Stuart Gordon and the crew from Re-Animator return with another tale from American gothic writer H. P. Lovecraft as the audience is bombarded with another round of mad scientists on the pursuit of forbidden knowledge. Instead of reanimating the dead, Gordon’s protagonists are seeking doorways into alternate realities. Along the way, we are treated to a sardonic commentary upon drug, which permits the cast the opportunity for more over-the-top performances, culminating in an entertaining, if somewhat unrestrained, tale of madness and bedlam.
Doctor Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel, Network, Lenny) invents a machine called the Resonator that can summon creatures from another dimension while simultaneously stimulating the pineal gland, thereby activating a person’s third eye. In the heights of his Ahab-esque madness, Pretorius succumbs to the creatures from the Beyond, driving his assistant, Crawford Tillinglast (Jeffrey Combs, The Frighteners, Beyond Re-Animator, Fortress), insane. Psychiatrist Katharine MacMichaels (Barbara Crampton, Body Double, Puppet Master, Chopping Mall) is sent to assess Tillinglast’s mental state in order to determine whether or not he’s fit to stand trial for his mentor’s death. Finding him to be highly lucid and fascinated by his story, she obtains his release, alongside police escort Buford “Bubba” Brownlee (Ken Foree, Dawn of the Dead, The Devil’s Rejects), in order to witness the Resonator in action. What ensues is extra-dimensional chaos as Pretorius appears in his new form.
For any horror aficionado, this is a dream made manifest as giggles of malicious anticipation can be heard in the background. Once again Stuart Gordon returns with his squad from Re-Animator, with the added help of Ken Foree, to bring another offbeat Lovecraft tale to the screen. What ensues is the director’s trademark combination of the surreal with the daftly sardonic as Gordon shifts from the field of alternative medicine to paranormal, alternate realities while keeping his signature mad scientists in tow.
As with all of Lovecraft, humanity is surrounded by greater, more powerful beings which, luckily, have no interest in their lesser metaphysical companions. However, by creating a temporal rift, Pretorius servers the sanctity of this unwritten agreement as he unleashes the paranormal beasts into our world. Yes, this is a premise of pure terror yet Gordon, as he did with Re-Animator, seizes the opportunity for parody and satire.
For anyone interested in New Age studies, this film is a goldmine of ideas. Pretorius’s Resonator is LSD personified without the blotter paper. By stimulating the pineal gland, one is allowed to see with one’s third eye (obviously, fans of the heavy metal group Tool should already know this film). Yet, the additional visage doesn’t come without a price. Unlike the common premise that the third eye is internal and purely mental, Gordon posits a literal third eye on Tillinglast as it dangles as the end of a phallic tentacle which protrudes from the middle of his forehead. However, the results of such are not revelatory visions which expand one’s consciousness and understanding. Rather, it permits one to glimpse into a parallel universe which the individual would be better off not knowing even exists. As an addendum to his critical commentary on drug use, Gordon’s characters quickly become addicted to “seeing more,” regardless of how gruesome the sights contains herein may be.
The fun of the work is seeing the cast of Re-Animator together again in an over-the-top production which, in its lunacy, tops its predecessor in tone. Aside from the creature chaos amid Combs does what only Combs can as a multi layered insane scientist, Crampton is given the opportunity to, somewhat justify (I’m issuing benefit of the doubt here given the atmosphere) shifting from an anal-retentive shrink to an all-out S & M dominatrix as the mind-altering effects offset by drugs is sardonically coupled with the sexual impulse (cf. Tillinglast’s phallic eye). Equally fun is Gordon, Dennis Paoli, and Brian Yuzna’s screenwriting decision to make tongue-in-cheek nods to Robert Bloch in their creation of a doctor named Roberta Bloch (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Dolls, Fortress) as well as paying homage to James Whale’s masterpiece, Bride of Frankenstein, by naming their mad scientist after one of the master’s own.
Overall, Stuart Gordon’s From Beyond is too happenstance and uncontrolled to hold a flame to Re-Animator. Nonetheless, the work is enjoyable and an interesting take upon psychedelic drugs, what they offer, and how people individually–and society as a whole–react to them. Taken for what it is meant to be, From Beyond is yet another success in Stuart Gordon’s cinematic hat.
Conversation piece: For fans of the Canadian industrial band Skinny Puppy, several samples can be found in this film, most notably the line, “That machine has got to be destroyed.”
-Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
