From Beyond Reviews

Big B movie delirium from the crazy Yuzna and Gordon with Lovecraft sauce. It was the (blessed) era of permissive and enjoyable horror cinema in the 80's. And it was so good!

Like any patchy horror firmly ensconced in its typically oblique premise and perfunctory reliance on style over substance, "From Beyond" expands on H.P. Lovecraft's story and applies the tacit, condensed conceit of its source to an amorphous, low-budget visual smorgasbord of gore and special effects. Although it never quite reaches the level of quality achieved with "Re-Animator", the film successfully maintains the somewhat belted thematic verve, clinical imagery and decent performances of its predecessor through slick visuals, concise and propulsive narrative pacing and an underlying commentary on science, i.e. exploring the possible link between an overactive pineal gland and the inducement of hyper-sexuality and audio-visual hallucinatory illness. "From Beyond" does veer off into no-holds-barred body horror territory (brains are consumed, some through a victim's eye sockets) for most of its running time, but does return to its underlying message, which is the looming threat of institutionalisation within the psychiatric and scientific community. Simply put, the crux of the film further expands on the previously explored dichotomy of sanity and scientific experimentation, the latter of which is encapsulated in the form of three doctors breaking the natural law for different reasons; gravitas, carnal pleasure and psychiatric remedy. In modern society, most methodical, groundbreaking innovation and audacious deviation in the name of science is derided until it is not, but when it goes beyond the realms of the senses, as presented here in the form of gross-out, metamorphic, otherworldly creatures, then prepare for the repercussions.

Alright time for another gross out film for my Horrorthon! It's based off an H.P. Lovecraft short which is pretty cool. Despite Stuart Gordon being a horror master this only the second of his I've seen with the other being Re-Animator. I have also seen Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Brian Yuzna also co-wrote that. He isn't the best, but he has his moments. Dennis Paoli also wrote in Re-Animator. It has a decent small cast which is good. Anyways let's see if this is worth the watch or simply an oddball that is nothing but gross.

Okay that was another hell of a weird body horror kind of movie. I mean that was to be expected though. I just didn't realize to what extent it would go. I have to say that I don't think there are many people who could eat while watching this movie haha. I can't tell if they intentionally made this funny or the acting is what makes it happen. I found myself amused throughout many scenes. There were some disturbing elements here and there if you catch the underlying messages within some dialogue and actions. I thought the gore and death scenes were interesting enough thank goodness. I wanted this to be a great watch, but I was pretty disappointed. It just wasn't all that. It had many bits I thought were just done poorly or way too awkward. I mean I was entertained, but I wanted something. Not sure what it is though. I thought the ending was exceptional though with a bit of bittersweetness to it.

Besides the main trio and the director's wife I have to say everyone else was pretty dreadful. Not that Jeffrey Combs is a particularly great actor. Personally Barbara Crampton and Ken Foree were the best here. Barbara Crampton was definitely some great eye candy back then. The dominatrix stuff added to the sex appeal. She is probably the main saving grace for this though. The characters make a lot of dumb decisions, but I think it has to do with them being influenced by Pretorius. I really didn't like the him all that much to be honest. He was just annoying and gross. At least he looked interesting at first.

So it was an alright movie. It has it's ups and many downs. It's pretty gross and disturbing. I found it at times to be funny which I'm not sure if it was intentional. The acting is kind of bad except for maybe Ken Foree and Barbara Crampton. The latter being the main reason I added this to my list. It's a huge cornfest for the most part. The ending was excellent though.