If repeated eye close-ups, a soft-focus lens, and dream sequences moving in slow motion are your thing then this abysmal supernatural thriller from Lucio Fulci may be the film for you. Otherwise, skip it, as this is a Fulci far from the success of ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS or any of his other classic zombie gut-munchers. This is an old, muddled embittered Fulci, a man preoccupied with being over-the-top "arty" and supposedly stylish when instead all he can do is make the film look cheap and tacky, a director who had seriously lost his 'bite' when it came to horror films in 1990. At least he had some of the gore dripping for his next film, his swansong, NIGHTMARE CONCERT.
VOICES FROM BEYOND is a film packed with cheap scares and bad dream sequences, with attempts at atmosphere by having sets enshrouded in cheap-looking dry ice whilst monotonous synthesiser music plays loudly over the images on screen and threatens to blow your mind. None of the old acting hands are around to give the film any kudos either or any of those "cool, look, it's him!" type moments. Here, the cast is a bland one, a gang who couldn't act their way out of a paper bag, and even the repeated bared breasts of blonde female lead Karina Huff fails to generate the excitement that Fulci was desperate for.
The film's singular gory highlight comes at an autopsy, when a pathologist (played by a gleeful Fulci, up to his old tricks again) pulls out the guts from a corpse in graphic detail, snips them up and chucks them in a jar. Aside from the opening sequence which takes the term "death bed" literally with gallons of blood pumping from the mouth of a dying man (which promises a return to the old days which never occurs) this is a relatively bloodless and shoddy offering. The rest of the horror comes from repeated shots of a corpse decaying in its coffin, as while we watch flies appear and maggots crawl from the body's eye sockets - bizarre, seeing as the coffin is buried six feet below ground level. I guess it's those "burrowing flies" causing trouble again - or maybe it's just a film "of images".
Sure, this movie does have a few cool moments - I liked the voice-over narration of the corpse, a good effect used in literature a lot but rarely in films, and Fulci harks back to the old days by throwing in a nightmare sequence involving an attack by a few mouldy-looking zombies. But what a let-down of a non-ending! Our female lead laughs in the graveyard and walks off, what the heck?! Then watch closely for a final message from the director in which Fulci pays tribute to his "real friends" - one is none other than Clive Barker! This film's a poor mess from a disillusioned mind.
VOICES FROM BEYOND is a film packed with cheap scares and bad dream sequences, with attempts at atmosphere by having sets enshrouded in cheap-looking dry ice whilst monotonous synthesiser music plays loudly over the images on screen and threatens to blow your mind. None of the old acting hands are around to give the film any kudos either or any of those "cool, look, it's him!" type moments. Here, the cast is a bland one, a gang who couldn't act their way out of a paper bag, and even the repeated bared breasts of blonde female lead Karina Huff fails to generate the excitement that Fulci was desperate for.
The film's singular gory highlight comes at an autopsy, when a pathologist (played by a gleeful Fulci, up to his old tricks again) pulls out the guts from a corpse in graphic detail, snips them up and chucks them in a jar. Aside from the opening sequence which takes the term "death bed" literally with gallons of blood pumping from the mouth of a dying man (which promises a return to the old days which never occurs) this is a relatively bloodless and shoddy offering. The rest of the horror comes from repeated shots of a corpse decaying in its coffin, as while we watch flies appear and maggots crawl from the body's eye sockets - bizarre, seeing as the coffin is buried six feet below ground level. I guess it's those "burrowing flies" causing trouble again - or maybe it's just a film "of images".
Sure, this movie does have a few cool moments - I liked the voice-over narration of the corpse, a good effect used in literature a lot but rarely in films, and Fulci harks back to the old days by throwing in a nightmare sequence involving an attack by a few mouldy-looking zombies. But what a let-down of a non-ending! Our female lead laughs in the graveyard and walks off, what the heck?! Then watch closely for a final message from the director in which Fulci pays tribute to his "real friends" - one is none other than Clive Barker! This film's a poor mess from a disillusioned mind.