BEYOND THE DOOR (1974)
Cast: Juliet Mills, Richard Johnson, Gabriele Lavia.
Directors: Ovidio Assonitis (as Oliver Hellman) and Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli (as R. Barrett).
Pregnant with a diabolical entity, a San Francisco house-wife (Mills) becomes possessed and displays all manner of "strange behavior", much to the consternation of her dense husband (Lavia) and obnoxious children. When abortion is discussed as a practical solution, the wicked mother's satanic ex-lover (Johnson) returns from beyond the door of death to demand that "The child must be born!"
The artistic merit of writer William Peter Blatty and director William Friedkin's horrific yet serious religious drama THE EXORCIST (1973) was somewhat overshadowed at the time of initial release by the hysterical media circus surrounding the film's worldwide blockbuster success. The mass audience focused not on the film's excellence, depth and meaning but on its surface spectacle of shocking profanity, debased manners and graphic grotesquerie. Once a guilty secret of the Catholic Church, demonic possession was suddenly all the rage and "Linda Blair" became a household name.
The merely sensational aspects of the EXORCIST phenomenon were mindlessly reproduced by the slew of cheap imitations (ABBY, THE TEMPTER, HOUSE OF EXORCISM, etc.) which pandered to an audience newly voracious for vulgarity-and-vomit thrills. BEYOND THE DOOR, the first and most notorious of the cash-ins, blatantly simulated every lurid sub-EXORCIST trademark (blasphemy, levitation, revolving heads, evil spirit voices, foul-mouthed brats, green bile, pea soup) without evoking the original's high quality. So exact was the replication, right down to the sound effects, set design and distinctively eerie style of lighting, that Warner Bros. suedostensibly for copyright infringement, but more likely to restrict competition with their 1975 reissue of THE EXORCIST. A settlement was reached, but the extra publicity only increased the rival production's enormous international success, as BEYOND THE DOOR unexpectedly raked in millions and was officially established as one of the all-time horror rental champs.
It took no less than seven writers to concoct this unsavory witch's brew from bits of Blatty with elements of ROSEMARY'S BABY mixed in for the hell of it. The uneven script is incoherent and often ludicrous with moments of surprising intelligence ("Evil cannot create; it can only repeat "). An appalling mess by mainstream standards, the medium-budget Italian production sports slick, arty photography and reasonably impressive special effects. Co-producer/co-writer Assonitis and cinematographer/co-writer Piazzoli direct awkwardly but manage some potent scenes and striking visual stylistics (flames, mirror reflections and touches of devilish red). The interiors were filmed in Rome, with extensive location shooting in California.
The production's most intriguing attribute is the presence of talented British stage and television actress Juliet Mills, the daughter of actor John Mills (Oscar-winner for David Lean's RYAN'S DAUGHTER) and elder sister of Walt Disney legend Hayley Mills (POLLYANNA, THE PARENT TRAP). Although the great Billy Wilder cast her, opposite Jack Lemmon, in the leading role of his first-rate sophisticated comedy AVANTI! (1972), Juliet was most familiar to American audiences as the star of the warmly-remembered TV series NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR (1970-71), a sitcom MARY POPPINS about a magical governess. She also lent her voice to the film version of JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL (1973).
Whatever "possessed" lovely Juliet Mills, at this point in her career, to accept the starring role in a tacky Italian horror-exploitation movie remains a mystery, even if she needed the money and enjoyed the travel perks. (In the film, Mills' character satirizes her sweet image with a pointed line about "spoonfuls of sugar".) In any event, the disgusting scatological acrobatics "Nanny" shamelessly exhibits with such evident relish provide BEYOND THE DOOR with a special and scandalous shock value. A committed professional, Mills took all the cussing and puke-licking in stride. She won an Emmy award the following year for the television drama QB VII, and in addition to her theatrical work had a decade-long run on the supernatural TV serial PASSIONS.
Also lending the film a needed touch of class is co-star Johnson, a long way from his memorable leading role in Robert Wise's ghostly classic THE HAUNTING (1963). The otherwise respectable British stage and film actor (THE PUMPKIN EATER, JULIUS CAESAR) was mired for years in sleazy Italian flicks, notably Lucio Fulci's infamous ZOMBIE (1979). Then-unknown Italian actor Lavia, known to horror fans for his roles in Dario Argento's DEEP RED (1975) and INFERNO (1980), went on to a thriving career in the European theatre. (Lavia was dubbed in the English-language version while Mills and Johnson looped their own voices.)
Shown in Italy as CHI SEI? (WHO ARE YOU?), the film was inexplicably re-titled BEYOND THE DOOR for its U.S. theatrical release. The United Kingdom title, restored on-screen for the 35th Anniversary DVD edition, was THE DEVIL WITHIN HERalso the U.S. title of yet another demon-baby clone, Peter Sasdy's British I DON'T WANT TO BE BORN (1976) starring Joan Collins.
The commercial success of BEYOND THE DOOR led to two in-name-only "sequels". Mario and Lamberto Bava's superior but unrelated SHOCK (1977) was first shown in the United States as BEYOND THE DOOR II, while Assonitis' THE TRAIN (1991) was deceptively re-titled BEYOND THE DOOR III for its U.S. direct-to-video release. Assonitis tried to repeat the commercial fluke with crude copies of JAWS (TENTACLES [1977]) and THE OMEN (THE VISITOR [1979]), to no avail. He later produced David Keith's H. P. Lovecraft adaptation THE CURSE (1987).
A Eurotrash cult classic by virtue of its popularity, BEYOND THE DOOR scores points for sheer audacity, for delivering the promised gross-out goodsand for the astounding performance of Juliet Mills.
Rating: MEDIOCRE. (As a Grade-B modern horror movie.)
Cast: Juliet Mills, Richard Johnson, Gabriele Lavia.
Directors: Ovidio Assonitis (as Oliver Hellman) and Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli (as R. Barrett).
Pregnant with a diabolical entity, a San Francisco house-wife (Mills) becomes possessed and displays all manner of "strange behavior", much to the consternation of her dense husband (Lavia) and obnoxious children. When abortion is discussed as a practical solution, the wicked mother's satanic ex-lover (Johnson) returns from beyond the door of death to demand that "The child must be born!"
The artistic merit of writer William Peter Blatty and director William Friedkin's horrific yet serious religious drama THE EXORCIST (1973) was somewhat overshadowed at the time of initial release by the hysterical media circus surrounding the film's worldwide blockbuster success. The mass audience focused not on the film's excellence, depth and meaning but on its surface spectacle of shocking profanity, debased manners and graphic grotesquerie. Once a guilty secret of the Catholic Church, demonic possession was suddenly all the rage and "Linda Blair" became a household name.
The merely sensational aspects of the EXORCIST phenomenon were mindlessly reproduced by the slew of cheap imitations (ABBY, THE TEMPTER, HOUSE OF EXORCISM, etc.) which pandered to an audience newly voracious for vulgarity-and-vomit thrills. BEYOND THE DOOR, the first and most notorious of the cash-ins, blatantly simulated every lurid sub-EXORCIST trademark (blasphemy, levitation, revolving heads, evil spirit voices, foul-mouthed brats, green bile, pea soup) without evoking the original's high quality. So exact was the replication, right down to the sound effects, set design and distinctively eerie style of lighting, that Warner Bros. suedostensibly for copyright infringement, but more likely to restrict competition with their 1975 reissue of THE EXORCIST. A settlement was reached, but the extra publicity only increased the rival production's enormous international success, as BEYOND THE DOOR unexpectedly raked in millions and was officially established as one of the all-time horror rental champs.
It took no less than seven writers to concoct this unsavory witch's brew from bits of Blatty with elements of ROSEMARY'S BABY mixed in for the hell of it. The uneven script is incoherent and often ludicrous with moments of surprising intelligence ("Evil cannot create; it can only repeat "). An appalling mess by mainstream standards, the medium-budget Italian production sports slick, arty photography and reasonably impressive special effects. Co-producer/co-writer Assonitis and cinematographer/co-writer Piazzoli direct awkwardly but manage some potent scenes and striking visual stylistics (flames, mirror reflections and touches of devilish red). The interiors were filmed in Rome, with extensive location shooting in California.
The production's most intriguing attribute is the presence of talented British stage and television actress Juliet Mills, the daughter of actor John Mills (Oscar-winner for David Lean's RYAN'S DAUGHTER) and elder sister of Walt Disney legend Hayley Mills (POLLYANNA, THE PARENT TRAP). Although the great Billy Wilder cast her, opposite Jack Lemmon, in the leading role of his first-rate sophisticated comedy AVANTI! (1972), Juliet was most familiar to American audiences as the star of the warmly-remembered TV series NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR (1970-71), a sitcom MARY POPPINS about a magical governess. She also lent her voice to the film version of JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL (1973).
Whatever "possessed" lovely Juliet Mills, at this point in her career, to accept the starring role in a tacky Italian horror-exploitation movie remains a mystery, even if she needed the money and enjoyed the travel perks. (In the film, Mills' character satirizes her sweet image with a pointed line about "spoonfuls of sugar".) In any event, the disgusting scatological acrobatics "Nanny" shamelessly exhibits with such evident relish provide BEYOND THE DOOR with a special and scandalous shock value. A committed professional, Mills took all the cussing and puke-licking in stride. She won an Emmy award the following year for the television drama QB VII, and in addition to her theatrical work had a decade-long run on the supernatural TV serial PASSIONS.
Also lending the film a needed touch of class is co-star Johnson, a long way from his memorable leading role in Robert Wise's ghostly classic THE HAUNTING (1963). The otherwise respectable British stage and film actor (THE PUMPKIN EATER, JULIUS CAESAR) was mired for years in sleazy Italian flicks, notably Lucio Fulci's infamous ZOMBIE (1979). Then-unknown Italian actor Lavia, known to horror fans for his roles in Dario Argento's DEEP RED (1975) and INFERNO (1980), went on to a thriving career in the European theatre. (Lavia was dubbed in the English-language version while Mills and Johnson looped their own voices.)
Shown in Italy as CHI SEI? (WHO ARE YOU?), the film was inexplicably re-titled BEYOND THE DOOR for its U.S. theatrical release. The United Kingdom title, restored on-screen for the 35th Anniversary DVD edition, was THE DEVIL WITHIN HERalso the U.S. title of yet another demon-baby clone, Peter Sasdy's British I DON'T WANT TO BE BORN (1976) starring Joan Collins.
The commercial success of BEYOND THE DOOR led to two in-name-only "sequels". Mario and Lamberto Bava's superior but unrelated SHOCK (1977) was first shown in the United States as BEYOND THE DOOR II, while Assonitis' THE TRAIN (1991) was deceptively re-titled BEYOND THE DOOR III for its U.S. direct-to-video release. Assonitis tried to repeat the commercial fluke with crude copies of JAWS (TENTACLES [1977]) and THE OMEN (THE VISITOR [1979]), to no avail. He later produced David Keith's H. P. Lovecraft adaptation THE CURSE (1987).
A Eurotrash cult classic by virtue of its popularity, BEYOND THE DOOR scores points for sheer audacity, for delivering the promised gross-out goodsand for the astounding performance of Juliet Mills.
Rating: MEDIOCRE. (As a Grade-B modern horror movie.)