The Beyond 1981 ***

Although his early career was distinguished by tense Eurothrillers like Perversion, A Lizard in a Women’s Skin, The Psychic and Don’t Torture The Duckling, Lucio Fulci’s name will be forever associated with his embrace of gore in the late 70’s and early eighties. The derogatory description ‘Ful-shit’ was coined, but many of his attempts to follow up the success of Zombi (1979) can be seen to have values beyond just sensation. After an eerie prologue, The Beyond sees Catriona McColl unwittingly opening the gates of Hell in a South Louisiana setting, and that means the undead in various stages of decomposition, but it’s the dreamlike logic and often beautiful visuals that stay in the mind; there’s a strange poetry at work between the gross-out shocks.