Friday, April 28, 2017

The Bloody Pit #53 - THE BEYOND (1981)


This episode we take a trip to the dank, mist enshrouded, sweat covered land of Louisiana for a blast of gore drenched Italian horror from maestro Lucio Fulci! The Three Stooges of Euro-Trash descend into the cellar of the Seven Doors Hotel to see if they can find the Book of Eibon while dodging the outstretched arms of eye-gouging zombies. Sense and nonsense merge into a rich tapestry of mad events loosely connected to the hotel and it's new owner Liza (Catriona MacColl). Can handsome doctor McCabe (David Warbeck) unravel the mystery at the heart of the horror or will he, too, succumb to the dark forces from The Beyond?

The recent GrindHouse Releasing Blu-Ray of this seminal horror film was the catalyst for Jeff, Troy and Rod to rewatch this violent creep show and high definition does nothing to dampen their love. Easily the best the film has ever looked on home video it gains so much in detail and visual depth that it becomes an even better experience. The movie's many narrative lapses and structural oddities are discussed as well as it's dread filled atmosphere and superlative Fabio Frizzi score. Clearly Fulci was more interested in realizing a long series of surrealistic, nightmare-like sequences concocted to unnerve and disturb, but among his dream imagery assault are moments of pure Gothic beauty as well. One of a kind filmmaking and a classic regardless of it's faults.

If you listen to the show on iTunes please rate & review the podcast there. It helps others find us and generally makes us feel good! You can join us on the Bloody Pit Facebook page as well where show links are posted along with odd images from the movies we cover. Thank you for listening and we'll be back soon! Oh! And I do refer to the podcast as The Bloody Podcast at the beginning of the show. This is not a rebranding attempt! It's just me verbally stumbling as we get back into the groove of recording. 





2 comments:

Armand40 said...

Hi Rod,

thanks so much for this wonderful mix of relaxed and very funny banter and at the same time in-depth discussion of Fulci`s weird, but alsways fascinating "The Beyond".

Your discussion really sweetened my otherwise mundane monday evening and you touched many interesting points in this multi-layered movie.
I was especially fascinated by your discussion of the apparent similarity of the two main female characters and have to say that I never fully understood the role of Emily, which of course only increased my fascination with this movie.
One weird idea I had at some point was that she might be actually another version of CaTriona MacColls "Liz" character that is somehow escaped or released from "The Beyond" to warn her from impending doom (which would fit to the circular nature of the movie).
The german title for this movie is actually "Über dem Jenseits" or "Above the afterworld" which also points to an interpretation of the final moments as showing a kind of in-between or purgatory between this realm and the afterlife.

Thanks again for this episode, it was certainly not only a comedic, but also "meaty" hightlight!

warm regards from Germany

Armin

Rod Barnett said...

Thank you for the kind words about the show. We always attempt to bring some thought to the discussion otherwise it would be a bit of a waste.

I really like the idea that Emily might be a version of Liza trying to save herself from doom. I've not run across any theories out here that would add solid evidence I can point to to bolster the idea but it seems like a possibility for such a bizarre script.

Keep in touch!