The undisputed gore director par excellence Lucio Fulci attracted nothing but notoriety during his 40 year career. Ridiculed by the catholic church for his excessive even passionate religious attacks, black-listed and shunned back in his Italian homeland due to his controversial subject matter and excessive gore and labelled inherently misogynistic by female critics for his unsympathetic depiction of ladies on screen; Fulci's infamous reputation is cause for concern in itself. But Fulci films are nothing if not fabulously cinematic. This particular terrible treat, The Beyond (1981), which is released next week on Blu-Ray, came at a time when the director was considered a bona-fide rival of Dario Argento's. And with its sensationally orchestrated murder sequences, heart pounding hypnotic score, gothic architectural setting, banal acting and abysmal dubbing one can see why. The film follows the emotional and physical torment of Liza Merril, a young New Yorker who inherits an old hotel in spooky Louisiana. Whilst the building undergoes restoration many of the workers are killed in various splendidly suspicious circumstances, leading our protagonist (played by three time Fulci scream queen Catriona MacColl) to encounter a blind woman who reveals a 4,000 year old book that explains the unfortunate fact that the building harnesses one of the seven gateways to hell. Cue classic grisly Fulci moments including a zombiefied dog attack, a nail puncturing the back of an socket (that even rivals the gore factor of a similar gruesome scene in the director's Zombie Flesh Eaters), and the sight of a spawn of tarantulas hideously ripping the facial flesh off another unfortunate victim. Scenes like this set new heights for tests of cinematic endurance. But is the story passable enough to overlook such gory graphic pretensions? Ah, not quite. The narrative is just a convenient platform in which to stage various imaginatively engineered killings perpetrated by continuously crumbling zombies. But then, narrative coherence was never of crucial importance to Fulci anyway. Instead severe exploitation and gratuitous violence was his forte and luckily there's something compulsively alluring about such matters that allows you to overlook the overt shortcomings. Also the fact most of the actors play things so hilariously straight helps to suspend disbelief immensely.
Extras
Arrow films have really surpassed themselves lacing the film with the following extras: An introduction by star Cinzia Monreale Audio Commentary with Antonella Fulci and Calum Waddell Audio Commentary with David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl AKA Sarah Keller: Cinzia Monreale remembers The Beyond Catriona MacColl Q&A from the Glasgow Film Theatre Open Your Eyes Easter Egg The Beyond is available on Blu-ray from March 14th.