Catriona McColl | Through the Shattered Lens

The Beyond

Lisa has written in detail how much she enjoys Fulci’s The Beyond. From it’s Lovecraftian themes of otherworldly dangers to Fulci’s stylistic choice of focusing on characters’ eyes and blindness.

Others also love how Fulci is able to combine not just the grand guignol sequences that his films have become famous (or infamous depending on how one judges horror films) with an ethereal look to the visuals that borders the line between being dream-like and nightmarish.

This particular scene doesn’t have that grand guignol panache of Fulci’s more dynamic scenes, but it does give a hint to the desolation and etheric sense one feels seeing that empty causeway with just Liza driving on it then suddenly seeing Emily and her guide dog just standing there at the lane divider.

While I have always had a boyhood crush when it comes to Catriona McColl, I must admit that Cinzia Monreale was quite beautiful in this film even with the weird contacts she wore to show her as having being blinded by what she saw in the beyond.

The good thing about AMC’s The Walking Dead is that it puts zombies on the forefront of the public’s cultural consciousness. They’ve become the monster that still remains scary. The show has also allowed for new fans of the genre to seek out other classic zombie films and stories that they wouldn’t have bothered to check out if it hadn’t been for this show. One such classic zombie film would be another of Lucio Fulci’s gorefests from the early 80’s. It is a film which also has my latest “Scenes I Love” and one that continues this month’s horror theme.

Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond (aka Seven Doors of Death) has one of my favorite scenes in horror. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that I love pretty much everything Fulci has done and each of those films always have several memorable scenes that would imprint themselves on fans. My favorite scene from The Beyond has to be when the film’s two protagonists (played by regular Fulci actors in Catriona McColl and David Warbeck) find themselves under siege by zombies in a hospital. Warbeck’s character tries to fend them off with his trusty six-shooter, but seems to have forgotten to read the memo about shooting them in the head.

Every miss lessens their chance and when the creepy little red-haired girl suddenly makes her appearance as she attacks McColl’s Liza then the payoff in the scene finally happens. It looks like Warbeck’s character suddenly remembered what will kill them undead and decides to test it out on the little red-haired girl. To say that this scene was shocking when seen by a 9 year-old boy would be an understatement. I think even now that soon to turn 38 years of age young boy would still react with utter shock at this scene.