From Beyond (film)
Encyclopedia
From Beyond is a 1986
1986 in film
-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....

 American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

 science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

/ body horror film
Body horror
Body horror, biological horror, organic horror or venereal horror is horror fiction in which the horror is principally derived from the graphic destruction or degeneration of the body. Such works may deal with disease, decay, parasitism, mutilation, or mutation...

 directed by Stuart Gordon
Stuart Gordon
After the University of Wisconsin demanded future theatrical productions by Screw Theater be overseen by a University Professor, Gordon cut his University ties to form Broom Street Theater. Its first production, the new translation of the risque Lysistrata, premiered in May 1969. Gordon is...

, loosely based on the short story
From Beyond (short story)
"From Beyond" is a short story by science fiction and horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was written in 1920 and was first published in The Fantasy Fan in June 1934 .-Synopsis:...

 of the same title by H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....

, and was written by Dennis Paoli, Gordon and Brian Yuzna
Brian Yuzna
Brian Yuzna is a director, writer and producer of films.- Life :Yuzna grew up in Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Panama before moving to the United States in the 1960s.- Career :...

. The film stars Jeffrey Combs
Jeffrey Combs
Jeffrey Alan Combs is an American actor known for his horror film roles and his appearances playing a number of characters in the Star Trek franchise.-Early life:...

, Barbara Crampton
Barbara Crampton
Barbara Crampton is an American actress.She is considered a scream queen.-Early years:Crampton was born in Levittown, Long Island, New York. She was raised in Vermont and spent summers while growing up traveling the country with the carnival as her father was a carnie...

, Ken Foree
Ken Foree
Kentotis Alvin "Ken" Foree is an American actor probably most famous as the hero Peter in Dawn of the Dead and Kenan & Kel as Roger, Kenan's dad.- Early life and career :Foree was born in Indianapolis, Indiana...

 and Ted Sorel
Ted Sorel
Ted Sorel was an American actor whose numerous credits included Guiding Light, Law & Order and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He also appeared in film and Broadway productions.-Biography:...

.

From Beyond centers around a pair of scientists attempting to stimulate the pineal gland
Pineal gland
The pineal gland is a small endocrine gland in the vertebrate brain. It produces the serotonin derivative melatonin, a hormone that affects the modulation of wake/sleep patterns and seasonal functions...

 with a device called The Resonator. An unforeseen result of their experiments is the ability to perceive creatures from another dimension that proceed to drag the head scientist into their world, who returns as a grotesque shape-changing monster and preys upon the others at the laboratory.

Plot summary

The movie opens to Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs
Jeffrey Combs
Jeffrey Alan Combs is an American actor known for his horror film roles and his appearances playing a number of characters in the Star Trek franchise.-Early life:...

) working on a machine called The Resonator, which stimulates the pineal gland, allowing those within range to see beyond normal perceptible reality. He powers up the instrument and soon witnesses strange creatures in the air. He reaches out to them but is bit on the cheek, and runs to alert his partner and head scientist, the sadistic and deranged Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel
Ted Sorel
Ted Sorel was an American actor whose numerous credits included Guiding Light, Law & Order and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He also appeared in film and Broadway productions.-Biography:...

). Meanwhile a nosy neighbor phones the police upon witnessing strange lights and noises emanating from the scientists' study. Her dog, Bunny, runs outside and into the open door to the scientists' house, where upstairs Edward is feeling the vibrations all through his pineal gland in his brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...

 from the machine. He tells Crawford that it is like an "orgasm of the mind." Bunny runs up the stairs and as the pursuing neighbor grabs him, Crawford smashes down the door of the attic laboratory with an axe, screaming and running outside, with the neighbor at his heels. Bunny has gone up into the attic and is licking the blood off the decapitated corpse of Edward, as the police swarm the house, arresting Crawford.

The setting changes to a psychiatric ward, and we now see the physician-in charge Dr. Bloch (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon) being introduced to Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton
Barbara Crampton
Barbara Crampton is an American actress.She is considered a scream queen.-Early years:Crampton was born in Levittown, Long Island, New York. She was raised in Vermont and spent summers while growing up traveling the country with the carnival as her father was a carnie...

), who requests a meeting with Crawford. Bloch introduces them, and Crawford speaks of the events that culminated in his arrest, including a description of the resonator and the death of Pretorius. They decide to have a brain scan and notice that his pineal gland
Pineal gland
The pineal gland is a small endocrine gland in the vertebrate brain. It produces the serotonin derivative melatonin, a hormone that affects the modulation of wake/sleep patterns and seasonal functions...

 (in the brain) has grown, and Katherine decides to have him return to the house and show them The Resonator. Dr. Bloch is extremely jealous and refuses, but a detective who is on the case of Dr. Pretorius's death overrides her authority, releasing Crawford to the supervision of Dr. McMichaels. Katherine tells Crawford that she believes him and together with the tough-guy detective, Bubba Brownlee (Ken Foree
Ken Foree
Kentotis Alvin "Ken" Foree is an American actor probably most famous as the hero Peter in Dawn of the Dead and Kenan & Kel as Roger, Kenan's dad.- Early life and career :Foree was born in Indianapolis, Indiana...

), she takes Crawford back to the house.

Once inside, while trying to find the power, Bubba and Katherine lose sight of Crawford and begin to look around the house, finding that the late Edward practiced BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...

. They locate Crawford in the attic with The Resonator, reliving the night of Edward's death. Katherine and Crawford immediately begin to rebuild the machine, which had been disabled by Crawford with an axe the night of the murder. Upon completing the repairs and eating dinner, Bubba joins them in the attic laboratory. Crawford tells them not to move when the creatures come out, since they can sense movement and will attack them. He turns the machine on and they see the leech-like creatures. They then start to feel the vibrations and begin to feel the pleasure. Bubba goes up to the leeches and touches one, only to have it bite his wrist. The presumed-dead Edward then shows up in the corner of the attic. His skin is slimy and lumpy, and he is naked, but speaking and behaving normally. He tells them that the world beyond is much more pleasurable than this world and that they should join him. Crawford touches Edward's shoulder which sinks in on contact, and as Crawford steps back in horror Edward's head begins to break apart and spew goo. Bubba draws his pistol and repeatedly shoots at Edward, but to no avail. Crawford shuts off The Resonator, making Edward and the creatures vanish.

It is now morning, and the three discuss the creatures over breakfast. Katherine - who insists that the Resonator could possibly cure schizophrenia - suggests that they turn the machine back on, but Bubba and Crawford disagree. They all go to sleep, each with a headache. But while everyone is sleeping, Katherine gets back up to feel the pleasure from the machine and turns it back on, bringing forth a worried Crawford and the now almost unrecognizable Edward who is mutated and covered in slime. Bubba enters the scene as Edward grabs Katherine and rips off her clothes, preparing to eat her mind and take her to the world of beyond. Crawford and Bubba go down into the basement to shut off the power, but encounter a giant worm-monster, prompting Crawford to conclude the vibration waves permeate the entire house. The worm begins to devour Crawford, but Bubba succeeds in shutting off the power, bringing a hairless Crawford back, and sending Edward away. The freed Katherine then turns off the machine and meets the others downstairs, crying and feeling ashamed and horrified for turning it back on.

Bubba decides that they should leave the house, but as Katherine puts lotion on Crawford's inflamed skin, she expresses her desire to monitor the machine to figure out where the creatures are coming from. Bubba refuses and tells her to go get dressed. She begins to explore other parts of the house, finding Edward's old S&M outfits and putting one on. She then starts to tease a sleeping Crawford, until Bubba comes in and tells her to snap out of it, which she does, throwing a robe over the outfit. All of a sudden the power returns and The Resonator turns back on, as all three of them run up into the attic to deactivate it. Katherine and Crawford are attacked by little bee-like creatures that strip the flesh off of their victims, and as Bubba pushes them out of the way, he is devoured to the bone. A now almost fully mutated Edward, without any legs or proper arms, grabs Katherine and starts to drag her flesh torn, bleeding body towards him. Crawford fights Edward and succeeds in freeing Katherine but then his enlarged pineal gland pops out of his forehead like an antenna. Katherine short circuits the machine by spraying it repeatedly with a fire extinguisher.

She then takes Crawford back to the hospital, where she is evaluated for insanity and schizophrenia, since her story was just like Crawford's and she is blamed by Dr. Bloch and the police for this evening's events. Vindictive Dr. Bloch then orders for Katherine to get shock treatment. Dr. Bloch then goes to perform an autopsy on an undead Crawford, who is on the lookout for brains to eat with the use of his antenna. As Katherine is being prepared for shock treatment by a sadistic staff member, Crawford attacks and eats Dr. Bloch's brain. Katherine escapes, gets new clothes, and drives back to the house with a bomb. Crawford follows her on a hijacked ambulance car. Katherine puts the bomb on The Resonator, sets it for 5 minutes, and goes to leave, only to have Crawford chain her up in Edward's S&M room, claiming that he loves her. As he is about to eat her brain, she bites off his exposed, enlarged pineal gland, reverting him to his senses. However, Crawford is pulled away by a completely deformed, mutated Edward. Meanwhile, Katherine manages to attract the leech creatures that sense her movement and bite through the straps, releasing her. Crawford fights Edward, only to be eaten by him. Edward chases Katherine into the laboratory, where Crawford's form begins to tear out through Edward's skin and muscles. The two fight for the control of the deformed body, until it dissolves in its own digestive fluids. Katherine finally frees herself and jumps out the attic window, right as the whole attic explodes. She lands on her legs, breaking one, and as the neighbors gather around her, she goes from sobbing to laughing hysterically as she tells them, "It ATE him!"

Production

From Beyond was shot in Italy with an Italian crew in order to save money. Gordon says that the film would have cost fifteen million dollars to make in the United States, whereas the foreign production enabled him to hold costs to approximately two and a half million dollars. It was shot on a soundstage called Dinocitta just outside of Rome. Dinocitta was originally constructed by Dino DeLaurentiis, but was seized by the government for nonpayment of taxes, and then sold to Empire Studios. From Beyond was one of the first films shot at that venue during its period of ownership by Empire.

As with his earlier film Re-Animator
Re-Animator
Re-Animator is a 1985 American science fiction horror film based on the H. P. Lovecraft story "Herbert West–Reanimator." Directed by Stuart Gordon, it was the first film in the Re-Animator series. The film has since become a cult film, driven by fans of Jeffrey Combs and H. P...

, Gordon made use of medical advisors to be sure that the actions taken by the doctors and nurses of the film followed proper medical procedures.

According to Gordon, securing an "R" rating from the MPAA was a challenging ordeal. He quotes them as initially saying his presented cut of the film had "ten times too much of everything". He was ultimately able to get away with making small trims, and without removing any entire sequences from the film.

Release

MGM has released a restored unrated cut of the film with extras. From Beyond has previously only been released in its edited R-rated form. The MPAA
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...

 had required cuts to S&M
Sadism and masochism
Sadomasochism broadly refers to the receiving of pleasure—often sexual—from acts involving the infliction or reception of pain or humiliation. The name originates from two authors on the subject, Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch...

 footage and gore to allow it to be R-rated. This missing footage was reinserted into the film and the restored, longer version was aired on the Monsters HD Channel
Monsters HD
Monsters HD was the first all-horror channel, and broadcast exclusively in 1080i high definition. Monsters HD was the longest-running HI-Def Horror and Creature Feature channel to date...

 (copies of this release have been distributed on the Internet). The DVD was released on September 11, 2007.

Awards

The film score by Richard Band
Richard Band
Richard Howard Band is a composer of film music. He has scored more than 70 films, including From Beyond, which won the award for Best Original Soundtrack at the Catalonian International Film Festival in Sitges Spain...

 won the award for Best Original Soundtrack at the Catalonian International Film Festival in Sitges
Sitges
*Church of Sant Bartolomeu i Santa Tecla . It houses two Gothic sepulchres , belonging to the an older church located on the same site...

, Spain.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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