From Beyond (1986)

The second H.P. Lovecraft adaptation by Stuart Gordon FROM BEYOND is pure Lovecraftian science-terror. Out-there scientist Dr. Pretorious (Ted Sorel) and his assistant Dr. Tillinghast (Jeffery Combs) are working towards breaking through earthly perceptions and revealing a new alternate universe. They do this by stimulating the pineal gland of the human brain which enables people to see the strange creatures that inhabit a parallel dimension. Unfortunately these creatures can now see humans as well and they are none too pleased with it. Dr. Pretorious is killed by the floating monstrosities but the police blame his assistant for the murder and lock him up. Only Dr. Katharine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) believes the insane tales of Dr. Tillinghast and it's up to her to shut down the experiment that threatens to unleash the other-dimensional creatures on this universe forever. Great special effects and solid performances by Combs and Crampton complement a near-perfect realization by Gordon of Lovecraft's vividly detailed and chilling vision of scientific possibilities.System Requirements:Running Time: 85 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: R UPC: 027616085504 Manufacturer No: M108550 Product Description

Good for the 80's - but not really kitchy . . .

I would have probably really enjoyed this in the 80's - but now. . . not so much. It's a little outdated - and the effects and acting are somewhat poor. I can't believe people have rated it so high - maybe it's nostalgia. July 13, 2008

oh!!!!!!

This flick is a l e g e n d. A great rendering of HP Lovecraft's vision. Before computer graphics, organic, special effects in it's hay day.
One of the weirdest, sickest, most bizarre and strangely sexual movie you will ever see. My Mom described it best as some sick subterranean subconscious nitemare from underwater Hell. July 8, 2008

Mad scientist doin' mad $#!T!

From Beyond is a very twisted flick that gripped me from the beginning. Unlike a lot of horror movies that seem to be incredibly weak on story and strong on gore. From Beyond's biggest strength for me is the story with gore to match. I was hooked to this flick from the start and it only got better. I just find the imagination to conjure up something like this to be amazing.

So many films begin with the mad scientist botching an experiment. This pair of genuises actually succeed in a twisted way. They accomplish their experiment creating a machine that triggers a part of the brain that can open up a parellel dimension. Of course, this spells danger for the immediate company and soon the average joe.

The acting seemed a bit too campy when compared to the seriousness of the movie. Still, it was very good and even funny at times. The gore in this movie will definitly satisfy most gorehounds. There's a good amount of suspense and I didn't find it predictable.

Sometimes even to me, my claims of being a fan of horror comes under serious questioning. How a gem like this never registered on my radar until now is BEYOND me. July 3, 2008

Spirit Of Lovecraft

The Gordon/Paoli team struck gold a second time with their second cinematic Lovecraft adaptation. Lovecraft's From Beyond was a rather short story. There's no way Gordon could have stretched that story to 90 minutes, so a huge bulk of this film was made up by Dennis Paoli. In fact, the pre-credit sequence more or less is the short story. The rest of the film merely expands on the concepts and themes Lovecraft introduced in his story.
Dr. Tillinghast(Jeffrey Combs of course!) and Dr. Pretorious(Ted Sorel) believe that the pineal gland harbors our sixth sense, and by stimulating it, can fully develop this sixth sense. They create a "resonator" machine for this purpose. The machine stimulates the pineal gland alright, but what the doctors don't expect is that this allows us to see odd creatures that live on a parallel plane with us, and allows us to be seen by these creatures. It also makes folks horny and prone to S&M.
When the resonator experiment goes crazy and Pretorious is killed and his spirit body whisked away to this parallel plane, Combs is blamed. To prove his story isn't madness, psychologist Karen(Barbara Crampton) wants to repeat the experiment with Tillinghast under the observation of a cop named Bubba(Ken Foree!). Slimy tentacled monsters, creepy crawlies and brain eating ensue.
Once again Gordon made a quirky, gory and entertaining little horror flick. While not as tongue in cheek as Re-Animator, it's still not taking itself 100% seriously. Outside of us weirdos that like this kind of thing, this movie probably isn't gonna score high points with most folks. Hell, there are even quite a few Lovecraft fans that have a bone to pick with this film. But just remember that it's Lovecraft's concept more on display here than the tone of his writing. But as far as cult horror fans go, I'm only preaching to the choir as they say.
Definitely worth picking up or viewing again, especially now that we have the full version. June 18, 2008

FROM BEYOND...and Further

This is an awesome piece of reconstructive video surgery.For Fans of the original who "WANTED MORE" and got it( to paraphrase the posters of the time), this is more and then some.As explained in the Commentary and in the brilliant extras, the HPL Story is about 7 Pages, and whilst much of the rest of the movie is created by the writers, they do draw extensively on HPL to expand on the material that they extend out to 86 minutes or so.Thankfully this is in Surround sound, so CRANK IT UP, since the FX and the special FX audio is much better.This is a very VERY good Buy
for Stuart Gordon fans ( And Barbara Crampton fans as well, etc ).

DVD: The Commentary is essential. In my view, you see either the Video Extras first or hear the commentary, or the other way around, however, it makes a lot more sense to watch the Video Feature which shows the EDITING ROOM where they rebuilt the scenes, and Stuart Gordons commentary makes a whole lot of sense. Everyone sounds like they had a whole lot of fun making the film, as well as doing the commentary.
ENJOY May 27, 2008

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