Aka: Seven Doors of Death
DVD review (region 2)
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Starring Catriona MacColl, David Warbeck, Cinzia Monreale
Release date Out now

Liza Merrill (MacColl) moves into a crumbling hotel in New Orleans. Turns out it’s located on one of the seven gates to hell. Doh!

The Beyond is often held up as Lucio Fulci’s masterwork, though the other entries in his Gates to Hell trilogy, City of the Living Dead and The House By the Cemetery, are equally worthy of that title. It features everything that’s great about the filmmaker’s work (terrific visuals; a distinct, uneasy atmosphere; well-executed jump-shocks; outrageous gore) as well as everything he’s criticised for (flimsy characters, incoherent plotting, foolish dialogue). Strangely both the positives and negatives are part of its appeal – a film that can simultaneously be appreciated for its artistic merit and kitsch appeal.

The atmospheric sepia opening (the DVD also includes the alternative colour version) sets the tone as torch-wielding townsfolk descend upon a suspected necromancer’s house and proceed to lash him with chains, bang nails into his hands and burn his face off (all accompanied by Fulci’s trademark crash-zooming onto bloody wounds). Subsequent gory highlights include a dog ripping a woman’s throat out, a clutter of tarantulas chomping a man to death, and an undead assailant popping a man’s eyes from his sockets. Oh, and let’s not forget the little girl who improbably gets her head blasted apart. Little wonder it was banned in the UK as a Video Nasty, though the heightened tone and lurid, non-realistic effects mean it’s not especially disturbing today.

Catriona MacColl and David Warbeck make for likeable enough heroes, though everyone in the accompanying documentaries makes it clear that characterisation wasn’t Fulci’s strong point (“he hated actors” according to effects artist Gianetto Di Rossi). Preposterous supporting characters include Liza’s creepy, pointless assistants Arthur and Martha (“They came with the hotel!”) and the beardy, gruff “Joe the Plumber”, who refuses to stay dead. It’s a striking, memorable mix of ghost story and zombie flick; just don’t expect any of it to make a jot of sense.

The appealing MacColl (who also starred in City of the Living Dead and The House By the Cemetery) is on hand with plenty of on-set stories (especially involving the notoriously quick-to-temper Fulci) in the accompanying Q&A and interview. She also shares a commentary with the talkative, jovial David Warbeck (originally recorded for the 1997 laserdisc release, shortly before the actor’s death); neither are able to make much sense of the story.

Other fan-friendly extras include an interview with Cinzia Monreale (who plays the escaped-from-hell blind girl Mary, and is credited as “Sarah Keller” in the film); another commentary by Fulci’s daughter, Antonella; an interview with Gianetto Di Rossi; and (a treat for exploitation fans) an interview with distributor Terry Levene, who amongst other things talks about re-cutting the movie as Seven Doors of Death for a US market. You also get lobby cards, a poster and a booklet by Eli Roth. Matt McAllister

VERDICT: 8/10
A must-see Italian splatter classic marked by crazy gore and crazy plotting. Terrifying and hilarious in equal measure.