From Beyond (film)

Infobox Film
name = From Beyond


caption = Theatrical release poster
director = Stuart Gordon
producer = Brian Yuzna
writer = Short Story:
H. P. Lovecraft
Adaptation:
Dennis Paoli
Brian Yuzna
Stuart Gordon
starring = Jeffrey Combs
Barbara Crampton
Ken Foree
Ted Sorel
music = Richard Band
released = October 24, 1986
runtime = 85 min.
country = United States
language = English
budget = $4.5 million
amg_id = 1:18726

"From Beyond" is a horror film directed by Stuart Gordon and released in 1986. "From Beyond" was Gordon's second H. P. Lovecraft adaptation, based on the short story of the same name, and was written by Dennis Paoli, Gordon and Brian Yuzna (all of whom had previously worked on "Re-Animator"). It starred Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Ken Foree, with minor roles from Carolyn Purdy-Gordon and Ted Sorel.

ynopsis

The film deals with a pair of scientists (Combs and Sorel) who are trying to stimulate the pineal gland with a device called The Resonator. An unforeseen result of their experiments is the ability to perceive creatures from another dimension, who proceed to drag the head scientist into their world. He later returns as a grotesque shape-changing monster and preys upon the others at the laboratory.

Plot summary

The movie opens to a nerdy, shy scientist, Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs) working on a machine called, The Resonator, in the attic, he gets it to work and witnesses slithering leech creatures come out all over the air. He reaches out to them, and is bit on the cheek, running to get the other scientist who helped him, the sadistic and deranged Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel). Meanwhile a nosy neighbor phones the police, because the scientists are making weird noises and other annoyances, and tells them to come over. 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 from the machine. He tells Crawford that it is like an orgasm of the mind. Bunny runs up the stairs and as the neighbor woman grabs him, Crawford smashes down the door 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.

We now see the bitter Dr. Bloch (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon) being introduced to a new brain doctor, Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton), who would like to see Crawford, who is kept up in one of the schizophrenic hospital wards. Dr. Bloch introduces them, and Crawford begins to explain The Resonator and what all happened the night of the murder, making it sound as if he's crazy. They decide to have a brain scan and notice that his pineal gland (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, until the police say Katherine can do it, so Crawford is released. Katherine tells him that she believes him and together with a tough cop, Bubba Brownlee (Ken Foree), 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 Edward was into BDSM. They locate Crawford in the attic with The Resonator, reliving the night of Edward's death. Katherine and Crawford then begin to rebuild the machine, since Crawford had hit it with an axe on the night of the murder, and after several hours finish. After finishing eating dinner, Bubba joins them, as 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, all three of them 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, and as he shoots at them, Edward shows up in the corner of the attic. His skin is all slimy and lumpy, and he is naked, but speaking and acting the way he used to. He tells them that the world beyond is much more pleasurable then this world, in the mind and that they should join him, and as Crawford touches his skin, his shoulder sinks in, and his head begins to break apart and spew goo, provoking Bubba to shut off The Resonator. It is now morning, and Katherine suggests they get something to eat, and they discuss the creatures. Katherine suggests that they turn it back on, but Bubba and Crawford disagree, and a giant argument about how this could cure schizophrenia ensues. Then 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, mutated and covered in slime. Bubba meets up with Crawford as Edward grabs Katherine and rips off her clothes, getting ready 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, and are attacked by giant leech creatures that had grown in the vibration waves. Edward is getting ready to eat Katherine's head, as Crawford is eaten by a giant leech, and Bubba finally shuts off the power, bringing a hairless Crawford back, and sending Edward away. Katherine then turns off the machine and meets the others downstairs, crying and feeling ashamed for turning it back on.

Bubba decides that they should leave, as Katherine puts lotion on Crawford's inflamed skin, but she wants to monitor the machine to figure out where the creatures are coming from. Bubba refuses and tells her to go get dressed, but she starts to act weird again, finding Edward's old S&M outfits sexually attractive 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, so she could leave. All of a sudden, the power surges back on and The Resonator turns back on, as all three of them run up into the attic. 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 by them. 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 has a tiny antenna pop out of his pineal gland, through his forehead, and "dies", as 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 is blamed by Dr. Bloch and the police for this evening's events. As punishment for her alleged crimes, Dr. Bloch then orders for Katherine to get shock treatment, as Dr. Bloch 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 brains, and some other staff members', and Katherine escapes, getting new clothes, and driving back to the house with a bomb. Crawford sees her go and chases after her. Katherine then puts the bomb on The Resonator and sets it for 5 minutes, and goes to leave, only to have Crawford chain her up in Edward's S&M room and claim that he loves her and her brain power. As he is about to eat her brains, she bites off his antenna, and the leech creatures sense her movement and bite through the chains, releasing her, only to have her and Crawford be pulled into the attic by a completely deformed, mutated Edward. He begins to try and eat her, and a now normal Crawford begins to fight him, only to sacrifice himself to be eaten and digested, in which his skeleton begins to gnaw away at Edward's skin and muscles, making him dissolve in his own digestive fluids. Katherine finally frees herself at two seconds until the bomb goes off, and jumps out the attic window, right as the whole attic explodes. She lands on her legs, and snaps one almost completely off, and as the neighbors come gather around her, she goes from sobbing to laughing hysterically.

DVD release

MGM has released a restored unrated cut of the film with some well awaited extras. From Beyond has previously only been released in its edited R-rated form. The MPAA had required cuts to S&M 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 (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 won the award for Best Original Soundtrack at the Catalonian International Film Festival in Sitges Spain. [http://www.richardbandmusic.com/biog-2.html]

External links

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* [http://new.ifmagazine.com/feature.asp?article=1979 Article discussing DVD release]