If youre looking for grue, then The Beyond has it theres impalement, eye gougings and a near-legendary scene where a head is blown off. Theres not much internal logic to the proceedings, but this is Italian horror cinema at its zenith, and just like Mario Bava and Dario Argento, director Lucio Fulci allows nothing to get in the way of the next outrageous set piece. Among those set pieces: a paralyzed man is set upon by spiders, a blind girl has her throat torn out by her dog and a man is nailed to the wall by a torch-bearing mob. Special mention must be made of the films climax, where our heroes run through a hospital being taken over by the living dead, pausing only to shoot zombies through the head. Also, what kind of movie allows a cute little girl with pig tails to become a zombie? An outrageous early 80s Italian gorefest, thats what. You wont believe what happens to this character when you see it.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
