Beyond The Door (1974)

Riotous Exorcist rip-off with mild-mannered Juliet Mills being transformed into a foul-mouthed, pea soup spewing, levitating demon from hell who speaks in a ghastly baritone voice which the filmmakers promise roars out at you in thunderous “Vibrasound”!!  A gimmicky, exploitative, cheap and downright crap attempt at cashing in on the Exorcist craze.  A weak parody of itself.  Dubious, but of distinct curiosity value and perhaps worth a good cackle if in the right state of mind!

I just watched this movie again as punishment to atone for my various sins, and WHAT a huge stinker it is; genuinely mindboggling.  Watch formerly pristine English Nanny Juliet Mills (of “Nanny and the Professor”) turn into a pea soup spewing, head-spinning monster from hell.  “Lick the vile whore’s vomit!” offers our beloved Nanny, looking a touch unwashed and under the weather!!  Then there is “that” demonic voice-over going on and on about Dimitri, which happened to be the name of father Karras’s character in The Exorcist!

The hilarious opening of the movie explains to you in a suitably sombre voice-over just how scared you ought to be by what you are about to witness.  Later, the levitation scene is something that even the Ramsays of India would have hesitated to use in one of their grand opuses, and it is downright risible!

Several names have also known the movie in a blatant attempt to convince people to watch it.  Other than Beyond the Door, the film has been known as the rather strange title Chi Sei and also The Devil Within Her.  It has also been called Beyond Obsession and Who?  Not only that, it is listed as being directed by at least three different people, which sounds like a case of someone trying very hard to pass the buck.  However, more mystifyingly, Beyond the Door spawned at least two sequels!  What is it with the Italian taste in horror!!!?

The film is just SO inept in every way imaginable, unbelievable, and thus a rare treasure.  We value our bad movies here at The Hot Spot, and they certainly don’t come much worse than this monstrosity!

Props though to Assonitis AKA Hellman, AKA Barrett for doing his very best to somehow dupe punters into buying into his insanely derivitive masterpiece.  He changed his own name several times as well as the name of the movie, trying over and over to sell the film to unsuspecting viewers.  In London the film was advertised with as much sensation as he could muster.  Posters warned against expectant mothers from viewing it as well as those of a nervous disposition recalling the best of William Castle’s tactics to lure ticket buyers any which way he could. 

At the Dominion cinema the film was exhibited in “VIbrasound” which promised viewers an immersive experience in horror like never known before.  Again, William Castle would have been proud.  
The film has endured though on home video, DVD, Blu-Ray and beyond eventually thriving on its reputation as sublimely ridiculous rubbish of the finest caliber.  Anyone who values dreadful cinema absolutely must have this film among prized possessions.  

The poster created for the UK Release titled “Devil Within Her” is an inspired piece of craftsmanship.  The poster is lurid and deliciously coloured and very cleverly designed so that the viewer can make out the traditional image of Satan as well as the image of a demonically possessed woman emerging from the Devil’s mouth!  This poster is unquestionably the most artistic element of an otherwise insanely dreadful piece of cinema.  The poster art should be acknowledged as one of the great horror movie designs and deserves a place in any publication of horror and exploitation cinema artwork.  A perfect example of an inspired poster design for a very uninispired product.  Again, typical of a rotten horror movie!Riotous The Exorcist rip-off madness ensues as the normally mild-mannered Juliet Mills is transformed into a foul-mouthed, pea-soup-spewing, levitating demon from Hell, barking obscenities in a grotesque baritone voice that the filmmakers proudly promised would roar from cinema speakers in thunderous “Vibrasound”!

Beyond the Door is gimmicky, exploitative, shamelessly derivative, cheap, and thoroughly dreadful — yet somehow possesses an undeniable fascination all its own. It is less an outright horror film than a weak parody of The Exorcist accidentally played completely straight.

Dubious cinema, certainly, but also one of those gloriously bizarre curiosities that can become strangely entertaining if approached in precisely the right frame of mind.

Having now revisited the film once again — perhaps as punishment for various sins committed throughout life — I can safely confirm that it remains an absolutely colossal stinker. The sheer ineptitude on display is genuinely mind-boggling.

Watching the formerly pristine English nanny from Nanny and the Professor slowly devolve into a filthy, head-spinning demon from the underworld is an experience that really must be seen to be believed.

“Lick the vile whore’s vomit!” snarls our beloved Juliet Mills at one point, looking decidedly unwashed and somewhat worse for wear.

Then there is that infamous demonic voice-over droning endlessly about “Dimitri” — suspiciously close to Father Karras from The Exorcist, just in case audiences somehow failed to notice the connection.

The film’s opening narration solemnly informs viewers just how terrified they ought to be by what they are about to witness, which only makes the absurdity even funnier. Later, the levitation sequence is so spectacularly poor that even the Ramsay Brothers might have hesitated before including it in one of their own delirious horror extravaganzas.

It is absolutely risible.

Naturally, the producers tried every trick imaginable to market the film under multiple different titles in the hope that unsuspecting audiences might accidentally pay to see it more than once. Besides Beyond the Door, the film has also appeared as Chi Sei?, The Devil Within Her, Beyond Obsession, and even simply Who?

Even more suspiciously, the film appears to have multiple credited directors depending on where one looks — which strongly suggests several individuals were desperately attempting to avoid responsibility for the finished product.

Most astonishing of all, however, is the fact that this thing somehow managed to spawn sequels.

What exactly was going on with Italian horror cinema in the 1970s?

And yet, despite being catastrophically bad in virtually every conceivable way, the film somehow circles back around into becoming oddly valuable as a supreme example of cinematic rubbish.

At The Hot Spot, we hold a certain affection for genuinely terrible movies, and they really do not come much more magnificently dreadful than this monstrosity.

Credit must go, however, to producer/director Ovidio G. Assonitis — also known variously as Oliver Hellman and Robert Barrett — who spent much of his career enthusiastically reinventing both himself and his films in increasingly shameless attempts to lure audiences into cinemas.

In London, the film was marketed with enormous sensationalism. Posters warned pregnant women and nervous viewers to stay away, lovingly echoing the glorious exploitation tactics once perfected by William Castle decades earlier.

At the Dominion Cinema, the movie was presented in “Vibrasound,” which promised audiences a uniquely immersive horror experience unlike anything previously encountered.

Castle himself would undoubtedly have approved.

Remarkably, the film has endured through the VHS era, DVD, Blu-ray, and beyond, eventually thriving not because it was frightening or good, but because it achieved cult immortality as sublimely ridiculous trash of the highest order.

For connoisseurs of dreadful cinema, Beyond the Door is almost essential viewing.

Any serious collector of bad movies really ought to own it.

Ironically, the single greatest artistic achievement associated with the film may actually be its magnificent British poster artwork for The Devil Within Her. The poster is wonderfully lurid, drenched in delicious colour, and brilliantly designed so that viewers can simultaneously make out both the traditional face of Satan and the image of a demonically possessed woman emerging from the Devil’s mouth.

It is genuinely inspired artwork.

Indeed, the poster deserves recognition as one of the great designs in horror and exploitation cinema advertising — a perfect example of an inspired marketing campaign attached to an utterly uninspired film.

Which, in many ways, feels entirely appropriate for a movie like Beyond the Door.