Louisiana 1927. A lynch mob raid a hotel looking for a warlock named Sweick (Antoine Saint-John). They drag him to the basement where they torture and crucify him. We move forward to the 1980's where Liza Merril (Catriona MacColl) has inherited the hotel and sets about restoring it. Whilst driving across a deserted bridge, Liza meets a mysterious blind woman (Sarah Keller), who seems to know all about Liza and warns her to get away from the hotel. A plumber is called in to fix a flood in the basement and manages to unleash something lurking in there which savagely kills him. Liza discovers that the hotel is one of the seven gateways to hell, and Sweick who was murdered there some 50 years before, had found the key to unlock it. She teams up with Dr.John McKay (David Warbeck) and together they battle to survive the horrors of the beyond.

The Beyond is widely considered to be, along with Zombie Flesh Eaters, one of Fulci's best films. What sets it apart from others is it's hauntingly surreal atmosphere. It’s satisfyingly gory, with eye gouging, killer spiders feeding on flesh and an exploding head. It's not all perfect, the spider scene uses real and model spiders, the fake ones are blatantly fake, but the scene still manages to look sick as hell. The zombies are classics. They're slow, lumbering things which the doctor has great trouble dealing with. "Shoot them in the head you twat" I found myself screaming at the screen... and so will you. The strange ending is totally unexpected and fabulously twisted. Even with it's flaws, The Beyond is still a brilliant horror film and a very enjoyable assault on the senses.

The Beyond.  1981

Directed by Lucio Fulci