I want to know more about H.P Lovecraft influence on modern sci-fi horror and as a newbie to the whole Lovecraftian kind of movie I find From Beyond from 1986 directed by Stuart Gordon a director well known for such Lovecraft adaptations under his belt like:"Re-Animator","Dagon" and a short movie from the Masters of Horror anthology series "Dreams in the Witch-House" in my humble opinion a good Lovecraftian movie when it got something that so bizarre and extraordinary from a diferrrent dimension that make the human characters losing their mind cause their brain can't comprehend with the new reality plus the awesome 80s practical effects lacking in today horror movie

In 1986, some of the gang behind Re-Animator (1985) reassembled to adapt another of H.P. Lovecraft's stories, From Beyond. While not on the same level of exquisite trashiness as Re-Animator, From Beyond has developed a similarly loyal cult fanbase, especially since previously cut scenes of gore and debauchery have been reinserted seamlessly back into the film. Director Stuart Gordon was back to helm the film, and does a very good job of once again extending Lovecraft's slender text into a feature length picture. Stars Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton will also be familiar, as will the presence of Brian Yuzna as producer.Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Soreal) and his assistant Crawford Tillinghast (Combs) have created the 'Resonator': A machine with the ability to significantly extend the pineal gland of anyone within range. The down side is that it also allows you to see into other dimensions inhabited by strange and deadly worm and jellyfish creatures. When turning it on for the first time, Pretorius gets his head bitten off and Tillinghast gets himself locked away in an asylum. Enter the sexy and shrewd psychiatrist Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Crampton), who is intrigued by Tillinghast's wild claims and persuades the head nurse to release him into her care. Returning to the Resonator, backed by detective Bubba Brownlee (Ken Foree), the three reactivate the device and are confronted by a mangled, sinister Dr. Pretorius.In uniting a group of horror icons, both in front of and behind the camera, this is a film that demands to be seen by any fan of the genre. It's also deliriously entertaining. I find that even some of my favourite trash movies send my attention wandering occasionally, but From Beyond had my full immersion for the duration. Both repulsive and hilarious in equal measure, it's a hoot from the off. The physical effects, all disgusting goo and blood, are wonderful, and even when some of monster effects prove laughably bad, it is fitting to the film's preposterous tone. The script is also witty and clever, and some of the best scenes are when the central trio simply bicker amongst themselves. The science is utter gibberish of course, but the film makes the wise choice of going with the momentum of its own nonsense. If that hasn't convinced you, then there's also a scene of a woman dressed in bondage gear fighting a giant worm.

As someone who has never read a single HP Lovecraft tale, or even knows much about the context of which his stories are derived from, it's always exciting to watch an adaptation of one of his works. Having seen Stuart Gordon's previous HP Lovecraft adaptation Re- Animator, I went into this film with a sense of direction, but one that can easily be pushed off course by the unknown notoriety of the beloved horror author. What I received from From Beyond was a mixed bag of two many horror genres overlapping each other, creating an enjoyable yet disjointed pyramid of horror complexities.From Beyond, which should be stated is "loosely" based on an HP Lovecraft short story, begins with scientist Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs), who has been working on a Tesla like machine called The Resonator, which allows one to see beyond the accessible reality, due to a stimulation of the pineal gland. It's all very scientific, but the pineal gland delivers melatonin, which affects light/dark, wake and sleep (which when tampered with in the case of The Resonator, enlarges it producing headaches, and a drug like addiction to be near The Resonator's pulse). In order not to be declared insane and locked away for the supposed murder of his mentor Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel), Tillinghast, Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton), and Detective Bubba Brownlee (Ken Foree) must reactivate The Resonator in order to prove his sanity.Like other horror films dealing with alternate dimensions, otherworldly realities, or just plain outer space, what lies beyond the conventional eye tends to always be depraved, leaning towards the phallic, or the torturous leather bound. With Clive Barker's Hellraiser, we were introduced to the demonic S&M world of Pinhead and his cenobites, who fed off the fears and sexually deviant behavior of their victims. In Ridley Scott's Alien, the confines of space were crafted in HR Geiger's sexually twisted eye, with the alien penetrating the victims mouth in order to impregnate those aboard the unsuspecting ship. Now in Stuart Gordon's From Beyond, we are thrust (no pun intended) into the sexually depraved world of a mad scientist, one that inevitably reaches into the alternate dimension, giving us phallic, mutated body parts and leather clad sexual cravings.From Beyond is a science fiction horror film that knows where it wants to go, but has an incredibly difficult time jumping over the other films that have done what it has before. Watching the mutation of Dr. Edward Pretorius just isn't as enjoyable when it feels like a poor imitation of John Carpenter's The Thing, writhing out of the body of its victim. Don't get me wrong, the special effects of Mark Shostrom and the special make-up effects by the uncredited artist Bill Forsche is very well crafted, they just all feel like cheapened retreads. Also being set primarily in the attic of a creepy estate, and dealing with sexual depravity, From Beyond can't seem to hurdle over Hellraiser, another film which took place mostly in an attic, dealt with sexual depravity and dealt with leather clad deviants.Showcasing over the top acting by the great horror icon Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator) and a once again pitch perfect portrayal of a tough as nails cop by Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead), we are left wanting to fall away with the story HP Lovecraft left us and the horror that Stuart Gordon has produced. However, the fall is only riddled with the debris of what was once exciting and fantastic, depraved and twisted. From Beyond is an exciting premise stuffed inside a haunted house, wrapped around the pleasures of pain and torture; the pain and torture that unfortunately befalls the viewers as we are left with cold leftovers.

I first saw "Re-Animator" (1985) in what seems like almost an eternity ago. "Re-Animator" was gory, sexy, funny "B"-movie greatness featuring a great cast of characters, direction, and special effects.The next film after it, which I just finished viewing for the first time, was "From Beyond," released in 1986. Directed by Stuart Gordon (that's "Gore"-don to you, horror fiends, and everyone else out there) and adapted by himself, producer Brian Yuzna and Dennis Paoli (the film's chief screen-writing scribe) from the short story by H.P. Lovecraft, "From Beyond" is gory, slimy greatness out of the Mind's Eye! It is well-known in the horror community that Stuart Gordon is an avid consumer of all things related to H.P. Lovecraft - hence why we got this film and "Re-Animator," Gordon's two most famous horror pictures (Gordon would subsequently direct two other pictures that were also adaptations of works by Lovecraft).I honestly thought I'd learned my lesson after watching "Re-Animator," and that is to never eat anything whilst watching a Stuart Gordon film. Again, I was wrong to do so. Once the special effects and gore started for "From Beyond," I immediately lost my appetite and had to will myself to finish my meal. And after I finished what I could, I immediately got some deliciously refreshing lemon cake from the refrigerator. Go figure.Either way you cut it, "From Beyond," like "Re-Animator" before it, is not an easy movie to stomach (especially if you're eating anything). But once you find that you can, you find an interesting special effects gore film with plenty of gore, special effects, and humor. While "Re-Animator" could crack you up at almost every turn, "From Beyond" plays it a little bit more straight-faced (though there are still some morbid laughs to be found here & there). And you could also find an interesting treatise on deviant human behavior (a little bit more on this later).In the film, the brilliant Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel) has developed a revolutionary new device called the Resonator, which sends out a resonance wave in order to stimulate the pineal gland in the brain, allowing those within the affected wave range to perceive higher planes of existence outside our standard perceived reality (the so-called "sixth sense"). This also allows the user(s) to be able to see alien creatures that are otherwise invisible to the naked eye without the use of the Resonator, and, in turn, they can also see us, as well. The creatures, we're told, are always around us and we're always around them; we just can't see, or even interact with, each other, without the Resonator activated into stimulating our pineal glands. And the more malevolent entities of this alternate dimension are attracted to our movements, so it's best that when we're in the affected fields to not make any sudden movements; otherwise, we're in for some trouble that's literally not of this world.During Pretorius's first experiment with the device, something goes horribly wrong - Pretorius is gruesomely killed - and his young assistant Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs, from the earlier "Re-Animator") is subsequently blamed for his murder. Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton, another hold-over from "Re-Animator" and again choosing to show off a lot of exposed flesh) is assigned to his psychiatric care, and she convinces Tillinghast to repeat the experiments as part of his therapy. Along with cop Bubba Brownlee (the towering Ken Foree, from the original 1978 "Dawn of the Dead"), the three of them discover that the Resonator has worked too well, and it has in fact opened a gateway to another dimension inhabited by extremely hostile creatures that would LOVE to have us for dinner...As I stated earlier, "From Beyond" is not an easy movie to sit through, if you have a weak stomach and you're eating something. But you'll find an occasionally thoughtful exercise in a movie that posits the theory about a machine that can stimulate people's darkest and most inner-most desires. Dr. Katherine McMichaels finds herself obsessed with uncovering the truth about the Resonator and what lies on the higher plane outside our perceived reality (and exploring her own deviant sexual desires). This leads to a scene of Crampton in S & M-bondage leather, and she is later attacked by the rapidly evolving Dr. Pretorius, who was, in his personal life (before his murder), a sexual pervert and predator, and who has now been transformed into a hideous, amorphous shape-changing mass of flesh and goo that is an abomination to known science (and reality, for that matter) that is, in his - paraphrased - words, what he already was in his human life. Make sense? Just watch the movie."From Beyond" has some stellar acting from the three leads, as well as Ted Sorel as the primary antagonist Dr. Edward Pretorius (who spends much of the movie encased inside one special effect or another). The gory & slimy special effects work, and gore, by the team of John Buechler, Mark Shostrom, John Naulin, and Anthony Doublin (with additional effects by Mechanical and Makeup Imageries, Inc.) is truly stand-out and holds up incredibly well 27 years later (and by loose 2013 standards). I can only pray that some Hollywood idiot doesn't get the idea to remake "From Beyond" using modern CGI technologies...So, whatever you do, get your hands on "From Beyond" and prepare for a gory, slimy sci-fi/horror classic that is truly, From Beyond...8/10