Espírito Maligno

Oy vey, what a doozy we have here. "Beyond the Door" (also known as "Chi sei" and "The Devil Within Her") has Juliet Mills as a San Francisco housewife who becomes pregnant with a Devil child, which puts a hamper on her otherwise bourgeois West Coast existence. She also becomes apparently possessed, and does a lot of really wacky and scary stuff.

A low-budget, unabashed riff on "The Exorcist" and "Rosemary's Baby," "Beyond the Door" is one of the weirdest offerings in the possession horror sub-genre of the 1970s, and despite its unashamed ripping-off of about every possession film up to that point, there are still moments of technical flair and genuine creepiness here. An Italian production, the film was directed by Ovidio G. Assonitis, who at times seems to be tapping into surrealism with the moody and disorienting camerawork; as some other reviewers have noted, there are things about this film that are very much dreamlike. Take for example, the first five minutes: We have a sea of candles appear on screen, with overhead narration by none other than Satan himself; the camera pans to the right, as Juliet Mills inexplicably stands amidst the candles in a white nightgown, wearing a brainwave monitor. Three minutes later, we have a random montage of Mills grocery shopping in the Bay Area set to a hokey funk track by Sid Wayne. Surrealist horror, or funk rock music video? I don't even know, nor do I want to attempt an answer.

The film suffers tremendously from godawful dubbing, and Mills' foul-mouthed children who look about ten but talk like nineteen-year-olds bring some terribly laughable lines, while the bulk of the dialogue between the family is utterly brainless chatter. Despite all silliness, the real treat of this film lies in the execution of its possession scenes which, despite their derivative nature, are really well-done and at times genuinely scary. Mills does a commendable job with the script and is convincingly frightening as she transforms into a complete monster. There are some surprisingly out-there twists in the script that will leave you scratching your head, but also work in favor of the "surrealist horror" wave the film seems to be riding (funk rock music video is still a solid choice though, just for the opening credits alone).

Overall, "Beyond the Door" is a divisive film because it has moments of acute technical success and truly spooky moments, but it's also horribly dubbed, generally badly acted, and the plot is a rehash of the decade's earlier possession films with some absurd twists thrown in for good measure. As I said before, it is worth a watch for Mills' possession alone, and for the borderline surrealist visuals on display, but the undertone of utter silliness rarely escapes the screen. 6/10.

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.

This might be giving it too much credit, but I would venture to say that this film is the king of rip-offs. Like so many other horror flicks of its day, this movie lifts its plot from THE EXORCIST, and also seizes the opportunity to "borrow" elements from ROSEMARY'S BABY. Juliet Mills plays the wife of a successful San Francisco record producer who becomes possessed by you know who..... Mills(the older sister of Hayley) is a very beautiful and supremely gifted actress, but the repetitive and repulsive script has given her very little to do but spin her head and spit up pea soup. Co-star Richard Johnson is also a talented actor who is severely misused. Director Hellman went on to make a JAWS rip-off entitled TENTACLES. That film also features a great cast at their all-time worst.

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 ****

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!