Once banned in the UK, Lucio Fulci’s 1981 horror The Beyond is getting a remake – the first in a planned series of vintage genre revivals. “Behind this doorway lie the terrifying and unspeakable secrets of hell,” promised one poster for 1981’s The Beyond. “No one who sees it lives to describe it. And you ... Lucio Fulci horror classic The Beyond is getting a remake
Once banned in the UK, Lucio Fulci’s 1981 horror The Beyond is getting a remake – the first in a planned series of vintage genre revivals.
“Behind this doorway lie the terrifying and unspeakable secrets of hell,” promised one poster for 1981’s The Beyond. “No one who sees it lives to describe it. And you shall live in darkness for all eternity.”
As far as we know, Italian director Lucio Fulci’s horror classic hasn’t killed anybody, but it certainly is difficult to describe in places: it’s gory, dreamlike, unpredictable, and at times, just plain weird.
It was the gore that really gave the BBFC a conniption, however, and The Beyond’s UK cinema release was cut by over a minute to tone down its spider attacks and flashes of eye damage. This censored version was still deemed too strong, and it subsequently ended up being banned during the video nasties flap when it came out on VHS.
Forty-five years later, this once controversial film is getting a remake. It’s early days for the project, so there’s no writer or director attached yet, but it’s been announced as a joint venture between Hangtime International Pictures and Severin Films, the latter previously better known as the distributor of classic films no disc and in cinemas.
In an announcement over at Variety, the two companies stated that The Beyond is the first in a planned series of genre remakes, though what other titles they have the rights to hasn’t yet been announced.
In a statement, Hangtime co-CEO Frank Murray said, “This is a rare opportunity for an established director to reimagine The Beyond, contemporise it as a classic of experiential horror and further the ever-growing cultural significance of Fulci’s work. We also love the built-in sequel opportunity afforded us by Fulci’s Gates of Hell universe.”
Read more: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and the BBFC’s fear of power tool horror
What Murray’s pointing out there is that The Beyond is one of a trilogy of Fulci 1980s horrors, though oddly, the studios have opted to pick the middle one to remake first. The Beyond was preceded by City Of The Living Dead in 1980, while The House By The Cemetery followed later in 1981.
Fulci really didn’t hang about when he made these.
The Beyond stars Catriona MacColl as a New Yorker who inherits a hotel in Louisiana which, it turns out, is built on an entrance to hell. Attempts to refurbish the careworn old pile result in an increasingly spectacular string of deaths involving acid, arachnids, and in one unforgettable scene, a revolver fired at point-blank range.
It’ll be fascinating to see who ends up writing and directing the remake – and how whether they’ll embrace the original’s surreal mood or try to tone it down.
