Más allá del terror

"Beyond Terror" was, unfortunately, for me another painful reminder never to set my hopes and expectations too high. This formerly obscure early 80s Spanish stood on my watchlist for more than a decade, but there never was a half-decent dubbed or subtitled version available. I spent more money than I usually do on the Cauldron BluRay edition, but I was wholeheartedly convinced this film would be worth it.

Alas, all those years of anticipation deceived my brains. "Beyond Terror" is a mediocre horror film at best, and nowhere near as awesome as the Spanish horror I hoped it would be like, such as "Tombs of the Blind Dead" or "Night of the Skull". The first half of the film is extremely violent and entertaining but hugely derivative, whereas the second half is more original and atmospheric but sadly tedious. What a terrible combo.

The characters are totally unconvincing. I personally didn't see these four young biker thugs capable of going on such a bloody and relentless killing spree, which includes letting an old lady and innocent kid deliberately burn to death, and the two hostages also don't act (or react) like any normal person would. The sequences that take place in the abandoned monastery and its grisly catacombs during the final act are reasonably creepy, but slow and not leading to painful enough death sequences.

Short word to fellow reviewer Fella_shibby, who mentioned me in his user-comment: I sincerely wish I could have given this a higher rating and more favorable review. Can't win 'em all, I guess...

I first saw this in the late 80s on a vhs. Had searched this obscure movie n finally revisited it recently. This one is a true rarelust.

I am surprised that our fellow reviewer Coventry, a true obscure horror fan hasnt seen this movie.

While revisiting this, Amando de Ossorio's Tombs of the Blind Dead n Mario Bava's Rabid Dogs came to my mind.

The film starts with a lovely location of that of an open inn, very serene n sunny. Almost the entire film is shot in broad sunlight n even the night scenes are shot in good lighting. Inspite of the sun soaked n daylight settings, the film is creepy at times.

The film has amazing creepy locations where even during daytime it feels frightening. All the characters are despicable n their fate is well deserved, violent deaths.

The poster of the witch holding a snake in one hand n a scythe in another used on the VHS cover is taken from the cover of Warren Comic's VAMPIRELLA #11 (May 1971).

This film has nothing to do with any witch of that sort n the poster very misleading.

During the robbery at a bar four bikers turn the place into vicious bloodbath.One of them dies during the shootout and the remaining three bandits take a middle-class couple hostage along with their car.During their stay in the old woman's residence they are cursed by her and all of them suddenly find themselves lost and stranded in a creepy monastery,where skeletal zombies in the vein of Amando de Ossorio "Blind Dead" quartet rise from their tombs.Sleazy and gory mix of bikersploitation and zombie movie with Templar-like,shroud-wearing living dead.The monastery is a pretty creepy place and there is some sex and nudity.It's a crying shame that "Beyond Terror" is so criminally obscure.8 out of 10.Beware of the masturbation at the altar!

Those wicked horror movies we weren't allowed to watch as kids because mom said we were too young survived and are on blu ray!!

This nasty, violent, I apologetic 80s biker/ horror movie rocks!! There's lots of sex, violence, some zombies, and revenge beyond the grave with this one. This is the kind of movie where innocent people mind their own business and still fall victim to meanies with no regard for life. They invad the home of an elderly woman, killing her and her grandson. Right before her death, she arranges her captor's fate. There's a movie called Rabid Dogs this reminded me of but the fate of each person is vicious with no pity. For those who grew up on 80s horror, this one is a pretty good find.

A quartet of homicidal youth delinquents on motorbikes goes on a bloody rampage: After gunning down all the staff and customers of a small bar and taking two hostages, they intrude the home of an old lady and kill her too. Dying, she spells a curse on the murderous youths who continue their escape and reach an old, now desecrated church in the middle of nowhere. At this creepy place, strange things start to happen...

What a delightfully obscure and sleazy production! This strange, but thoroughly original film has to be seen to be believed. The actors are rather bad, the production values are very low, but the affair never ever becomes tedious - there are just too many stunning ideas thrown into the plot for good measure, and most of them work. One particularly insane sequence has the gang celebrating sort of a black mass in the church, during which one of the gang members proclaims crazy and stupid things while masturbating! Towards the climax, even the living dead have their appearance in the most chilling sequence of the film. And, of course, there's also some gore for splatter freaks (one scene being very splashy).

MAS ALLA DEL TERROR is unique in many ways. It's neither a masterpiece nor a technically remarkable movie, and the logic of the plot is often non-existent. But it's such an energetic bag of surprises and fun details that it makes a cool partytape for all lovers of exciting trash.