Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond is in my top five favourite horror films of all time (which also includes Berberian Sound Studio and - perhaps somewhat controversially - Rob Zombie’s The Lords of Salem), and is the second entry of Fulci’s classic ‘Gates of Hell’ trilogy, all of which I saw as part of a Fulci triple bill one Sunday afternoon at the Prince Charles cinema in Leicester Square (and I can’t think of a better place for a first introduction to Fulci). As with The City of the Living Dead (the first entry into the trilogy), The Beyond lightly references the Lovecraft mythos - although the latter movie’s Lovecraftian roots are also evident in its oneiric qualities (opting for nightmarish mood over plot), and in the bleak hopelessness of its denouement; for the very same reasons, this is a challenging film for those expecting standard horror tropes presented in the format of a linear narrative - but a masterwork nonetheless.
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