From Beyond

 2/4

Starring: Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crompton, Ted Sorel, Ken Foree

The version being reviewed is unrated.  For the record, the theatrical cut is rated R (probably for Creature Violence and Gore, and for Aberrant Sexuality)

If someone enlists your help in an experiment to achieve a "new level of sensation" or tap into a different reality, turn around and run.  Don't even bother giving two weeks notice.  It can only end one way, and if the movies are any barometer, you won't want to be anywhere near the experiment when things predictably take a turn for the worse.

Two scientists, Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Combs) and Dr. Edward Pretorious (Sorel), did not get this memo.  They created a machine called "The Resonator" to stimulate the pineal gland and achieve "a new level of sensation."  Tillinghast has gotten it to work, but things go wrong when Pretorious pushes it to the maximum level.  The next thing anyone knows is that Pretorious is without his head and Tillinghast is in a mental hospital and charged with murder.  Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Crompton) is sent to evaluate him.  She believes his story, and to prove his innocence, she asks him to recreate the experiment.  Needless to say, this is a very bad idea.

The problem with "From Beyond" is that it doesn't have much of a plot.  Telling a story and generating tension seems less of a concern to director Stuart Gordon than shocking his audience and daring them to vomit in disgust.  There is a lot of gore in this movie.  And I mean, A LOT.  And it runs the gamut, from grotesqueries like the creature from "The Thing" to the alien space worm in "Star Wars," albeit on a much smaller scale.  And Gordon throws in some S&M and cannibalism for good measure.  Needless to say, this movie isn't for everyone.

I wouldn't single this out for criticism if I felt there was much of a point to it all.  I don't mind gory spectacles like this if it's in the service of a good story.  But the film's narrative isn't well told.  It frequently doesn't make much sense and Gordon never establishes a set of rules of what can and can't happen.  Thus the film is less a movie and more a barrage of gruesome set pieces with each being bloodier than the last.

The cast is adequate, although it's no surprise to me why none of them went to become A-listers.  Jeffrey Combs is okay as the crazed, panicked scientist, but the actor seems like he would be more at home in a soap opera.  Barbara Crompton is better, generating warmth and sympathy.  Ted Sorel is appropriately vile, and not just because he's buried under tons of makeup and fake blood.  And Ken Foree appears in a role that, if the movie were made 10 years later, would have been perfect for Samuel L. Jackson.

So what we are left with is the special effects.  The practical effects are great, if gruesome.  The CGI is shoddy.  Not as bad as "Clash of the Titans," but close.  I will admit that there is some tension and dread, and the creature stuff is cool, but it would have been better if I cared about the story instead of just wondering if I'm going to need a vomit bag.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Desert Flower

2/4 Starring: Liya Kebede, Sally Hawkins, Timothy Spall, Juliet Stevenson Rated R for Some Violent Content, A Scene of Sexuality and Language The problem with "Desert Flower" is not that Waris Dirie's story isn't suited for the cinematic treatment or that the actress playing her isn't acceptable.  The problem is that director Sherry Hormann doesn't do a good job of telling it.  This is a poorly focused film that can't decide what it wants to be about or what it wants to say. As is the case with many a true story, the life of Waris Dirie is too amazing to be made up by a Hollywood screenwriter.  This woman fled an arranged marriage as a child, spent years as a servant to a Somali diplomat in England, survived on the streets, and was discovered by a fashion photographer while working as a janitor.  Then she became a supermodel and UN Ambassador in the fight against female genital mutilation. Waris experienced a lot in her life.  Telling it all in a...
Read more

The Road

3.5/4 Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron Rated R for Some Violence, Disturbing Images and Language "The Road" has to be the most downbeat, depressing and cynical movie I've ever seen.  That's not meant as a criticism, but a fact.  This is a tough movie to get through, but not a chore.  Those who venture in will find their time well spent, albeit not in a necessarily pleasant way.  Then again, if a movie is based off a novel by Cormac McCarthy, "pleasant" isn't a word one would hope to be used to describe it. The film takes place after the world has ended.  How it happened is not explained because it doesn't matter.  But any hope of the Earth recovering from what happened has long since gone.  A man (Mortensen) and his son (Smit-McPhee) are travelling together, trying to "get to the coast."  There are few people left, although considering what many are doing with the goal of survival, that's a good thing...
Read more

My Left Foot

 2/4 Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker, Ray McAnally, Fiona Shaw, Alison Whelan Rated R (probably for Language and Brief Violence) "My Left Foot" feels like one of those movies designed to win Oscars and nothing else.  In fact, it did win two Oscars for the immortal Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda Fricker, but apart from their strong work, there's not much else to remember about this movie.  It's well-acted, but all in all it's pretty dull. Christy Brown (Day-Lewis) is getting recognized for his work in order to raise money for the disabled.  Despite being a talented artist and writer, Christy is not the ideal candidate for the job.  He's an alcoholic jerk who makes no secret of his lust for women nor is he above using his disability to manipulate people into doing what he wants.  Interspersed with his attempts to seduce a woman tasked with looking after him while he awaits his entrance are vignettes from his childhood.  Most notably how his mothe...
Read more