"There is a dimension that exists beyond reality, beyond comprehension. Beyond imagining..beyond evil" An American couple (John Saxon and the lovely Lynda Day George) relocate to a tropical island. They move into a mansion called Casa Fortuna, the local talk of it being haunted by a former owner, a woman who dabbled with black magic, proves to be true. Directed by Herb Freed (what a cool name!), the only other film of his that I am familiar with is the 1981 slasher "Graduation Day", a superior movie to this one. Beyond Evil was shot in The Philippines and California. These possession type movies were very popular around this time, some were good, others - such as this - were not. John Saxon was a great actor who starred in some fabulous movies but here he looks more like he just turned up for the pay cheque. However he and George do make a watchable couple that we can root for. The most memorable thing here are the special effects, they are very cheap looking but fun at the same time. For the possession scenes green lighting is used around the dead witch and for laser eyes. There is not much gore but a couple of scenes showing some graphic abdominal surgery should please gorehounds. A couple of death scenes obviously took inspiration from "The Omen" movies, even coming with some Omen type music/vocals. I have been watching horror movies for over 40 years but this was a first time watch for me, courtesy of an old Vipco VHS cassette. If you like cheap but watchable supernatural horror then it's worth a look but it certainly is not beyond mediocrity.
Review of Beyond Evil
