Cult Cuts Volume 32 (Return to the Video Store: The Empire Strikes Back Part Two)
#2/4: From Beyond (1986)
(8/10): Humans are Such Easy Prey...
From Beyond is a Loose Adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's short story of the same name (that is only seven pages long) that is about a scientist, Pretorius, who was conducting experiments with his assistant, Crawford, with a machine called the Resonator that was built to stimulate the Pineal Gland and allow anyone who is in its field to see beyond the normal perceptible range.
The Field allows anyone in the field to see beyond normal human comprehension and they are able to see creatures that are always around them but not visible unless stimulated by the fields of the machine, however it works the other way around as they can also see us under the influence of the machine.
Pretorius is soon devoured by an unknown creature and Crawford is locked up as being a paranoid schizophrenic and is under suspicion of the murder of Pretorius.
There is a doctor that meets with Crawford and after hearing what he has to say and looking at a scan of his brain she believes that he may be telling the truth.
As her superior is unable to explain the crime scene he grants her custody over Crawford under the terms that, with the surveillance of a law official, to recreate the experiment in order to attempt to prove his innocence but they are soon visited by a Familiar Presence in Pretorius who has transcended human physiology and is preying on their every fear and every desire.
The film is again, very loosely based on the short story as it doesn't have much to really adapt to the screen however it leaves room for creative liberties to be taken and for eighties horror to do what it does best, Practical Effects.
This is honestly one of the best films to watch if you want absolutely crazy good practical effects.
Directed by Stuart Gordon, Produced by both Charles Band and Brian Yuzna, with four separate effects teams working on the visuals one of them includes Greg Nicotero and a Cast Comprised of Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Ken Foree so when I say that this film is stacked, it's stacked.
Now let's talk about the effects as they steal the show, although there's some pretty fantastic acting at times.
The effects are some of the best practical effects ever put to screen in my opinion and they still hold up today.
There's various stages of transformation that Pretorius goes through and each is more gooey, gross and distorted than the last.
There are Giant Worms and Jellyfish creatures that swim through the air along with eel creatures.
Pretorius breaks down and morphs and changes with elongated fingers, peeled off face and a head that splits in half down the middle and has little tentacles come out of it.
He completely changes his head into a four sided mouth that tries to eat peoples heads.
It has a very strong sexual theme that is present as the over-stimulation of the Pineal Gland not only opens up the brain and allows it to see things it cannot normally see but it also stimulates the sex drive which begins to take a mental toll on them as they lose touch with themselves.
Now let's talk acting, there's one line that sticks out that takes a lot to deliver convincingly. Jeffrey Combs delivers a line with a completely straight face that would make anyone else laugh if they attempted it, "It, BIT off his head, like a Gingerbread Man..." that's acting folks, to deliver a line like that and be dead serious about it.
All together it's one of the best examples of Practical Effects that very few other films can trump on the "How the hell did they do that?" Scale and the fact that it remains consistently entertaining throughout is just the icing on the cake.
#2/4: From Beyond (1986)
(8/10): Humans are Such Easy Prey...
From Beyond is a Loose Adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's short story of the same name (that is only seven pages long) that is about a scientist, Pretorius, who was conducting experiments with his assistant, Crawford, with a machine called the Resonator that was built to stimulate the Pineal Gland and allow anyone who is in its field to see beyond the normal perceptible range.
The Field allows anyone in the field to see beyond normal human comprehension and they are able to see creatures that are always around them but not visible unless stimulated by the fields of the machine, however it works the other way around as they can also see us under the influence of the machine.
Pretorius is soon devoured by an unknown creature and Crawford is locked up as being a paranoid schizophrenic and is under suspicion of the murder of Pretorius.
There is a doctor that meets with Crawford and after hearing what he has to say and looking at a scan of his brain she believes that he may be telling the truth.
As her superior is unable to explain the crime scene he grants her custody over Crawford under the terms that, with the surveillance of a law official, to recreate the experiment in order to attempt to prove his innocence but they are soon visited by a Familiar Presence in Pretorius who has transcended human physiology and is preying on their every fear and every desire.
The film is again, very loosely based on the short story as it doesn't have much to really adapt to the screen however it leaves room for creative liberties to be taken and for eighties horror to do what it does best, Practical Effects.
This is honestly one of the best films to watch if you want absolutely crazy good practical effects.
Directed by Stuart Gordon, Produced by both Charles Band and Brian Yuzna, with four separate effects teams working on the visuals one of them includes Greg Nicotero and a Cast Comprised of Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Ken Foree so when I say that this film is stacked, it's stacked.
Now let's talk about the effects as they steal the show, although there's some pretty fantastic acting at times.
The effects are some of the best practical effects ever put to screen in my opinion and they still hold up today.
There's various stages of transformation that Pretorius goes through and each is more gooey, gross and distorted than the last.
There are Giant Worms and Jellyfish creatures that swim through the air along with eel creatures.
Pretorius breaks down and morphs and changes with elongated fingers, peeled off face and a head that splits in half down the middle and has little tentacles come out of it.
He completely changes his head into a four sided mouth that tries to eat peoples heads.
It has a very strong sexual theme that is present as the over-stimulation of the Pineal Gland not only opens up the brain and allows it to see things it cannot normally see but it also stimulates the sex drive which begins to take a mental toll on them as they lose touch with themselves.
Now let's talk acting, there's one line that sticks out that takes a lot to deliver convincingly. Jeffrey Combs delivers a line with a completely straight face that would make anyone else laugh if they attempted it, "It, BIT off his head, like a Gingerbread Man..." that's acting folks, to deliver a line like that and be dead serious about it.
All together it's one of the best examples of Practical Effects that very few other films can trump on the "How the hell did they do that?" Scale and the fact that it remains consistently entertaining throughout is just the icing on the cake.