Movies

Get Your Reps In: “The Beyond” Serves Spaghetti Southern Gothic

What to see at Portland’s repertory theaters.

By Chance Solem-Pfeifer
The Beyond (IMDB)

The Beyond (1981)

One of the precious few spaghetti Southern gothics, The Beyond is Italian horror maestro Lucio Fulci at his gory, hypnotic best. Reality and continuity fade in favor of pure, arresting imagery and slasher kills so sensorially considered that blood flows from prosthetic heads like the trickle of perverse zen fountains.

The Beyond is extremely light on plot—a New York woman inherits a Louisiana bayou hotel atop a portal to hell—but soaked in style. Fulci tees up so many eerie rack-focus shots you’d think they were about to be outlawed, and surreal sound design lends the terror of creature attacks and malevolent ooze puddles extra inescapability. What’s more, The Beyond has to be the only movie in history to feature smooth jazz over top of an accused warlock being crucified and melted with molten plaster. Academy, Oct. 24–30.

Also Playing:

5th Avenue: Arrebato (1979), Oct. 24–26. Academy: Ghostbusters (1984), The Haunting (1963) and Phenomena (1985), Oct. 22 and 23. The Beyond (1981), Oct. 24–30. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Oct. 24–31. Cinema 21: The Descent (2005), Oct. 24 and 25. Psycho (1960), Oct. 25. Cinemagic: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) and New Nightmare (1994), Oct. 22. Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Wishmaster (1987), Oct. 23. Beetlejuice (1988), Oct. 22 and 23. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Oct. 24, 26 and 28. Rumpelstiltskin (1995), Oct. 24 and 29. Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988), Oct. 25, 28 and 29. Society (1989), Oct. 25. Halloween (1978), Oct. 25–27. Signs (2003), Oct. 26–28. Clinton: Fangs! (1981), Oct. 22. Frankenhooker (1990), Oct. 24. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Oct. 25 and 28. Blood and Black Lace (1964), Oct. 26. Jennifer’s Body (2009), Oct. 26. Cult Classics: Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992), Oct. 26. Hollywood: The Phantom of the Opera (1925), Oct. 25. RRR (2022), Oct. 26. The House by the Cemetery (1981), Oct. 28. Tomorrow: Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997) and Scream 3 (2000) triple feature, Oct. 25. Hocus Pocus (1993), Oct. 26.

Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Chance Solem-Pfeifer is a film critic and arts journalist. He hosts "The Kick" movie podcast on the Now Playing Network and is a founding member of the Portland Critics Association.

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