Beyond Evil

Your best pal arranges for you and your wife to move into an old house that, as legend would have it, is haunted by the spirit a woman who practised black magic and who returned from the dead to kill her philandering husband. What do you do?

If, like me, you have seen enough horror films to know that living in a house like that will seriously affect your life expectancy, you'll politely decline and book into a hotel. But if you're newlyweds John Saxon and Lynda Day George, you'll happily set up home in said haunted house, and not even bat an eyelid when creepy shizz starts happening.

Soon after settling in, Barbara Andrews (George) starts to act very strangely and, when hubby Larry (Saxon) isn't looking, she shoots green laser beams from her eyes. When Larry's friends and associates start to die in mysterious circumstances, he eventually cottons on to the fact that his wife's might have something to do with it, so he seeks help from local faith healer Dr. Solomon (David Opatoshu), who tells him that she is possessed.

Beyond Evil is an utterly abysmal supernatural horror that suffers from a cheesy plot that brings nothing new to the table, an awful central turn from George, and some really cheap visual effects (the day-glo green solarised effect is particularly nasty). Even the usually reliable Saxon cannot help make this one work. The only decent things about the film are a couple of reasonable gore effects (when the faith healer performs operations on his followers) and the Omen-esque score by Pino Donaggio.

Larry and Barbara Andrews (John Saxon and Lynda Day George) move into their new mansion only to find it haunted. We know it's haunted due to an opening tipoff scene, and also because the Andrews' are treated to a story / flashback of the previous owners, a sorceress named Alma and her idiot husband.

Now, Alma's back, and she's pi$$ed!

BEYOND EVIL is a preposterous tale of supernatural non-terror. The creepier it tries to be, the funnier it gets! Alma is a riot with her green, laser-blasting eyeballs and leering theatrics!

Be sure to listen for the overwrought musical score and "demonic" chanting!

BEST SCENE: The self-destructing Cadillac!

Drop whatever your doing and watch this right now!...

John Saxon ("Black Christmas"!) and Lynda Day George ("Pieces"!) form a fabulous horror couple in this cheap and bizarre, but nevertheless intriguing little 80's film, set on a remote Southern island. The story isn't exactly original, blending cliché horror premises like haunted houses, soul-possessions, spiritual tribes and witchcraft, and yet, there isn't a dull moment to detect anywhere. This is largely thanks to the enthusiast acting performances and the surefooted direction of Herbert Freed. "Beyond Evil" is quite an oddity, because the special effects are very amateurish (sometimes even downright laughable) and still the wholesome remains a spooky and unsettling horror tale. Upon their arrival at the island, newlyweds Larry and Barbara are offered a beautiful and gigantic mansion to live in. Through a very atmospheric flashback-story, however, we learn that this same mansion was once homed by the sinister Alma Martin and her unfaithful husband. He poisoned Alma but her restless spirit still dwells around the mansion. Now, 100 years later, Alma Martin sees her change to reincarnate through Barbara and she won't hesitate to destroy everyone that tries to prevent this from happening. As previously stated, the special and visual effects are terrible… They often exclusively exist of funky green laser beams projected from the eyes of Alma Martin and they're not very convincing. Still, the film does offer some genuine shocks whenever budget isn't required, like Alma's ghostly appearances out of nowhere or the creepy shots inside the crypt. Especially since it's such an inexplicably fascinating movie, "Beyond Evil" should be categorized under 'interesting failures' and not just under 'worthless horror junk'! If you can pick up the DVD for a reasonably cheap price, it's definitely worth buying.

A few things about this film should attract cult film aficionados. Firstly, it stars John Saxon and Lynda Day George. It was also released on the infamous video label VIPCO (home of Zombie Flesh Eaters and Shogun Assassin in the early 80's). It's also features some of the cheapest special effects I've ever seen which have aged incredibly badly. In other words, it's great fun and has plenty of things going for it.

A couple move to a tropical island and find a mansion that is so cheap that they have to buy it. But it then becomes apparent that Barbara (George) is showing signs of being possessed by the evil spirit of the wife of the previous owner who was practising the occult before she ended up killing and being killed by her husband.

This is kitsch cult cinema at it's purest- bad effects, bad acting, bad plot. BUT, very enjoyable because of it. This film has, erm, character! This movie would be perfect if you stumbled upon it on an obscure cable channel late at night.

Beyond Evil (1980) is a movie that I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows an architect and his wife who are tricked into living in a haunted mansion in a foreign country where the previous owner killed his wife. The locals hold voodoo rituals there and conjure spirits only making matters worse. The wife starts seeing things at the house but no one believes her...until it's too late.

This movie is directed by Herb Freed (Graduation Day) and stars John Saxon (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Lynda George (Mission Impossible), Michael Dante (Westbound) and Alan Caillou (The Ice Pirates).

The storyline for this picture was actually pretty interesting, unique for the horror genre and had some potential. Unfortunately, The execution wasn't as good as I would have liked. The horror elements, doll and kill scenes were very mediocre. The use of flashing lights to create intensity didn't work. The settings were good and there's a belly scene at the end that was fantastic and well created. The acting was solid, and Lynda George was great (and beautiful). I just wish they took the voodoo elements and kill scenes a step further.

Overall, this is a very average addition to the horror genre that I would score a 5/10 but recommend seeing once.