Fresh off the success of “Re-Animator,” director Stuart Gordon reunited some of the cast from that film for another low-budget H.P. Lovecraft movie. Based very loosely on Lovecraft's story, “From Beyond” is a tale of scientific obsession gone wrong.
When physicist Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel) dies horribly in his laboratory, the police blame his assistant, Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs), whose stories of monsters from another dimension suggest criminal insanity. Psychiatrist Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) is intrigued by his story of a resonator that activates the pineal gland, and when his CT scan shows enlargement of that gland, she insists on seeing the resonator for herself. The visions it gives her lead to an obsession that puts their lives and sanity at risk.
Gordon shot “From Beyond” in Italy to save money, on a reported budget of $2.5 million, which was cheap even for 1986. The film feels like a cheap, B-movie, but it succeeds on the strength of its excellent cast. Sorel, Combs, and the gorgeous Barbara Crampton bring a level of commitment that makes “From Beyond” a delight, with some comic relief from supporting actor Ken Foree.
You have to appreciate “From Beyond” as a study in excess. This is not a movie that leaves anything to the imagination. The special effects look like someone took the goriest scenes from John Carpenter's “The Thing” and stretched them out for several minutes. I honestly got tired of these extended body-horror segments. Stuart Gordon is definitely not one of the “less-is-more” directors. When it comes to gory, slimy, screaming special effects, his attitude is “more-is-more.” Don't watch this is if you don't like slime and gore. Don't watch if you only like to watch “good” movies. Don't watch if you don't want to see Barbara Crampton's titties (but only briefly, which is my one real criticism of the film). If you are a Lovecraft-loving, cult-classic grooving horror fan, this is a must-see.
2 stars out of 5 on the regular scale, 4 stars on the cult-classic scale