Beyond and Back

I remember seeing this film when I was a young pre-teen lad, wide-eyed with wonder and gullible to anything that sounded good. And, at the time, the idea of real "proof" that there was life after death sounded really, really good.

This film is nothing more than a dramatization of 5 or 6 different people's reported Near-Death Experiences (NDEs), narrated by an impressive-sounding guy with a beard. Except for the attempted-suicide's NDE at the end, all the NDEs had a common theme of floating in the room they were near-death in, then travelling through a dark tunnel with a bright light at the end. Of course, we never got to hear the stories told by people who had NDEs that differed from this, because those stories wouldn't make a good movie. One of the guys said he saw lasers and other high-tech devices "20 years before they were invented" in his NDE, but conveniently didn't report this story until AFTER such things were invented.

The attempted-suicide story at the end was tacked on, I'm sure, as a way to discourage people in the audience from intentionally putting themselves through near-death experiences of their own. The suicidee described a horrific NDE with skeletons and snakes and hot subway tunnels, implying that you go to "hell" if you attempt suicide, even though all the other NDEs they describe sound more like going to "heaven."

Near-Death Experiences are assuredly nothing more than hallucinations brought on by oxygen-starvation in the brain.

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.

Beyond and Back is one of the few movies that impacted me for years to come. I saw it with my mother back in 1978 or 1979 at a local theater. Since that time I have had an enormous desire to see it again. Unfortunately the producer of the film, Sunn Classic Pictures Inc. became defunct shortly after several of its top managers left to the expanding Tri-Star Pictures. Recently however, several of the original management members reacquired Sunn Classic Pictures Inc. and are in the process of redeveloping the company so there is a possibility that this movie will return on VHS or DVD. I recently contacted Sunn Classic Pictures Inc. to try and find out if the possibility is a real one.

It was only 14 years old the last time I saw this movie almost 25 years ago, but as I mentioned it made a bigger impact on my than any other movie I have ever seen, even to the point of encouraging me to try and obtain a copy now as an adult.

The movie as others have mentioned in their reviews was somewhat of a documentary with interviews of people who claimed to have died and then come back from the dead. The movie took the stories and then reproduced them into visual representations of what occurred and how the experience would have been observed from a first hand perspective.

One scene I can still recall is of a younger man who had died in the hospital and then while dead left his body thinking he was alive and o.k. only to look back and see his body dead on his hospital bed. After walking around the hospital out of his body he eventually ends up returning to his body at which point life returns to his body.

Some reviewers have said the movie is to long. Personally I don't recall the overall length of the film, I only that in many ways this movie helped reaffirm my beliefs in life after death regardless of whether one ultimately ends up in heaven or hell.

This movie primarily tries to take you on a journey with the question of whether life ultimately ends when the physical body dies. Those who have seen this movie or may see this movie in the future and who enjoy it may also be interested in the books by Mary K. Baxter called an "A Divine Revelation of Hell", "A Divine Revelation of Heaven", or "A Divine Revelation of the Spirit Realm".

I saw "Beyond and Back" only once -- in May 1978 during its initial theatrical run. But the film proved to be a lifesaver -- literally.

It saved my life. I went to see it at a time when I was very lonely and despondent and was contemplating suicide. I was 25 years old at the time and was depressed over what at that time had been an inability to find love in my life -- that is, the love of a companion, having fallen in love with someone fir the first time in my life, only for that love to go unrequited.

I won't spoil it for those who have never seen "Beyond and Back," but suffice it to say, it convinced me that suicide is not a viable option.

Ironically, I recently saw a clip of "Beyond and Back" on YouTube exactly 30 years to the day after I saw it in the theater. It's really cheeky by today's production standards, but it's still worth watching, even if only as a vintage 1970s period film.

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....