1975's "Journey Into the Beyond" was a more graphic kind of shockumentary, defined in the early 60s by "Mondo Cane" and its brethren. Initially a 113 minute German feature titled "Reinse ins Jenseits - Die Welt des Ubernaturalichen" from veteran director Rolf Olsen, it received stateside release in 1977 at 95 minutes with the narration of the venerable John Carradine, apparently following in the footsteps of fellow fearmongers Vincent Price ("Taboos of the World") and Boris Karloff ("Mondo Balordo"). Its 'R' rating is justly deserved, a large number of gruesome scenes earning a warning bell to hide your eyes, including a bloody bit of dental surgery, as well as removal of cataracts and cysts full of disgusting pus. On the lighter side are sequences depicting psychic phenomena, hypnosis, spiritualism, telekinesis, seances, exorcism, levitation, voodoo, and lastly life after death. We find a rainmaker in Ghana, a childless woman engaged in a fertility rite of spiritual sex, a firewalk in Marina Del Rey conducted by a mystic of Tibetan practices, who then proves himself by inserting knitting needles through his neck and cheeks. It may have lost some of its shock value and may not prove very convincing, but Carradine is fully engaged in transcribing the Paul Ross script, and does lend genuine gravitas to the incredible proceedings. It does tend to drag endlessly over an hour and 45 minutes, and by the 80s more horrid concoctions would be found on your local video shelves.
