Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

Beyond the Door Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 30, 2020

In a way, it’s kind of amazing that Paramount didn’t join Warner Brothers in launching legal action against Ovidio G. Assonitis for perceived copyright infringement with regard to Beyond the Door. As a rather exhaustive background documentary and other features included in this set as supplements gets into, Italy has had a rather long history of religiously suffused films with possession aspects, and even exorcism aspects, a history that pre-dated at least by a few years the arrival of what even the documentary states was a global game changer, 1973’s The Exorcist. The Exorcist opened in the United States the day after Christmas in 1973 (what better way to celebrate the season, right?), but according to the IMDb didn’t get to Italy until late September 1974, which makes Beyond the Door’s “turnaround” from that date to its own Italian premiere a mere two months later (almost to the day) seem like this film was probably rushed out to cash in on the craze generated by the William Friedkin film. But as the bonus features also get into, Ovidio G. Assonitis had actually picked up William Peter Blatty’s source novel to read on a transatlantic flight and upon arriving in Italy sought out rights to the book himself, finding out of course that Warner Brothers had already optioned the piece. And so Assonitis decided to just make his own exorcism movie, certainly not the first time in the annals of the film industry (or even other media, frankly) where something like this has happened. What’s kind of interesting about the lawsuit that Warner Brothers launched is that it (at least according to Assonitis, who relays the anecdote himself in one of the supplements) was based on so called “image copyright” rather than “literary copyright”, since of course Assonitis hadn’t actually adapted Blatty’s book.

That said, there are certainly some visual similarities between the two properties, especially with regard to some of the possession aspects’ presentation, where Assonitis had obviously paid close attention to The Exorcist’s look and special effects. Assonitis seems to indicate he prevailed in the suit (if I'm understanding him correctly, which I may not be), though the often questionable Wikipedia states that Warner Brothers won. In any case, if the lawsuit was about visual representations rather than source material, as mentioned above it’s perhaps surprising in a way that Paramount didn’t enter the fray itself, since at least some of the key art produced for Beyond the Door prominently features a kind of old style baby buggy that is more than a bit reminiscent of a prominent feature of the key art of another demonically infused horror classic, Rosemary's Baby.

And in fact you can probably glean a good overview of the plot of Beyond the Door by combining Rosemary’s Baby’s conceit of a woman pregnant with the devil’s spawn with the possessed, pea soup spouting proclivities of The Exorcist. The “twist” in Beyond the Door is that both of the above elements happen to one character, Jessica Barrett (Juliet Mills, miles from Nanny and the Professor, though arguably perhaps at least a bit close to Passions territory at times). Now the following might be considered spoiler territory if not for the fact that the film gives it up at literally the very beginning during the credits sequence and then the general setup opening, Jessica is shown to have caught the Devil’s eye (and maybe some other parts), though the ritual is interrupted for unknown reasons, which doesn’t stop the Devil from blaming acolyte Dimitri (Richard Johnson).

All of this information is overtly doled out in just the first couple of minutes of the film, and so there’s never any doubt as to what is underlying the terror that Jessica increasingly feels as a demonic fetus takes over her body. This opening scene with Jessica in what seems to be her version of a "chocolate mousse with a chalky undertaste" dream just gives way to Dimitri careening out of control on a coastal highway as the Devil's voiceover makes some kind semi- incomprehensible bargain with Dimitri that then sets up the bulk of the film whereby Jessica's unexpected pregnancy begins to cause all sorts of side effects.

The middle part of the film documents both Jessica’s overall dissolution and a series of poltergeist like phenomena spilling out to her entire family, which includes her husband Robert (Gabriele Lavia) and children Ken (David Colin, Jr.) and Gail (Barbara Fiorini). A doctor named Staton (Nino Segurini) also gets involved supposedly to give the “rational explanation” side of things, but since the film has already clearly detailed what’s actually going on, this element just seems kind of silly, especially when you have Jessica in a straitjacket hooked up to some kind of brain scan machine where she’s spouting demonic taunts in a Mercedes McCambridge-esque voice.

The film even in its longer UK theatrical cut doesn’t really totally explain some elements, and the final “twist”, which is a callback to the opening scene with Dimitri careening wildly out of control on a coastal highway, doesn’t really make much sense on a number of levels, but at least allows Assonitis to go out with a little “sting”.

Beyond the Door Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Beyond the Door is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1:85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information about the restoration:

Beyond the Door has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono audio.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution at Eurolab, Rome. The film was graded and restored at R3Store Studios in London.

The mono mix was remastered from the 35mm optical negative at Deluxe Audio Services, Los Angeles. Audio synch will occasionally appear loose, due to the fact that some dialogue was post-dubbed.

A 35mm print was loaned from Harry Guerro for the sections unique to the US Theatrical version. These sections were scanned in 2K resolution at OCN Digital and graded at R3Store Studios. The US theatrical version master was assembled by Marc Morris.

At various points during the film, the image will freeze for a few seconds. This was an intentional optical effect on the part of the filmmaker and is not a technical fault.

When the film is out and about in a bright and sunny San Francisco, things look beautiful in this transfer, with well saturated colors that with some especially impressive primaries, and generally very commendable levels of fine detail. Things are a bit less consistently successful in some of the darker moments, where things can look roughhewn and fine detail levels are less discernable. The film has a number of optical dissolves, and the grain field understandably spikes appreciably in those moments, but there are other sections that seem substantially grainier than the bulk of the presentation. I noticed no major signs of age related wear and tear and no compression anomalies.

Beyond the Door Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

One way in which Beyond the Door is quite a bit different than either The Exorcist or Rosemary's Baby is with regard to its music. Beyond the Door's LPCM Mono provides actually rather nice sounding support for the kind of funky, discofied score of Franco Micalizzi. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, and the film offers good prioritization in some of the sequences where Jessica has been overtaken by her inner demon.

Beyond the Door Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One

• Uncut English Export Version (1080p; 1:47:43)


• Introduction by Juliet Mills and Lee Christian (1080p; 00:58) can be found under the Play Menu. This is authored to move on automatically to the film.


• The Devil and Me (1080p; 24:29) is a new interview with director and producer Ovidio G. Assonitis.


• Barrett's Hell (1080p; 32:29) is a new interview with co-writer and cinematographer Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli. In Italian with English subtitles.


• Beyond the Music (1080p; 19:41) is a new interview with comoser Franco Micalizzi.


• The Devil's Face (1080p; 10:26) is a new interview with camera operator Maurizio Maggi. In Italian with English subtitles.


• Beyond the Door: 35 Years Later (1080p; 20:34) is an archival featurette with Ovidio G. Assonitis, Juliet Mills, Richard Johnson and co-writer Alex Rebar.


• Richard Johnson: An Englishman in Italy (1080p; 6:56) is another archival piece with the actor.


• Trailers, TV & Radio Spots

  US Trailer (1080p; 2:13)

  
  

  Alternate English Trailer (1080p; 3:11)

  
  

  Italian Trailer (1080p; 3:44)

  
  

  Japanese Trailer (1080p; 1:06)

  
  

  US TV Spot (1080p; 00:30)

  
  

  US Radio Spot (1080p; 00:30) plays to animation of an old style tape reel.

• Alternate Opening Titles

  Italian Chi Sei? Opening Titles (1080p; 4:27)

  
  

  Australian Behind the Door Opening and Closing Titles (1080p; 00:27)

  
  

  Japanese Diabolica Opening and Closing Titles (1080p; 2:39)

• Image Gallery (1080p; 9:50)


• Audio Commentary with Director/Producer Ovidio G. Assonitis is an archival piece and also features Nathaniel Thompson and Lee Christian.


• Audio Commentary with star Juliet Mills is also archival include Scott Spiegel, Darren Gross and Lee Christian.

Disc Two

• US Theatrical Version (1080p; 1:39:49)


• Italy Possessed: A Brief History of Exorcist Rip-Offs (1080p; 1:28:15) is a fantastically interesting and informative overview, albeit one with a potentially off putting "arty" style. This features great interviews with a host of people, including Ovidio G. Assonitis, Sergio Martino, Marcello Avallone and many others.


• Gabriele Lavia: Bargain with the Devil (1080p; 10:44) is an archival interview with the actor. This has some introductory comments in English, but moves on to Italian with English subtitles.


• Extended Interview with Juliet Mills (1080p; 13:55) is an archival piece conducted by Lee Christian.

Additionally, this is another very handsomely packaged release from Arrow, housed in a custom slipbox that also includes a really beautiful 58 page booklet with writing, stills and technical specs. There are also six collector's postcards and a reversible foldout poster.

Beyond the Door Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Beyond the Door was evidently quite a global hit back in the day, which, if not nearly at The Exorcist proportions, was noticeable enough that Warner Brothers got involved. The film comes off as unabashedly derivative, which it probably was meant to do in the first place, but it's still kind of fun and certainly gives Juliet Mills a chance to spew both pea soup and the f bomb. Technical merits are solid, and as usual Arrow has assembled a really impressive slate of supplements. The film itself may strike some as decidedly meh, but this package as a whole comes Recommended.