BEYOND THE DOOR (1974)
Starring: Juliet Mills, Richard Johnson, Gabriele Lavia
Directed by: Ovidio Assonitis & Robert Barrett
The Italians are not just known for their zombie films. They also are known for taking an American horror film and somehow making it better.
Beyond The Door is an
excellent example. Let's look at how this movie compares to the more popular
"The Exorcist". Both films are about possession by the devil himself. Both
victims are helpless females. Ok, here's why "Beyond The Door" is better;
Exorcist's running time is 132 minutes, which about 100 minutes are boring
filler or character development. Exorcist's victim, being a young girl, is
shocking at first, then comical at times (the pea soup spewing scene to me
wasn't gross, it was funny).
Why? Because the priest leans down to talk to her and what do expect...
Completely underrated, Beyond The Door doesn't waste time with character
development. It opens with the devil himself narrating (off screen) on
what's about to come.
We not only witness the
possession of poor Jessica Barrett (Juliet Mills), but more gross instances
of the possession taking hold of her (the eating of the rotting banana peel
she finds on the street is my personal favorite). Also her children's toys
become possessed in a scene that most of you had nightmares about as a child
(how many of you put certain toys away so you wouldn't see them at night
when you were a child?). We all had the fear of our clown toy pulling us
under the bed...
The film goes thru the motions, but there are several interesting surprises along the way.
Beyond The Door has it all, blood, gore, possessed toys, and more bodily fluids flowing than all the Exorcist clones combined. If you choose to purchase this film, purchase the version "The Devil Within Her", which contains the extra 10 minutes of footage cut from the American print.
This film can be purchased
thru
HORROR THEATER
VIDEO
My Rating:
REVIEWED BY TONY BERNARDINI
