Beyond the Door

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DarkImbecile
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Beyond the Door

#1 Post by DarkImbecile » Fri Dec 20, 2019 11:47 am

Image

Legendary filmmaker Ovidio G. Assonitis, whose Tentacles and Piranha II sought to cash in on the killer fish craze spawned by Jaws, first hit pay dirt in 1974 with Beyond the Door - a gloriously bonkers riff on The Exorcist featuring Emmy Award-winning actress Juliet Mills and distinguished British actor Richard Johnson.

Set against the backdrop of San Francisco, Beyond the Door stars Mills as Jessica Barrett, a young mother who starts to develop strange behaviors whilst pregnant with her third child. Before you can say “split pea soup”, Jessica is displaying signs of full-blown demonic possession - complete with projectile vomiting and fully-rotating head! Could it be that she’s carrying the child of the Antichrist himself?

Described as “disgusting”, “scary trash” and “maddeningly inappropriate” by film critic Robert Ebert and subject to a lawsuit by Warner Bros. (who claimed copyright infringement against a certain William Friedkin film), the devilish denizens at Arrow Video have summoned up this wickedly entertaining popcorn spiller in a brand new, extras-packed edition fit for Satan himself!

LIMITED EDITION 2-DISC BLU-RAY CONTENTS
  • Limited to 3,000 units
  • Brand new 2K restoration of the extended Uncut English Export Version
  • Exclusive bonus disc containing the alternate US Theatrical Version and Italy Possessed, a brand-new feature-length documentary on Italian exorcism movies!
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Marc Schoenbach
  • Reversible fold-out poster
  • Perfect-bound collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by John Martin and Alessio di Rocco
DISC ONE - UNCUT ENGLISH EXPORT VERSION
  • Brand new 2K restoration of the Uncut English Export Version, released as Devil Within Her (108 mins)
  • High Definition Blu-rayTM (1080p) presentation
  • Original uncompressed mono audio
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • The Devil and I – a newly-filmed interview with director/producer Ovidio G. Assonitis
  • Barrett’s Hell – a newly-filmed interview with cinematographer Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli
  • Beyond the Music – a newly-filmed interview with composer Franco Micalizzi
  • The Devil's Face – a newly-filmed interview with camera operator Maurizio Maggi
  • Motel and Devils – a newly-conducted audio interview with actor Gabriele Lavia
  • Alternate Italian Chi Sei? opening titles
  • Alternate Behind the Door VHS opening titles
  • Alternate Japanese Diabolica opening and ending sequence
  • Trailers, TV and Radio Spots
  • Image Gallery
DISC TWO - US THEATRICAL VERSION (LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE)
  • Brand new 2K restoration of the US Theatrical Version, released as Beyond the Door (99 mins)
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
  • Original uncompressed mono audio
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Italy Possessed – a brand new feature-length documentary on the history of Italian Exorcist rip-offs, including interviews with key filmmakers such as Sergio Martino, Alberto De Martino, Pupi Avati, Marcello Avallone, Ovidio G. Assonitis and many more!

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Mr Sausage
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Re: Beyond the Door

#2 Post by Mr Sausage » Fri Dec 20, 2019 1:51 pm

Film critic Robert Ebert?

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DarkImbecile
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Re: Beyond the Door

#3 Post by DarkImbecile » Fri Dec 20, 2019 2:38 pm

Ummm, yeah? Or have you never heard of the world-famous Sickle and Ebert reviewing duo?

Glowingwabbit
Joined: Wed May 01, 2013 1:27 pm

Re: Beyond the Door

#4 Post by Glowingwabbit » Fri Dec 20, 2019 2:41 pm

DarkImbecile wrote:
Fri Dec 20, 2019 2:38 pm
Ummm, yeah? Or have you never heard of the world-famous Sickle and Ebert reviewing duo?
Roger that!

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Beyond the Door

#5 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Dec 20, 2019 5:03 pm

Here's the great trailer, with Juliet Mills just floating offscreen stiff as a board! Yes, that's one sure sign of being possessed alright!

I'm quite looking forward to this as I have seen the unrelated other than being forced by getting retitled Beyond The Door II (aka Mario Bava's fantastic final film Shock) and the nutty Beyond The Door III (aka Amok Train (NSFW), which is completely bonkers and has just had a Blu-ray release through Vinegar Syndrome I wrote a bit about it on the Horror List project a few years back) but never the original. And this looks like quite the comprehensive multi-cut package.

The documentary on the trend of Italian films influenced by The Exorcist sounds great too, and Italy was probably the best country to pick up and run with a very Catholic-tinged subgenre of horror. The Night Child is probably the best of the bunch (also starring Richard Johnson, the year after Beyond The Door), though The Antichrist from 1974 comes to mind, as well as the Lucio Fulci film Manhattan Baby (though that seems just as much influenced by Charlton Heston Mummy movie The Awakening)

I guess however that Holocaust 2000 aka The Chosen, starring Kirk Douglas, does not count as it is more of an Omen rip-off!

But then Italian horror is often very fluid in its influences to make it just one thing or the other: see Werewolf Woman (NSFW) (aka Naked Werewolf Woman) which takes aspects of The Exorcist, a rape-revenge film, a werewolf movie, witchcraft, a giallo and a spaghetti western (! probably just because there were western town sets available), and mashes them all together in an astonishing jumble!

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The Elegant Dandy Fop
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:25 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: Beyond the Door

#6 Post by The Elegant Dandy Fop » Fri Dec 20, 2019 6:23 pm

This is a rare instance where I actually had to recollect seeing this film. I caught a 35mm screening of it three years ago in a very faded and pink print. I have a soft spot for Exorcist rip-offs and this one proves to be one of the more fun ones. It's no masterpiece, but it's quite fun and features some great San Franscisco scenery along with some interesting effects. The one of these types of films that's been forever burned into my mind is Abby, the most blatant Exorcist rip-off with a black cast that's gooey and crazed. I saw the pinkest, most worn 16mm print of it where it felt like each frame could snap back in 2014, but it still stuck to me as being particularly outrageous.

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Finch
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:09 pm
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Re: Beyond the Door

#7 Post by Finch » Fri Dec 20, 2019 7:24 pm

That smile at the trailer's 1 minute mark was pretty creepy. The voiceover though...

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Beyond the Door

#8 Post by zedz » Sun Mar 28, 2021 5:25 pm

I watched this expecting some crazy, trashy fun, but it was actually better than I expected. The overall plot seems to be pretty ramshackle on reflection, but it has plenty of solid moments, and Juliet Mills gives it far more gravitas than it probably deserved.

The most entertaining aspect of the film might have been the way it played like a Mad Magazine parody of The Exorcist at first. At the start of the film the children are already swearing at their parents, not because they're possessed, but because they're just rude little shits (who shouldn't have been given access to Love Story!), and the younger poppet obsessively chugs pea soup (he even has a poster of the stuff up on his bedroom wall like it was his own personal Farrah Fawcett).

The downside is that the film never really attains camp lunacy. it probably comes closest with a scene where one of the protagonists is aggressively pursued through the streets of San Francisco by a nose flute.

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jazzo
Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:02 am

Re: Beyond the Door

#9 Post by jazzo » Mon Mar 29, 2021 9:46 am

zedz wrote:
Sun Mar 28, 2021 5:25 pm
I watched this expecting some crazy, trashy fun, but it was actually better than I expected. The overall plot seems to be pretty ramshackle on reflection, but it has plenty of solid moments, and Juliet Mills gives it far more gravitas than it probably deserved.

The most entertaining aspect of the film might have been the way it played like a Mad Magazine parody of The Exorcist at first. At the start of the film the children are already swearing at their parents, not because they're possessed, but because they're just rude little shits (who shouldn't have been given access to Love Story!), and the younger poppet obsessively chugs pea soup (he even has a poster of the stuff up on his bedroom wall like it was his own personal Farrah Fawcett).

The downside is that the film never really attains camp lunacy. it probably comes closest with a scene where one of the protagonists is aggressively pursued through the streets of San Francisco by a nose flute.
My expectations were similar - all I'd read was how bonkers this film was - but in the end, it left me bored shitless, and other than Juliet Mills' commitment to her performance, couldn't really find anything to recommend it.

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