***What could be cooler than his and hers blogs? Okay, well ..... a lot of things. But, this is what you get here. Filthy Regan did a blog about her experiences, both past and present, with this film. Since we both were cool sick kids we grew up on much of the same stuff. So, here is my take on the classic film Beyond the Door. A blog that was posted on the original Deadbydawn horror page 6/28/2010***
If you're gonna totally rip off someone it might as well be the devil, right? The devil rocks!
In 1973 the film The Exorcist was released upon an unsuspecting public and became a phenomenon. People fainted. Raced from the theater in disgust. Oh, and the pea soup vomity goodness was not just being spewed on the screen either. Ushers probably needed squeegies to sop up all the sloppy appreciation spew.
With audiences lining up down the block and being terrified senseless after shelling out their dough, it was inevitable that there would be several rip-offs.
One of the more infamous of these rip-offs was the 1974 Italian shocker Beyond the Door.
I remember seeing this movie in a theater at a very young age and I do have somewhat fond memories of being entertained. Did, rather. As a young horror fan my expectations ran low for the most part. As a result there are several films that I remember seeing and thinking highly of, only to rediscover them many years later and wonder what the hell I was thinking. Beyond the Door is such a movie.
Upon release the film was a modest hit and has garnered a nice . . . . Or, uhh. . . not so nice. . . reputation for itself over time. In 2008 it would find its way to DVD, restored and for the first time released in its un-cut form.
The version that is released here is actually titled The Devil Within Her in its opening credits, while the title Beyond the Door comes up during the credits at the films closing. The Devil Within Her has about 15 minutes of additional footage added. Since it’s been over 20 years since I have seen Beyond the Door I don't exactly remember the differences. Didn't really care much to bother researching it either. The results of a current viewing are not exactly in tune with my childish expectations.
The movie does seem a little drawn out at times. That is the least of its issues. Beyond the Door, under whatever title, is a lot like watching an acid trip. It’s interesting to look at. But doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Still, the movie is somewhat entertaining and often times, unintentionally, hellishly hilarious!
The basic premise follows two people, Jessica-
and Dimitri-
Jessica is a young woman who has a record producer husband that spends too much time in the studio and two children that despite not being possessed by the devil exhibit most bizarre behavior.
The boy spends a greater portion of the film slurping a pea soup can through a straw in what I assume to be a tribute to the regurgitated liquid of choice in its American counterpart. Filthy Regan might have found such a tribute cute way back when. Now, it just comes across as silly as the rest of the movie.
The little girl carries around a stack of copies of the novel Love Story, which she is seen reading for most of her screen time. That is when she is not spouting off dialogue that sounds like it was dubbed by some teenage hippie girl. The little girl looks to be about ten years old, by the way.
The other main character in the film is Dimitri, who is Jessica’s ex-boyfriend. He is killed in a car accident at the beginning of the film and as his car goes over his cliff he converses with the devil, who informs him that if he can allow the fetus inside of Jessica to be born he will be allowed to live for another ten years. If this all sounds rather odd the best is yet to come as things get truly more and more bizarre from there.
As movies involving demonic possession go, Jessica begins to do strange things like levitate. Since the little boy is seen eating pea soup one can only speculate that it would be improper to use pea soup twice and let Jessica spew it from her mouth.
She gurgles and upchucks what looks like creamy spinach while spouting off dialogue like "come on you filthy pig, lick the vile whores vomit!" This would be the gender bending alternative variation of "your mother sucks cocks in Hell" I would suppose.
There is even a wondrously entertaining but confusing scene where she falls down on the ground and gobbles up a dirty banana peel laying on the street. Oh, and of course she does that head turning thing too. It does look rather silly here though.
Beyond the Door plays out like a mash-up of The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby. You have all the great fun of possession and its fun filled antics. But the baby is growing at an alarming rate and causing Jessica to vomit blood and act like a crazed hell bitch. Being possessed makes that last part literal.
As previously mentioned the film is a little drawn out. Who is going to tell the devil that he should be circumsised though, right? It's never boring though as it is quite entertaining throughout. Most of the entertainment probably falls under that whole laughing at it and not with it thing. Still, the movie is funny as hell and hell is where the homey feeling is . . . . . or something.
One scene that had me almost rolling out of my chair and hugging the floor was where Jessica’s husband is walking down the street and finds himself accosted by a demented street corner band of vagabonds lead by a crazed man who plays the nose flute. The scene goes on forever and after a while you kind of find yourself laughing so hard that you are begging it to end.
The movie climaxes with Dimitri trying to ensure the birth of the baby, which happens to be the Anti-Christ’s kid. Not a whole lot is explained at the end and the final frame left me scratching my head. Still, I found the film to be quite funny at times and bizarre. As Exorcist rip-offs go this one is mediocre. In the case of such rip-offs mediocre is worthwhile. Its certainly better than House of Exorcism, though not nearly as extreme or entertaining as The Antichrist.
Hell hath no fury like a levitating hell bitch who spews creamed spinach. Though nowhere close to as good as I remember it being in the theater all those years ago, this one is still a yummy good time. Yummy despite all the creamed spinach. All possessed film fans know that pea soup rules. Just ask Filthy Regan.... or that stupid looking boy from this soup pot boiler.
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