The Beyond

Alemannia/Arabella Filmverleih GmbH | Release Date: November 11, 1983

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

38	METASCORE Generally unfavorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews

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Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Marc Savlov

Does it make any sense? Nope. Does this detract from the film? Not at all. It's classic Italian Grand Guignol at its most disturbing; a car crash, autopsy, and disembowelment all wrapped up in a nice, soggy package. Read full review

Roger Ebert

It's the kind of movie that alternates stupefyingly lame dialogue with special effects scenes in which quicklime dissolves corpses and tarantulas eat lips and eyeballs. Read full review

Bob Graham

The thriller is populated by the usual dimwits who stumble into horrific situations and don't have the good sense to leave, and it tries to pass off some of the sorriest excuses for zombies ever seen. Read full review

Ed Gonzalez

Even by Argento standards, Fulci’s film is nonsensical to the point of distraction. Read full review

Keith Phipps

The Beyond's first half-hour or so is extremely entertaining, alternating between genuinely frightening, gory shocks and hilariously awkward, atonal acting. After a while, however, it becomes as dull as its repetitive Italian prog-rock soundtrack, neither good nor bad enough to hold your attention for long. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

A shamelessly artless horror movie whose senseless story - a girl inherits a spooky, seedy hotel which just happens to have one of the Seven Doors of Hell in its cellar - is merely an excuse for a poorly connected series of sadistic tableaux of torture and gore. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh

Classic Italian splatter directed by Lucio Fulci, reviled and adored in equal proportions by Euro-horror fans. Read full review

Michael Wilmington

You know the drill: Seven gates of hell. The walking dead. Blood and spurting eyeballs. Strictly for horror mavens hungry for kitsch. [03 Jul 1998]

David Sterritt

There's more than enough gruesomeness to keep hard-core horror fans screaming, but others should stay a million miles away - or 2 million, if spiders make you squirm. [12 Jun 1998, p.B2]

Bill Hoffman

If you can stomach the lavish gore, The Beyond also treats you to a three-ring circus of atrocious acting, loopy dialogue, a cheesy wah-wah guitar and synthesizer score and endless jump-out-at-you shocks. [12 Jun 1998, p.053]

Joe Holleman

The dialogue is ridiculous, the plot is silly, and the acting is cartoonish. But I'll hand this to Italian horror director Lucio Fulci: He knows how to put on a show for those dead set on seeing a violent, gory, bloody, zombie-infested midnight-flick type of a movie. [03 Jul 1998, p.E3]

Rene Rodriguez

Think of The Beyond as a Rorschach inkblot of a horror film: It's by turns impressionistic, repulsive, ridiculous and baffling. In the right frame of mind, it can also be a hoot. [17 Jul 1998, p.7G]

Mark Rahner

This is the movie that Steven Spielberg's Money Pit should have been. The mind-blowing ending makes it a must-see. [31 Oct 1999]