Beyond and Back

I've been on a tear of these pseudoscience "documentaries" as of late, and while some of them are outrageous but still entertaining, most are downright dumb.

And I believe all right. I believe this is a massive load. While not as painfully Christian as, say, anything by the likes of Pure Flix/Pinnacle Peak, Beyond and Back is really quite entertaining in its overacted, extremely riffable VHS quality that I'm watching on YouTube.

My parents allowed me to see this crappy documentary for some reason when I was a small child. I was traumatized by it and never again got out of bed without looking back to see if my body was still lying there! Still, every time I get out of bed, the thought occurs to me. So don't let your kids watch it! That is, if you can even get your hands on it, which I strongly doubt!

By the way, the storyline that affected me most was about a guy who entered the hospital with a chest cold, then left his body and encountered evil satanic nurses. Nice. I can't believe I can remember some crappy documentary from 1978 and that it affected me so much.

I think this movie contributed to an extreme fear of death in me from a young age, and I'd have been vastly better off never having seen it. I am no longer as impressionable of course, in fact I'm a callous skeptic, but I cannot erase the emotional damage caused by this stupid 70's documentary. Lame, I know.

I remember Sunn Classic Films quite well. Actually I was in Beyond and Back, and would like to know if there is any way to get a copy of it. Sunn Classic Films' documentaries were quite good for their time (the 70s). The Lincoln Conspiracy was my favorite.

I was a student at UofU in Salt Lake City when this was being filmed and I was a "day" extra. All background. In one scene I was a Dr. Holding a clipboard speaking to a nurse in the background. In another, I was a junkie getting advice from a Dr as I'm being lead to the exit. I think I made $50 off this. The main actress on that day was an older woman who looking like she had a bad hangover and was about two minutes away from having the D. T.'s.... never so it, but it was super weird... several local 'celebrities' were very proud to be in it.... I was just earning some bucks....

Brad Crandall returns as presenter/host once again, (most suitable he is too, great booming voice!) this time making his entrance in an eerie cemetery, before telling us about the near-death experiences of several people, shown here in re-enactments.

A Schick Sunn Films docudrama, one of many made in the 1970's, is surprisingly eerie and even moving in places, though exactly how much research was done to verify these people's claims is debatable. Some of this is undeniably hokey, even amateurish, but it has a sincerity about it that won me over, not to mention it creates a nice eerie mood.

Some reviewers even claim it prevented them from killing themselves, thus inspiring them to not give up on life, which is wonderful.

Only available on a rare VHS, and based on a book by Ralph Wilkerson, it deserves an HD release, but for now can be found on YouTube.