The Beyond is part 2 of Lucio Fulci's 'death' trilogy, following City of the Living Dead. I realize that I called the guy The Master of Gore but that should actually be 'Godfather of Gore', which has an even nicer ring to it.
It has been a while since I watched this film, so - to refresh my memory- I checked out its trailer. After having done so, I realize that I really had a blast watching this film back in the days. I love(d) its soundtrack, its story, the overall atmosphere, use of color, cinematography, editing... It contains all these cool horror scenes that are set up and played out in such a way that I feel only Italian filmmakers in the 70s and 80s were being able to do. Combine that with the fact that I just love the overall artistic freedom that films back then seemed to contain. They just seem to ooze energy.
Getting back to Fulci... even though his work is considered as the 'goriest' the horror genre has to offer, I feel it doesn't have this kind of negative vibe that movies like the Saw series give me. I can't explain it, perhaps it has to do with realism. Films like the Saw anthology are known for extremely realistic horror and torture scenes. It might also be the time that we are living in right now. I just find that I am able to thoroughly enjoy these (less realistic) over the top horror films from the old days. Something I can't say from the post 2000 torture horror.
Alright, let's end it here for today. Tomorrow I will talk about part 3 in the series: House at the Cemetery.
Oh... and before I forget... you should watch this high quality version of The Beyond's trailer to make up your mind:
Earlier movie recommendations:
City of the Living Dead (1980)
Sorcerer (1977)
The Birds (1963)
Suspiria (1977)
Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
Nightcrawler (2014)
Ghost Story (1953)
Alice in the Cities (1974)
Altered States (1980)
Wake in Fright (1973)
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