Espírito Maligno

Of all the "Exorcist" rip-offs made right after the box-office success of the original, "Beyond The Door" is the most blatant. All of the sensationalistic happenings of the first movie occur here (head spinning, levitation, green pea vomit, foul language spoken in a demonic voice), but in "Beyond The Door" they occur not so much as a manifestation of demonic possession as they do because they occurred in "The Exorcist". This tale of a woman becoming possessed by her demonic fetus (they even threw some "Rosemary's Baby" into the mix) certainly didn't help the careers of its stars Juliet Mills and Richard Johnson, despite its box office success (indeed, Shakespearean trained Johnson saw his career degenerate into more and even schlockier films than this). Still, one has to admire the film for its chutzpah: it's such an OBVIOUS rip-off that one can't help giving it credit for having the nerve to be such.

I will consider this DVD viewing a first-time watch for me, because I saw the unedited edition now released on disc by Code Red, under the European title THE DEVIL WITHIN HER (not to be confused with the Joan Collins film of the same name). Indeed, this Italian horror movie has gone through several title changes -- from CHI SEI? in its own country, to its most recognizable American name, BEYOND THE DOOR. But the only way to see it is under the complete DEVIL WITHIN HER form, since the U.S. version -- which I did see on a crappy videotape 20+ years back -- is a much more incomprehensible mess. Two directors tackled this (Ovidio G. Assonitis and Roberto D'Ettore Piazzoli), which is obviously a ripoff of THE EXORCIST with hints of ROSEMARY'S BABY. Director Ovidio states he got the idea from seeing the Polanski film, and from only reading the Exorcist novel.

Juliet Mills (of TV's NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR) stars as a British woman named Jessica living in San Francisco with her husband Robert (Gabriele Lavia) and her two small children. She becomes impregnated with what may be a spawn of the devil himself, and as a result she goes through a series of disturbing trends: smashing her hubby's favorite fish tank, eating a raw banana peel from the street, kissing her sleeping little boy lustfully on his lips, spewing blood and vomit, and rotating her head and levitating. A strange bearded man (Richard Johnson) who has had ties with her from the past, follows her husband around and introduces himself as Dimitri, a cultist who is now trying to help Jessica and to also release his own soul.

I don't think this is a good movie, but it's serviceable horror fare with enough shocks and eerie optical effects considering it's an EXORCIST copycat made on a limited budget. Some of the photography is hauntingly done, and Juliet Mills is quite good in her part as the possessed mom. The participation of Richard Johnson also lends something of class to such horrific goings-on. I think this film gets too harshly judged, though I am not surprised if most of those reviewers only got to see the inferior common U.S. Theatrical Cut. **1/2 out of ****

BEYOND THE DOOR definitely riffs on THE EXORCISTS, but has an entirely different feel. While THE EXORCIST took normal, banal moments or settings and injected them with a sense of dis-ease, BEYOND THE DOOR has a disturbed, dream-like feel to it. There isn't a single normal thing about this movie to lull viewers into safety or complacency. Juliet Mills' erratic, violent behavior, the montage-like exteriors as Mills shops in San Francisco and her husband visits the psychic are weirdly unsettling with no pretensions. Ditto for the sequences with the children and the glowing-eyed dolls. The scene in which Mills is trussed up in bed with electrodes attached to her scalp is almost unbearable to look at for Mills' creepy facial expression. I first viewed this when I was a sophomore in high school, watching it on an independent TV station late at night. The movie weirded me out like no film before it(until I saw ALICE SWEET ALICE)and was truly unsettling. Very symbolic, with attempts to convey concepts of evil through cinematic language. Interesting, if only for seeing a different interpretation of the demonic possession genre.

You know you're in trouble when you're watching a movie where Satan is the narrator. This is an early effort by Olvidio Assonitis, who was considered a rip-off artist even in a country famous for its rip-off artists (Italy). But where some later Assonitis films like "Tentacles" are sporadically entertaining, this movie falls flat largely because Assonitis is trying to rip-off two big Hollywood movies simultaneously --"Rosemary's Baby" AND "The Exorcist". Assonitis obviously doesn't have the budget to rip off the latter or the directorial skill to rip-off the former, but the best director with all the money in the world couldn't successfully combine these two films because "The Exorcist" is sheer outrageous spectacle (including among other things a possessed 12-year-old girl masturbating with a crucifix) while "Rosemary's Baby" is a very subtle exercise in creeping paranoia that never even shows the titular baby. Sure, they're both about Satan, but they are completely different kinds of movies and combining them is a fool's errand. But of course, only a fool would start out a movie with Satan as a narrator.

Juliet(sister of Haley) Mills plays a housewife whose third child is apparently Satan's spawn. The unborn infant has possessed her, somehow turning her into a low-rent Linda Blair. How did she get pregnant with the devil's child? Who knows (guess I missed that part), but her creepy ex-boyfriend has been pulled by Satan from a fatal car accident and given ten more years of life so he can make sure the baby is born (seems like there should be an easier way). Meanwhile, her husband and two older children are completely befuddled (although probably not as much as the audience). Obviously, this movie makes no sense, but its one saving grace is that it is pretty funny at times (mostly unintentionally). At one point it copies a creepy scene in "Rosemary's Baby" where the pregnant heroine eats a barely-cooked piece of meat by having Mills pick a rotting banana peel off the street and eat it. I don't know if it's supposed to be serious or a parody but its hilarious. Then there's the 10-year-old daughter who talks in the dubbed voice of a 70's hippie chick ("You're a stone drag, man," she tells her little brother at one point). I'll give Assonitis some credit and assume that that is SUPPOSED to be funny. Unfortunately, most of the movie is not so funny and it is certainly not very scary. Not the worst Italian horror movie I've ever seen, but I wouldn't waste your time.

But, now that I'm older, it isn't so bad-ass. Still, it has some pretty chilling scenes that should be seen by any horror nut out there! I decided to buy a copy of 'Beyond the Door' (1974, also known as Chi Sei?) because I had seen it late night in the '70's and it really gave me the creeps as a kid! Of course, it's an obvious Exorcist rip-off, but this time it's Juliette Mills whose possessed and instead of green pea soup she spits up, it's a kind of black inky stuff, which is just as gross to the viewer! She also does all the cussing & growling that was to expected of her to be convincing as a plaything of the Devil and there's also some levitating (floating, really!) towards the end, for good measure! One of the creepiest scenes I remember as a kid, was when her two children tell their father "Daddy daddy, please don't leave us alone with mommy!" and he's like "Oh, it'll be alright, I have to be at work! Bye!" - haha - of course! So, they go into the bedroom later and say "Mommy mommy!" and Ms. Mills is on her stomach, but her head turns all the way around to look at them with evil eyes! THAT part is why I bought this damn film! That was as close to the Exorcist-head-spin they could do without being an OBVIOUS rip-off, but it's effective nonetheless. So, all in all, I bought this video to re-live old fears and to conquer them! haha - Worth a rental or a cheap buy off ebay, like I did! I give it 5 out of 10 stars! ***** As in, average!