From Beyond (1986)

June 14, 2018

From the director of Re-Animator... From the writers of Re-Animator... and from several of the actors in Re-Animator comes... From Beyond. This 1980s horror flick offers great practical special effects in the vein of Clive Barker and an intriguing storyline based on an H.P. Lovecraft short story.

The movie is about two scientists who create a machine called a Resonator that stimulates the pineal gland allowing humans to see beyond this reality. Instead of new dimensions or other worlds all the characters in this film can really perceive is a bunch of creatures which are there to torture and destroy them. Oh, and stimulation of the pineal gland stimulates sexual arousal so there is some nudity and sexuality, a requirement for mid-eighties horror cinema (remember the year before when a severed head "went down" on that woman in Re-Animator... well the same woman is in this one and at some point she inexplicably goes from being a scientist to a sex-crazed dominitrix).

The film director and co-writer Stuart Gordon also wrote Re-Animator and a couple of the Honey I Shrunk the Kids movies. All these movies explore the theme of the potential consequences of man's hubris and the dangers of technology (whether it is creating a Frankenstein-esque monster or shrinking one's family). The message is that man should not try to play God unless he wants to visit hell. Another theme that is powerful throughout Gordon's films regards science and technology's ability to change humankind. Like a Cronenberg film, this is shown through the disgusting mutations the characters go through.

It is the practical special effects that really make the movie so memorable. Although filmed in 1986 the special effects largely hold up today. Sure it's campy, but seeing a guy rip his own face off, another character's flesh being torn off by little black bugs (or whatever they were), someone's head being twisted off like taffy and a eye tentacle splitting out of someone's skull, is a whole lot of fun.

See? Awesome! Totally awesome!

This movie stands out from many of its 1980s counterparts because of the creator's skill at movie making. The score is beautifully done, the movie is well shot, and the acting is decent (although a little overdone from time to time). It is obvious that the film creators know how to direct and create a visually stunning movie.