The Beyond, Lucio Fulci at his Best

Many of us believe 1979's "Zombie" and 1981's "The Beyond" are two of Lucio Fulci's best films.  This is high praise for these films from Italy's master of horror and gore. Today we look at "The Beyond."  Yep...this is the one that features a horde of tarantula eating a man's face while he is still alive...in extreme close-up.  Eyes will be popping out of faces, faces will be torn off, a little girl will have half her head blown off...and so much more.  The squeamish beware!

Liza (Catriona MacColl) is a babe who inherits a hotel in Louisiana.  60 years ago, townsfolk converged on the hotel and tried to wall in a warlock.  See, this hotel is one of the seven gateways to Hell.  Abandoned since the warlock carnage, Liza is having trouble keeping contractors, construction guys...and Joe the Plumber (Giovanni De Nava).  All are killed in gory fashion as they work on the house.  Now a blast from the past...Emily (Cinzia Monreale) arrives.  This blind babe was also at the hotel 60 years ago...a ghost?  Also arriving is our leading man, Dr. Jack McCabe (David Warbuck).  He, like most men, is quite useless so we will not mention him again.

The folks who die horribly at Liza's hotel are brought to the morgue.  There...they will re-animate.  In one scene, Jill (Maria Pia Marsala) witnesses her dad coming back to life after her mom has her skull melted off by acid.  Happens.  Now Liza realizes her hotel may be cursed as Emily fills her in on the history of the place.  The warlock, back in the 1920s, stayed in room 36 and now weird stuff is happening in that room.  Liza will spend most of her time in the second half of this film in room 36 and in the one of many morgues in the local hospital.  Guts, eyeballs, brains, tarantulas, and ripped off faces will explode at you. Too bad this film was not in 3D.

Can Liza break the curse or seal off the gateway to hell and have Marriott take over the place?  How many points, or stays, does someone need to earn a free night at this hotel/gateway to Hell?  Is this movie a prescient omen of what was in store for New Orleans with the 2005 Hurricane Katrina debacle?  If you love gore..."The Beyond" is a film for you.