"…If the gatekeeper permits." by Lindsay Costello 15. YOU TOO, SHALL PASS: …If the gatekeeper permits. The Beyond At the risk of a hot take, here's something I've realized after many Halloweens spent watching giallo films: If you think you want to see an Argento flick, what you're actually looking for is Fulci. No shade to Argento—he's a master of style and atmosphere. (He might've even invented bisexual lighting by accident.) But Lucio Fulci delivered giallo at its best: His films are psychological, stylish, and, most importantly, brutal. Fulci told killer stories that aren't mired in misogyny or aesthetics, and he did it all with a fraction of Argento's budget and audience. Fulci's practical effects were grotesque and imaginative. (If melting faces or eyeball-chewing spiders aren't your thing, steer clear of his 1981 film The Beyond.) The film shrieks to life with an old-timey, sepia-tinted crucifixion scene and grows gnarlier from there. When chill New Yorker Liza inherits an old New Orleans hotel (cool), she's startled to discover that it's a gateway to hell (not cool). Don't poke the portal, by the way: The hotel's maintenance workers fall off the roof and have their eyeballs gouged out by reanimated corpses.  Liza's neighbor Emily, a luminous and seemingly not-entirely-human blind woman, might be the only character who understands the hotel's past. With her German Shepherd service dog Dicky by her side, Emily plays a haunting piano motif that complements Fabio Frizzi's eerie, atmospheric synth soundscapes. (Word of warning: In the hell-realm of The Beyond, even the dog can't be trusted.)  Then, in a scene so drawn-out it's almost laughable, a man is paralyzed and has his face—eyes included—devoured by a swarm of spiders. Yeah, there's a lot of "eye stuff" in this film. Fulci might've been making a statement about vision and blindness and witnessing evil, but The Beyond is so drenched in a surreal, dreamy Southern haze that its deeper meaning doesn't need to be named. It washes over you. The Beyond is a somatic experience; it's a film that chills your bones while making you sweat.  I won’t spoil the ending entirely, but it drives my point home. Imagine spending eternity trapped in a painting of Hell—not the real thing, but close enough. A gateway to nothing. A bleak, gray wasteland that stretches endlessly in every direction. That's true terror. The Stranger is participating in Scarecrow Video’s Psychotronic Challenge all month long! Every October, Scarecrow puts together a list of cinematic themes and invites folks to follow along and watch a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy flick that meets the criteria. This year, Stranger staffers are joining the fun and we’re sharing our daily recommendations here on Slog! Read more about Scarecrow’s 2024 challenge—and get the watch list—here. And you can track our daily recommendations here! 💀