The Beyond (AKA L'Aldila/ 7 Doors Of Death) 1981. Dir: Lucio Fulci
The Beyond has the tag of 'The best Horror film you have never seen'. While this might be stretching the truth regarding non /casual Horror film fans, the opposite is apt for those in the know.
The Beyond is a truly unique Horror film. It has many inherent faults but many points for originality. If you are fairly new to the Horror genre then The Beyond is not the best place to start. This is'nt directly linked to it's content, it refers more to it's disregard for 'Internal logic'.
'Internal Logic' is a series of sound's and connecting images that are progressive and provide the viewer with an internal narrative that is relative to the charcters moods or situations. Therefore a sudden change in situation would be alluded to in previous images.
The Beyond works mainly in an 'External Logic' plain. This means that scenes appear not just visually random but aurally too and may not allude to the films previous scenes. This does not mean that The Beyond is an incoherent mess. Far from it. It means that the film cannot be related back to an internal logic which would (no matter how fanciful the subject matter) mean that it would still fit in morally and socially.
An example is 'The Exorcist'. No matter how ridiculous the scenario may become, the story ultimately reaches it's targets in ensuring that good triumphs over evil and social order is restored (I Love The Exorcist BTW).
The Beyonds premise is the fact that a hotel has been built upon one of the seven doors of hell and a brutal murder (the films opening) keeps the door open until a lost relative inherits the hotel in the early 80's. To pontificate on the plot from hereon would defeat the object.
The plot (as stated) takes a back seat to all manner of grisly deaths (eye gouging, rabid dogs, shards of glass, zombies etc).
The real crux of the film is the sheer operatic scale of it all. Extreme close ups of eyeballs, both intact and harmed (a Fulci obsession): stunning photography, dizzying camera zooms, surreal scenes (the deserted highway is a doozy) and sheer imagination.
The Beyond is a film that is not well acted. It has it's fair share of dodgy F/X (check out some of the spiders in the libary) and is badly dubbed, yet it is totally unpredicatable, fascinating, original and almost baroque in it's intentions.
You will rarely see a Horror film quite like it.