes, insists they go back to the scene of the crime to further investigate. They are accompanied by case investigator Bubba Brownlee and the three begin their journey. As if Stuart Gordon and Jeffrey Combs weren’t enough, Dr. McMichaels is played by the wonderful Barbara Crampton and Bubba is played by Ken Foree who also knows his way around horror. Foree is maybe most famous for Dawn of the Dead, but different generations may recognize him from Rob Zombie movies, Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, or the dad in Kenan and Kel. McMichaels and Tillinghast are able to turn the machine on again and see a seemingly alive Pretorius who wants to take Katherine to the other world. Each day the machine comes on and each day the trio feels friskier but also deals with more and more horrifying creatures as well as an increasingly mutated Pretorious.

Bubba is killed, Tillinghast is made looney and then killed, and Katherine escapes by the skin of her teeth but with no proof of anything. The movie is over with a great almost downer of an ending, and the short runtime leaves you wanting more. That rundown probably makes the movie sound fun but it’s actually really special for a few reasons. One of them is the whole damn mood of the movie. The look, feel, and sound of From Beyond elicit a feeling of nostalgia that is rarely matched anymore. Gone are the bright greens and playful intro music of Re-Animator, replaced by a pink hue that permeates everything from the hum of the resonator to the credits and even the Giallo like feel of the pink lighting that is violently there when the other world blends into ours but is still always creeping on the edges, waiting to open up. It represents the pineal gland and the lust that the characters feel either power for Pretorius or sexual awakenings that McMichaels and Tillinghast feel both in general and one another. It’s a much more serious affair that feels like it could be a cousin to Hellraiser and what you trade to feel the ultimate pleasure. The music adds to it all and, just like Re-Animator, is provided by Richard Band, making it another Empire Pictures family affair. Band doesn’t get the credit he deserves for his horror scores, but they are just as important as anyone else in the business.

Mood and vibe can make or break a movie but without the right parts, it doesn’t matter how dark or eerie your film is and From Beyond has chemistry that explodes on screen. Stuart Gordon started with directing stage plays and enjoyed having a stable of actors he could work with. After working with Combs and Crampton on Re-Animator, he felt he could ask them to do anything and be prepared for anything during the shoot. Throughout his career Gordon would use the two in multiple movies and while they play a married couple in Castle Freak, it was From Beyond that they got the groove started. While they were both in Re-Animator, their characters didn’t have nearly the same interaction and they even joked that this was almost a role swap with Barbara pushing her curiosity and inhabiting the West character and Combs being more grounded and fearful like Dan is. Foree makes the duo a wonderful trio and plays well off both actor’s whether while jumping around a giant worm and water filled basement with Combs or somehow being the only man alive that can resist Barbara Crampton in her leather outfit.

Huge kudos to Crampton as well. Her character is first introduced looking stuffy with her outfit, hair, and large glasses before becoming a sex symbol and finally a bomb wielding badass final hero. She’s charming and great in Re-Animator and a lot of fun in her roles in things like Chopping Mall, Body Double, and Trancers II but this is her movie. By all accounts an absolutely wonderful person, Crampton has become a producer to go along with her stellar acting and helps get movies made that would be passed up by the bigger studios. Really doing the Lord’s work out here for us horror fans. Thanks Barbara! The on-screen chemistry extends to behind the scenes as well with DP Mac Ahlberg, producers Brian Yuzna and Charles Band, Paoli, Stuart Gordon, and many of the special effects team coming back including the legendary John Carl Beuchler.

About Beuchler, he and the effects are the third ingredient that puts From Beyond head and shoulders above a lot of other 80s classics. While Re-Animator was released unrated and was a huge hit, the team decided to go for the R rating to get a wider audience. To do that they switched out a lot of the blood for slime and boy, did they not skimp out on the slime. The movie drips with the stuff from all the creatures and their bite marks to Pretorius showing up looking like he is going to slide into the vents with Groundskeeper Willie from The Simpsons. While the idea is sound, the MPAA actually sent the movie back multiple times because the whole thing was just gross now. Gordon kept cutting little snippets until the censors came back with one tiny cut to get the rating they wanted. Gordon cut a few things on his own and while some of it was lost, a bunch of it was restored for a director’s cut of the film. Slime aside, the creatures and their associated effects, Bubba’s lower half exposed skeleton, and Barbara Crampton biting off an antenna-like pineal gland all look great. The MVP though in both sight and sound is Combs popping out Purdy’s eyeball like a soda pop cap and sucking the sweet brain nectar right out. You don’t even see much of the brain, but the sound, aggression, and body language make it last. Combs even tells a story later that he scared a bunch of kids doing a commercial while still in his makeup and the crew had to tear Sorel out of his prosthetics when he began losing consciousness. Great stuff but just as terrifying to live through as to see on screen apparently.

From Beyond didn’t do great in theaters, reportedly making back only a little over a million dollars, but critics of the time were mostly cool with it. It lived on in video stores as a solid VHS pick for years before getting enough attention for the DVD treatment followed by a Scream Factory Blu-ray release and now a lovingly restored 4K edition from Vinegar Syndrome that begs to be watched, owned, rediscovered, and passed along. From Beyond may not have the legs or the luster that Re-Animator carries but it’s slimy and way to fun to be missed. Turn on the resonator just enough to see the other side and feel the power… From Beyond.

Two previous episodes of Revisited can be seen below. To see more of our shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals channel – and subscribe while you’re at it!

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