When HP Lovecraft sat down at his desk to write his short story From Beyond, did he picture, in his mind’s eye, Ken Foree in his underpants battling a giant worm, Barbara Crampton being attacked by a swarm of carnivorous flies, or Jeffrey Combs ravenously munching on a human brain? It’s fair to assume he probably didn’t, but director Stuart Gordon did and that’s precisely why the 1986 film From Beyond is a deranged, no-holds-barred body horror masterpiece.
Crawford Tillinghast (Combs) is a scientist assisting the work of Dr Pretorius (Ted Sorel) on his invention the Resonator, a classic mad-scientist contraption – complete with tuning forks, static crackle and plasma globes – that allows the user to access another dimension. On the trial run something goes awry: Pretorius is decapitated and Crawford is arrested for murder and gets committed to a psychiatric ward.
In order to determine his ability to stand trial, Crawford is released into the custody of ambitious psychiatrist Dr Katherine McMichaels (Crampton). Accompanied by police detective Bubba Brownlee (Foree), they return to the laboratory to recreate the experiment, using the machine to unlock a sixth sense to see beyond perceptible reality (it helps if you don’t overthink the science).
When the contraption is switched on, From Beyond transforms into a queasy, heliotrope nightmare. The doors of perception are opened and the group discover that, far from being dead, Pretorius has crossed over into the “beyond”. He reappears through a glow of psychedelic mauves as a lumpen shape of greasy, gelatinous flesh, hell-bent on bringing everyone over to the other side. The group pull the plug, only to find they have become addicted to the pleasurable effects of the other dimension.
As they wrestle with the urge to reactivate the machine, the group’s battle is not just with Pretorius, but with their own better judgment in the face of temptation. The alternate dimension is a place of simultaneous horror and pleasure, like a less-goth Hellraiser or Bunnings on a public holiday.
Gordon, who died in 2020, made his name in experimental theatre, transferring his boundary-pushing, iconoclastic approach to the screen and kickstarting a career-defining association with the work of HP Lovecraft. From Beyond represents the second of his many collaborations with genre chameleon Combs and horror legend Crampton, and follows on from his debut feature, the berserk splatter masterpiece Re-Animator.
Like Re-Animator, Gordon uses Lovecraft’s work as a foundation rather than a revered text, which gives him carte blanche to interpret From Beyond as sublimely weird … and then downright unhinged.
The effects team have a field day with their gloopy, lubed-up creations. Pretorius is an increasingly libidinous, sludgy monstrosity, while the team face attacks from insects, eels and saw-toothed worms that look as though they were dredged up from Frank Herbert’s worst Dune nightmares.
In the astonishing final act, humour and revulsion collide. A doctor finds Crawford seated on a hospital floor eating human brains, before he gets to his feet and sucks out her eyeball. It’s so sick and outlandish you’re as likely to laugh your head off as shake it in disgust. And in that one delightfully obscene moment, From Beyond encapsulates everything that is great about horror movies.
A friend once incorrectly referred to From Beyond as “a terrible movie”, clarifying I “would probably love it”. Clearly, one person’s terrible film is another’s peak cinema.
• From Beyond is streaming on Amazon Prime in Australia. For more recommendations of what to stream in Australia, click here
