The Grim Cellar

1981, Italy, Directed by Lucio Fulci

Colour, Running Time: 84 minutes

DVD, Region 2 (NTSC), EC Entertainment, Video: Letterbox 2.35:1, Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo

One of Fulci’s most famous films, The Beyond introduces us to a near down-and-out woman (Catriona MacColl) who inherits a hotel that, continuing with her tradition of bad luck, was built over one of the gates to Hell (bit of a bummer for the market value I would imagine), the same hotel where a warlock was murdered by a lynch mob decades before. A series of supernatural events indicate that the gates of Hell are indeed opening leading to a climactic mass return of the walking dead in a hospital showdown.

Making up a Fulci quartet of zombie films between 1979 and 1982 The Beyond is an episodic horror that dwells on excessive gore at every opportunity, much like House by the Cemetery, City of the Living Dead (both of which also featured MacColl), and Zombi 2 did. These films have great merits for the horror fan and all had a strangely ethereal atmosphere that even Fulci himself couldn’t repeat several years later. Narrative-wise, Beyond is probably not a brilliant film, but the set pieces are quite mad, almost surreal at times, plus the conclusion is beautifully grim. The hospital-based climax with walking corpses appearing at every turn is rousing and should have taken the film into a more apocalyptic direction (hinted at with the deserted nature of the town during the final act) with an extra 15 minutes or so; however the short running time prevents any risk of it outstaying its welcome. A classic film from an era that can never be emulated.

This disc was the first DVD release of The Beyond back in 1998 and taken from a negative-sourced master that was originally used for the EC laserdisc in 1996. The non-anamorphic 2.35:1 image here was very good for its time but has since been superseded by discs from Anchor Bay US and EC themselves. I remember doing a direct comparison to an old VHS and being knocked out by the difference in clarity and contrast. Showcasing a memorable and distinctive score by Fabio Frizzi (who provided several notable scores for Fulci), sound is adequate but extras are fairly minimal. Once heavily cut (and indeed, banned on video) in the UK it was finally passed uncut for a Vipco DVD release in 2001, though their discs have never matched the standards of the likes of Elite, AB US, BU, etc., etc. A film that horror fans should own, one way or another, and one of my personal favourites.