From Beyond

I just finished watching the 1986 production of From Beyond -- based on an H.P. Lovecraft story [PDF]. The movie was surprisingly not bad for being an 80s horror flick. I expected a good deal of cheese to be smeared all over the production, and while there was some -- which had me wincing at times -- it was quite watchable. The effects were typical of the 80s horror movies. Monsters were rubbery and weren't cream-of-the-crop animatronics; the computers came out of the early 80s mainframe environment; there was an overuse and misuse of electricity to magically make things happen; and the gore -- well, the gore won't scare the pants off you, but there is a good deal of slim, dripping everywhere and a bit of fake blood. To top it all off, there was the obligatory throbbing skull, due to the pleasure centre of the brain being overly simulated by a machine a crazy scientist invented. And when the throbbing gets too much for the head to hold, protuberances emerge. What else can you ask for?

A story, that's what you can ask for. The entire movie seems to revolve around sex. There's the mad scientist, a Dr. Edward Pretorius, who seeks pleasure, but is apparently impotent, and can only get it up if there is some S&M involved. A Dr. Crawford Tillinghast, who just doesn't get out often enough, and lives in the shadow of Dr. Pretorius. A Dr. Katherine McMichaels, an obsessive, who will later serve as the sacrificial lamb for Dr. Pretorius' desires, much to Dr. Tillinghast's horror, as the poor boy falls in love. She will also have to dress up in a titillating leather outfit for no other reason than, because. A Dr. Bloch, who's so nasty, that you know someone just has to suck her brain out of her head through her eye socket. Add a police officer named Leroy 'Bubba' Brown, who's there only to be killed; some fish-like monsters that swim in the air and have some nasty dental work; and the monster from beyond that will take over Dr. Pretorius to prey on humans, and you have the makings of late night horror movie.

The story: Dr. Pretorius and Dr. Tillinghast are messing about with a machine called the "Resonator." The machine is supposed to simulate the pineal gland in the brain, and hopefully find the sixth sense. Things go horribly wrong when the machine actually works, and the sixth sense allows Pretorius and Tillinghast to see creatures from the beyond -- that's some other dimension for the layperson. The problem is, the Resonator also allows the creatures from the beyond to see Pretorius and Tillinghast. Bad news. The first thing the big nasty does is bite the head off Pretorius, and Tillinghast runs out of the house screaming. Tillinghast is arrested, and a shrink, Dr. McMichaels, is asked to attest to Tillinghast's sanity to stand trial for the death of his boss. McMichaels is unconventional -- much to the jealousy of Dr. Bloch, who had Tillinghast in her custody. Tillinghast is released to McMichaels, who convinces Tillinghast to recreate his experiment. He does -- and who pops out from the beyond? Pretorius. Only now, Pretorius is from the beyond. He's taken over, and like all monsters, they just want the girl. McMichaels has never seen horror movies, or she would know this. The monsters always want the girl. Tillinghast, being all in love now, will have to do battle with the evil Dr. Pretorius from the beyond, to win McMichaels' favours. As usual, horror ensues -- for our entertainment of course.