The Beyond - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Some movies go over the top. The Beyond sees that top, overtakes it, and then vomits all over it. It is a disgusting, disturbing, nightmarish film that reminds me of a childhood fever, plagued with nonsensical images strung together in a vague assembly of a story. And there is a story, of sorts, in The Beyond, it’s just not that important in the grand scheme of things, which is to terrify and repulse its audience.

In New Orleans, 1927, a hotel is besieged by angry townfolk who brutalize a suspected warlock, whip him with chains, crucify him, and melt his face with a hot acid mixture, before finally entombing him in the walls. Flash forward fifty-some years later and that very same hotel is now being renovated by its new owner, Liza Merril (Catriona MacColl), and the evil begins to affect everyone who interacts with the property, or the gooey corpse of the warlock they’ve discovered. No one in The Beyond is quick to make any of these connections, with local doctor John McCabe (David Warbeck) still questioning Liza’s sanity with only twenty minutes left in the film. It would be easy to mock The Beyond as a piece of schlock, which, hell, it very well may be, but there’s genuine artistry beneath all those layers of schlock. It’s exploitative and in poor taste, but it’s effective at what it sets out to do. When the film wraps, particularly with its chilling ending, a glimpse into a fate even worse than death, it sticks with you.

Out of all of Lucio Fulci’s films he’s directed over the years, The Beyond is the Fulci-est. Every impulse he has as a storyteller is here. Every obsession he has makes it into the film. Fulci has long had a fetish for all things eyeballs (gouging, tearing, ripping) and if the infamous wood splinter scene in Zombi made you look away, don’t even think about watching The Beyond. And while with most films I’d observe this level of nearly pornographic bloodlust with revulsion, somehow in the stream-of-consciousness plotting of The Beyond, it just works. Some movies want to titillate with violence, or they want audiences to grin at the cleverness of the kills. Fulci & Co. want to scare the hell out of you, so they pull no punches in how graphic violence plays out—in long, extended, never-ending sequences, like a child watching in horror as her mother is dissolved in acid. The level of gore here, which is extreme, heightens its nightmare-like, surrealistic terror. We’re caught in a bad dream, and we can’t seem to wake up from it.

The Beyond is surely a masterpiece in the Grand Guignol tradition of embracing the macabre and welcoming its disturbing imagery into your mind’s eye. Anything that the filmmakers imagine can and does happen. Someone falls off a ladder and is devoured by tarantulas? Sure. Why not? The characters who inhabit The Beyond are trapped in a hellish world so whatever happens, they’re at the mercy of a gleefully sadistic director and writing team. But there’s an innocence to it, a kind of catharsis to capture your worst, darkest thoughts and fears on film, and to share it with an audience who does the same. The Beyond is almost like a shared, communal agony handed down from generation to generation.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Grindhouse Releasing has gone all out on The Beyond. There are a whopping six discs total for this release. The film is contained on both a 4K disc and a Blu-ray disc, offering viewers both a 4K UHD viewing experience and a 1080p high-definition one. There is a Blu-ray disc for new special features, and a Blu-ray disc for archival features from the film’s previous release. For completists who just can’t get enough of The Beyond, there’s a DVD disc for the heavily-edited R-rated version called 7 Doors of Death. Finally, there is a CD containing the alternate “Composer’s Cut” soundtrack that had been recorded a few years ago by original composer Fabio Frizzi. There’s even a 100-page booklet with international promotional art from the film, essays and Dardano Sacchetti’s original treatment.

For this release, The Beyond has been scanned in 4K and restored from its original camera negative, graded in Dolby Vision HDR. Its visual presentation is damn near flawless. I think I noticed some minor, minor scratches and blips, but to count this against the film would be splitting hairs, considering the age and budget of the film’s original production. The included Blu-ray appears to be from the new scan/restoration, and not just the previous Blu-ray release—which I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, this is great for people who might not have a 4K TV and they’re getting the best possible picture that they can. In my comparisons between the 4K and the Blu-ray, the differences were pretty minor—the 4K obviously was a bit sharper and the HDR grading allowed a deeper contrast in scenes with complex lighting with German expressionistic shadowing. However, it would have been nice to have included the original Blu-ray release, just to compare how much of an improvement this new restoration process was. While that release looked pretty good, The Beyond in 4K looks the best it ever has on home video, particularly in color realization.

Still, my persnicketiness aside, this video transfer looks exquisite. I have nits to pick, but I can’t argue with the overall result of how great it all looks. The Beyond is a triumph of gothic cinematography, swallowed by thick, inky shadows, and the deep, dark reds of the blood that flows freely throughout pops on the screen.

Viewers have a number of options to choose from when selecting an audio mix for this release. Coming back from previous releases are the 5.1 and 2.0 audio remixes from Paul Ottosson, which I’ve always liked. I know there are a lot of audio purists who don’t go in for remixes, and favor the original, which is fine, I get it, but for me these remixes are a lot of fun, throwing a variety of effects into the rears, allowing the subwoofer to groan with delight in its creepier moments. The atmospheric effects get a ton of play throughout the entirety of the soundstage.

For you purists, you do have the option between both the original mono English soundtrack, and original mono Italian soundtrack. These options won’t disappoint and sound awesome, as they pack a punch between one of the finest horror scores ever recorded and gooey, squishy sound effects throughout. Whether you select one of the remixes or the original audio options, dialogue clarity is favored throughout. This movie gets loud, but dialogue never gets lost in it.

Ho-lee cow this is a lot of special features to make your way through. Staggering is about the only word I have up my sleeve to describe just how many supplements exist for The Beyond. Interviews, commentaries, featurettes, trailers, photo galleries, on and on and on. After making your way through the set, I can’t imagine not knowing every single thing there is to know about this film.

Disc One

• Audio Commentary - David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl
• Audio Commentary - Sergio Salvati
• Audio Commentary - Giannetto De Rossi
• Catriona MacColl's Introduction (UHD 0:57)
• Fabio Frizzi's Introduction for the Composer’s Cut (UHD 1:35)
• Fabio Frizzi’s Cut (HD 31:47)
• Beyond The Beyond – Simone Scafidi (HD 1:05:04)

Disc Two

These are basically the same exact features as disc one, the only real difference is that the intro videos are in HD instead of UHD

• Audio Commentary - David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl
• Audio Commentary - Sergio Salvati
• Audio Commentary - Giannetto De Rossi
• Catriona MacColl's Introduction (HD 0:57)
• Fabio Frizzi's Introduction for the Composer’s Cut (HD 1:35)
• Fabio Frizzi’s Cut (HD 31:47)
• Beyond The Beyond – Simone Scafidi (HD 1:05:04)

Disc Three

• Interviews:
• Catriona MacColl and David Warbeck 1995 (HD 1:06:44)
• Emily’s Eyes - Cinzia Monreale (HD 16:54)
• When Al Met Lucio - Al Cliver (HD 15:54)
• Arachnophobia - Michele Mirabella (HD 28:28)
• Of Blood and Ink - Dardano Sacchetti (HD 42:58)
• Murder, They Wrote - Giorgio Mariuzzo (HD 12:58)
• Beyond the Stuntmen - Ottaviano Dell'Acqua and Massimo Vanni (HD 11:41)
• Being the Sound Guy - Ugo Celani (HD 26:45)
• Voices from The Beyond - Pino Colizzi (HD 21:47)
• Eye of the Witness - Michele Romagnoli (HD 21:39)
• Eros and Violence - Emanuele Taglietti (HD 34:28)
• Trailers

Disc Four (Archival Extras)

• Interviews:
• Looking Back: The Creation of The Beyond (HD 47:54)
• The New Orleans Connection - Larry Ray (HD 44:33)
• Beyond and Back - Catriona MacColl (HD 34:05)
• See Emily Play - Cinzia Monreale (HD 21:57)
• Making it Real - Giannetto De Rossi & Maurizio Trani (HD 2:29)
• Lucio Fulci Interview Part 1 (SD 20:05)
• Lucio Fulci Interview Part 2 (SD 13:04)
• Eurofest ’94 – Lucio Fulci & David Warbeck (SD 46:04)
• Eurofest ’96 – Catriona MacColl & David Warbeck (SD 5:24)
• 1996 Festival of Fantastic Films – Catriona MacColl (SD 12:16)
• 1996 Festival of Fantastic Films – David Warbeck (SD 21:06)
• Beyond Italy - U.S. Distributor Terry Levene (HD 19:05)
• Still Galleries

Disc Five (7 Doors of Death)

• The Beyond in the Age of Aquarius (SD  39:37)
• Trailers

The Beyond is both a hellish film and one hell of a film. Terrifying, nonsensical, disgusting, brilliant all in equal measure, it shows Lucio Fulci, a master of the macabre, at the top of his game. Though Fulci has made other great works, this one, for my money, is his best. Grindhouse Releasing has pulled out all the stops in delivering a package that is positively lousy with special features, more than you can reasonably make your way through, and a stellar A/V presentation throughout. While I’m tempted to say The Beyond is a must-own, it’s really a must-own for a very specific person willing to drop nearly $70 bucks for a single movie. For everyone else, it’s Highly Recommended, giving a unique slice of 1980s terror such a deluxe treatment.