By BILL REICK
Master of the weird tale, Howard Phillips Lovecraft
Now is a great time to reflect on some of H.P. Lovecraft’s problematic views. In both his beliefs and practices, the acclaimed author even stood out in his own era as an awful bigot. It’s not the passage of time that revealed Lovecraft’s white supremacism, as his personal life was also discordant with then-contemporary politics. For someone whose imagination stretched to and wrote of the outer limits of perception, Lovecraft could not be bothered to imagine a world where everyone is treated equally.
As we reevaluate H.P. Lovecraft’s place in the canon of horror writers, we can also take the chance to celebrate many of the works his writing inspired. By adapting H.P. Lovecraft’s stories, writers and filmmakers have the opportunity to take what is special about Lovecraftian horror and elevate it past those dangerous prejudices.
A great example is 1986’s FROM BEYOND. The movie reunites director Stuart Gordon with his lead actors from Re-Animator, Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton. Just like that movie – Gordon’s debut as a director – From Beyond takes inspiration from the title Lovecraft tale but diverges from the source material in unexpected and entertaining ways. Combs stars as Dr. Crawford Tillenghast, a scientist and assistant to the nefarious Dr. Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel). Similar to his namesake from James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein, Dr. Pretorius provokes the younger doctor, pushing Tillenghast past his moral and scientific boundaries. What results is “The Resonator,” a diabolical invention that emits frequencies that massage and stimulate the pineal gland. In doing so, Dr. Pretorius intends to open the human mind to more than what its five senses have previously been able to perceive. Within the first five minutes of the movie, Dr. Pretorius falls prey to his success, as the Resonator opens portals through which inconceivable entities can enter our world. Ultimately, he is undone by the monsters his machine invites.
Jeffrey Combs as Dr. Crawford Tillinghast
Immediately, we see just how far removed From Beyond is from its source material. In the original story, Dr. Tillenghast incites the action. He is the scientist whose Resonator invention eventually leads to his doom. In the movie, Jeffrey Combs’ Tillenghast is merely a victim of the egomaniacal Dr. Pretorious. It is Pretorious’ ambitions that doom Tillenghast, and the ensuing violence leads to his arrest and institutionalization.
Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) encounters The Resonator
While held in a psychiatric ward, Tillenghast meets Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Crampton), a physician studying schizophrenia, whose ambitions rival those of the late Dr. Pretorius. Tillenghast is released to the care of McMichaels, who soon pressures him back to Pretorius’ lab to recreate the doctor’s work. Having returned to the scene of the crime, Tillenghast is seduced by the promises of the Resonator, and soon, the machine is again fully functional. However, in making the Resonator operational again, Tillenghast exposes himself and McMichaels to another world of danger, leading to the reappearance of a newly mutated and fully evil Dr. Pretorius.
A mutating Dr. Pretorius (Ted Sorel)
So, why this movie? Why right now? In addition to Lovecraft’s recent resurgence in the public consciousness through projects like Color Out of Space and Lovecraft Country, this is a perfect time to watch From Beyond because of how removed is from most contemporary horror movies. This modern era has seen the apex of “prestige horror,” with lots of character-driven, “elevated” genre pictures released each month. These are all films that trade thrills for atmosphere, quietly building dread through their runtime rather than overly relying on jump scares. While these films are remarkably well-crafted and deserving of all the praise they’ve received, horror fans are now missing out on much of the fun, exciting scares of yesteryear.
Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton face the unknown in “FROM BEYOND”
Viewing From Beyond through a contemporary lens makes it feel like a beautifully gross anomaly. The movie’s practical effects have such a palpable feel; There are constantly gooey, tangible things on screen to be grossed out by. You so rarely see special effects like these today – ones that are so obviously not computer-generated. Three years after From Beyond, the movie’s producer, Brian Yuzna, would make Society, one of the most over-the-top gross-out practical effects body-horror movies of all time. With From Beyond, you can already see Yuzna’s adeptness at assembling an effects team to create some truly nasty designs. Even the lighting feels so different from the cinematography practices in use today. The way that Gordon lights the scenes to capture the indescribable, other-realm extra-sensory phenomena is so discordant with the photo-realism utilized by many of today’s genre filmmakers.
Ken Foree in a sticky situation
From Beyond is a worthwhile movie because it subverts some of H.P. Lovecraft’s biggest problems. Stuart Gordon cast Ken Foree (known to genre fans as Peter from Dawn of the Dead), as detective Bubba Brownlee, the closest thing this movie has to a hero. Not only does Foree’s character bring some much-needed humanity to an otherwise cold and clinical ensemble of main characters, but he is also the only character who rises above the corrupting pull of the Resonator. This is a radical addition to the original story, which only includes the character of Dr. Tillenghast and an unnamed observer. What makes it all the more revolutionary is that this character, the strongest physically and in spirit is a Black man. The creators of From Beyond took its story and reclaimed it from its racist author, and the tale is all the more exciting for Foree’s inclusion.
From Beyond is an incredible example of taking a decent story, stripping it of its xenophobic associations, and recontextualizing it as a far more entertaining work.
