Beyond and Back

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 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.

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....

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.