DVD Collectors Online

The Beyond, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Beyond (...E tu vivrai nel terrore! L'aldilà)
Year of Release: 1981
Directed By: Lucio Fulci
Starring: Catriona MacColl, David Warbeck, Cinzia Monreale
Genre: Horror

Overview:
Lucio Fulci's masterpiece of face-chewing spider action, milky-eyed psychics, face-melting embalming fluid and rotted flesh-crazed zombies returns in all its blood-splattered, surreal and grossly disturbing glory for a new generation of horror kids!

If your new business venture is sited on the cursed gateway to the hell dimension of The Beyond, then maybe it's time to move elsewhere but Liza (Catriona MacColl) is determined to make her New Orleans hotel work, until strange things start happening, people vanish and her waking thoughts are haunted by a ghostly blind woman who seems to hold the answers to the whole bizarre fever-dream. As reality breaks down and the plot explodes, Liza must journey far from everything she understands and descend in The Beyond...

The Beyond is Fulci's Zombie masterwork as he assaults his audience with shock after head-spinning shock, all the while leading up to one of horror cinemas most heart-stopping finales. The Beyond drives sane men mad and leads others to murder. Dare you step over to the other side?

My Thoughts:
This was a really bizarre movie.  The plot was super thin, and too much was never fully explained.  I can make some inferences, and that might be what Fulci was wanting the viewer to do, but I would have liked more meat in the story.  There was certainly time for it; the death scenes were drug out for the sake of the gore effects, especially the one where the spiders eat the guy's face.  I had read this film was gory, and that's definitely true.  I'm not necessarily against gore, but there was no need to linger on it the way this film does.  The characters also really annoyed me.  Eliza is another cowering, screaming, useless female character.  Then there's John, who is a doctor and therefore supposedly smart, yet can't seem to grasp that shooting the zombie in the head kills it and nothing else does. 

At the same time, there are some gorgeously artistic shots in the film, especially the ending sequence, that are almost worth sitting through this film again.  Almost. 

I suppose this isn't a film for me, and I doubt I'll watch any of Fulci's other films.  I don't mind surrealism, or a sparse plot, but I do mind when things are just dropped in and then never followed up on.  Especially when there was lots and lots of time for lingering over the blood, wounds, and eye-gouging.  I don't know who to recommend this to, but apparently it's considered a classic and lots of people do like it, so your millage might vary.

Bechdel Test: Pass

Overall: 2.5/5

2015 Horror Movie Count: 16

(From Horror/Halloween Marathon 2015 on November 2nd, 2015)

A Nightmare on Elm Street, a review by addicted2dvd

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984/United States, United Kingdom) IMDb |Wikipedia |Trailer | New Line Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video Director: Wes Craven Writing: Wes Craven (Writer) Length: 91 min. Rating: Rated 18 : Strong Sadistic Horror and Bloody Violence Video: Widescreen 1.78:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 7.1, English: Dolby Digital: Mono, French: Dolby Digital: Mono, German: Dolby Digital: Mono, Italian: Dolby Digital: Mono, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles: Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Commentary, Trivia

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Stars:
John Saxon as Lt. Thompson
Ronee Blakley as Marge Thompson
Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson
Amanda Wyss as Tina Gray
Jsu Garcia [Nick Corri] as Rod Lane
Johnny Depp as Glen Lantz

Plot:
From modern horror master Wes Craven (Scream, Scream 2) comes a timeless shocker that remains the standard bearer for terror.

Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) is having grisly nightmares. Something monstrous wants to kill her. Meanwhile, her high-school friends, who are having the very same dream, are being slaughtered in their sleep by the hideous fiend of their shared nightmare. When the police ignore her explanation, she herself must confront the killer in his shadowy realm.

Featuring John Saxon (Enter The Dragon) and Johnny Depp in his first starring role and mind-bending special effects, this horror classic gave birth to one of the most infamous undead villains in cinematic history. Reportedly naming Freddy Krueger after a kid who had bullied him in school, writer-director Craven hatches a shock-fest from hell that "goes straight to the heart of terror" (Seattle Times).

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes

After being given this blu-ray set last night... I felt I just had to watch this, one of my favorites of the '80s horror films. This is the film that started it all. The one where Freddy is actually scary instead of the comedian he becomes in the later films. Don't get me wrong... I really enjoy all the films in the franchise... but this one is easily the best. Robert Englund was fantastic in this one. As was Heather Langenkamp. And of course this is the film Johnny Depp got his start in. At this point I would imagine all horror fans have seen this by now.... but if you haven't... it is a must see... highly recommended!

The blu-ray has a nice selection of extras. Multiple commentary tracks... multiple featurettes... multiple alternate endings. Plenty on the disc to keep you busy for quite a while after the film itself.



(From What Movies I Been Watching on February 19th, 2014)

Supernatural Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

EPISODE 1: PILOT
"Take me home." Along a lonely California highway, a mysterious woman in white lures men to their deaths - a terrifying phenomenon that may be the brothers' first clue to their father's whereabouts.

Guest Stars:
Sarah Shahi as Constance Welch
Adrianne Palicki as Jessica Lee Moore
Samantha Smith as Mary Winchester
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as John Winchester

My Thoughts:
When this series was first announced I couldn't wait for the first episode to air. I really liked how this show introduces the characters. I also liked how this episode uses a well known urban legend to make a story about. Sure that may mean you know where the story is going... and that is true to a point... but they add enough to the story so it isn't predictable. They really did make a good ghost story out of this well known urban legend. I was thrilled the first time I seen this episode... and I enjoyed it just as much now (3rd or 4th time watching it) as I did the first time around.

My Rating:

(From Supernatural Marathon on December 21st, 2009)