My review was written in May 1985 after watching the movie on Media Home Entertainment video cassette.
"Beyond Reason" represents an unimpressive filmmaking debut by Telly Savalas as writer-director. Shot in 1977 under the title "Mati", the theatrically unreleased feature is reviewed for the record as a video cassette.
Savalas also toplines as Dr. Mati (pronounced mah-tee), an unconventional psychologist who is predictably going crazy (mucho hallucinations) under the pressure of his work. Picture at first resembles a telefilm pilot for a series, loaded with cute characters such as Mati's patients and friendly cabdriver, but detours into its main psychological fear mode with little success. Indecisive ending is unsatisfying.
It's hard to blame Savalas entirely for the film's failure, given that the pic was handed over to film doctor William Kowalchuk. Main evidence of production problems is exposed in early reels wherein originally announced co-star Priscilla Barnes (who had guested on Savalas' "Kojak" tv series before achieving fame in "Three's Company") appears silently, but with camera emphasis, in ensemble shots, while final female lead Laura Johnson is shown in unmatched insert closeups during these scenes in which she is missing from the master shots. Evidently Johnson succeeded Barnes in the role, and acquits herself well in later fully-integrated scenes. Supporting cast is fine, but cannot overcome a repetitious, ho-hum story.
