paulclaassen Even if you're not into horror, you have to marvel at the visual effects, which are simply mind blowing (especially for its time)! Nice to see horror legends Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton together again. Jeffrey is excellent as usual. The mix of horror, satire, fantasy and even a bit of porn was an interesting concept, but it blends very well together.

Gregory Mucci As someone who has never read a single HP Lovecraft tale, or even knows much about the context of which his stories are derived from, it's always exciting to watch an adaptation of one of his works. Having seen Stuart Gordon's previous HP Lovecraft adaptation Re- Animator, I went into this film with a sense of direction, but one that can easily be pushed off course by the unknown notoriety of the beloved horror author. What I received from From Beyond was a mixed bag of two many horror genres overlapping each other, creating an enjoyable yet disjointed pyramid of horror complexities.From Beyond, which should be stated is "loosely" based on an HP Lovecraft short story, begins with scientist Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs), who has been working on a Tesla like machine called The Resonator, which allows one to see beyond the accessible reality, due to a stimulation of the pineal gland. It's all very scientific, but the pineal gland delivers melatonin, which affects light/dark, wake and sleep (which when tampered with in the case of The Resonator, enlarges it producing headaches, and a drug like addiction to be near The Resonator's pulse). In order not to be declared insane and locked away for the supposed murder of his mentor Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel), Tillinghast, Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton), and Detective Bubba Brownlee (Ken Foree) must reactivate The Resonator in order to prove his sanity.Like other horror films dealing with alternate dimensions, otherworldly realities, or just plain outer space, what lies beyond the conventional eye tends to always be depraved, leaning towards the phallic, or the torturous leather bound. With Clive Barker's Hellraiser, we were introduced to the demonic S&M world of Pinhead and his cenobites, who fed off the fears and sexually deviant behavior of their victims. In Ridley Scott's Alien, the confines of space were crafted in HR Geiger's sexually twisted eye, with the alien penetrating the victims mouth in order to impregnate those aboard the unsuspecting ship. Now in Stuart Gordon's From Beyond, we are thrust (no pun intended) into the sexually depraved world of a mad scientist, one that inevitably reaches into the alternate dimension, giving us phallic, mutated body parts and leather clad sexual cravings.From Beyond is a science fiction horror film that knows where it wants to go, but has an incredibly difficult time jumping over the other films that have done what it has before. Watching the mutation of Dr. Edward Pretorius just isn't as enjoyable when it feels like a poor imitation of John Carpenter's The Thing, writhing out of the body of its victim. Don't get me wrong, the special effects of Mark Shostrom and the special make-up effects by the uncredited artist Bill Forsche is very well crafted, they just all feel like cheapened retreads. Also being set primarily in the attic of a creepy estate, and dealing with sexual depravity, From Beyond can't seem to hurdle over Hellraiser, another film which took place mostly in an attic, dealt with sexual depravity and dealt with leather clad deviants.Showcasing over the top acting by the great horror icon Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator) and a once again pitch perfect portrayal of a tough as nails cop by Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead), we are left wanting to fall away with the story HP Lovecraft left us and the horror that Stuart Gordon has produced. However, the fall is only riddled with the debris of what was once exciting and fantastic, depraved and twisted. From Beyond is an exciting premise stuffed inside a haunted house, wrapped around the pleasures of pain and torture; the pain and torture that unfortunately befalls the viewers as we are left with cold leftovers.

BA_Harrison Following the success of their 1985 splatter-fest Re-animator, producer Brian Yuzna, director Stuart Gordon, and stars Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton reunited for more Lovecraftian weirdness in From Beyond, a wild and gory sci-fi/horror concoction featuring more gross-out special effects than you can wave a slimy tentacle at.The film opens as scientist Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel) and his assistant Crawford Tillinghast (Combs) finally perfect The Resonator, a machine that uses massive electrical tuning forks to stimulate the pineal gland thereby activating the sixth sense, opening the mind's eye to a world that exists alongside our own. Unfortunately, their invention also allows creatures from this alternate reality to see us, and Pretorious has his head bitten off by one such monster, leaving the gibbering Crawford to be arrested for murder.Committed to a psychiatric hospital, Crawford is treated by sexy Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Crampton), who is trying to ascertain whether her patient is sane enough to stand trial. After conducting a head scan and discovering that Crawford has an abnormally enlarged pineal gland, Katherine starts to believe that there may be some truth in his seemingly insane story. Together with Crawford and cop Buford 'Bubba' Brownlee (Ken Foree), Katherine pays a visit to Pretorious' laboratory where she unwisely attempts to recreate his experiment.From Beyond goes all out for excess, featuring as much, if not more, splattery madness than Reanimator, its special effects crew (which includes such FX luminaries as Mark Shostrom, Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero and John Carl Buechler) providing some truly impressive and very freaky creations. And with pineal stimulation leading to sexual stimulation, the film also becomes delightfully perverse at times, which is good news for Barbara Crampton fans, the sexy actress donning kinky fetish gear as her character becomes more and more addicted to the resonator's effect.But while all of this gloopy, twisted craziness is undeniably fun, the film does suffer from a script that becomes rather tiresome in the second half, as the characters repeatedly return to Pretorious' attic and his machine is turned on and off and on and off and on again. Out of the two movies, Re-animator is still my favourite, feeling like the more coherent effort overall (although it too suffers from a few issues that prevent it from being perfect), but with all of those toothy critters and the sight of Crampton in stockings, suspenders, PVC basque and thong, this one isn't far behind.

Matt matt With all the reviews here, I won't waste your time with redundancy. But I do have a word to add.First: This is available to watch free here at IMDb. Get it while it's hot!Second: Jeffery Combs is one of my favorite actors, and I harbor deep resentment at the fact that he was never elevated to mainstream success. The emotions, thoughts, and inner conflicts of his characters flicker across his visage in a way that few actors can manage. There are many actors who can do "twitchy", and a few that can't help but come off as deranged, but the discipline Combs brings to gradual mental deterioration shows great craft.Take a bow, Mr. Combs!Third: This is a rip-snortin' roller coaster of a movie. It's funnier, smarter, sexier, and more creative than the genre, audience, or era demanded. Like "A Boy And His Dog", "Flesh Gordon", "Liquid Sky", "Eyes Of Fire" or "Sore Losers", this flick rises above every expectation the uninitiated may have for it.Old school? You bet!But on a psychologically fantastic level not affected by changing fashion and technology, this little bugger should be able to freak people out for generations to come.