This past year I have been trying to catch up a little on Scream Factory Blu Rays. So, this round went to The Burning and From Beyond. I had never seen the Burning and From Beyond was one I had a very slim memory of, I had seen it once. This, like Dawn of the Dead is one horror movie I stayed away from because of awful memories. I have been trying to stay away from films already in my collection and that is why I went with these two movies.
One of the big things that attracted me to From Beyond, Jeffery Combs. He was amazing in Re-Animator and many other things. But From Beyond was also made by the same people who made Re-Animator, and it is loosely based on an HP Lovecraft story of the same name, From Beyond. Bringing Combs and Crampton back for a second Lovecraft adaptation was mostly due to there work on Re-Animator and they could be prepared for some odd things to happen. From Beyond is far more odd than Re-Animator, but just as fun.
From Beyond is about two scientists, Dr. Pretorious and Dr. Crawford (Combs), who has developed the Resonator, a machine which allows whoever is within range to see beyond normal perceptible reality. One of the scientists activate the machine and reaches beyond and sees different things. He gets his partner, who ends up dying…
Crawford gets arrested and accused for the murder of his partner. He is then committed to a psychiatric ward. He is then treated by Dr. Katherine McMichaeal (Crampton). She listens to Crawford’s account and after a CAT scan reveals his pineal gland is enlarged. She is convinced he is innocent and takes him back to the house and the Resonator. But they are accompanied by Ken Foree, or Bubba Brownlee, worst name ever.
They reactivate the Resonator and later we find Pretorius has crossed over and every time the Resonator is activated he appears. But, from beyond…Pretorius tries to take Katherine with him into the beyond, but he is stopped by Crawford. Afterwords Katherine begins acting very odd and sexual. It is fantastic.
I am getting to spoilerific territory now. So I have got to stop. I say see this movie if you have not. I added it to my collection, you should too.
Ok, this movie is terrific! I had flashbacks from when I was a child and I remember feeling terrified and the feelings came back and it was fantastic. The great part about this one, the story was solid, based on a H.P. Lovecraft story, like the Re-Animtor. The effects were top notch for the 1980s and even today. I loved every character, Barbara Crampton really stands out, as does Jeffery Combs. To my surprise, Ken Foree is in From Beyond. I was very happy to see him pop up as Bubba Brownlee…yeah, shitty name. But he is one of my favorites in horror.
I say go ahead and drop 20 bucks on this one and get the Scream Factory Blu Ray…it is awesome. Tons of fun, 1980s horror at its glory.
IMDB.com has a rating of 6.8
I love From Beyond, it is great 8.0
Here are some versions to choice from to buy.
