Pete's Peek | HP Lovecraft's deranged body horror tale From Beyond oozes its way onto Blu-ray

Stuart Gordon

THE STORY When two scientists, Edward Pretorius (Ted Sorel) and Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs), invent a device that can expand the powers of the mind, they unwittingly open a door to a parallel universe inhabited by grotesque beings with an insatiable appetite for depraved sensorial experiences.

From Beyond Gallery

THE LOWDOWN Having drawn on the warped imaginings of HP Lovecraft for their cult hit Re-Animator in 1985, director Stuart Gordon (Stuck) and producer Brian Yuzna supped from Lovecraft’s universe the following year, and ended up turning his 1934 short story From Beyond into a Day-Glo monster melange oozing with slimy hybrid creatures (part-puppet, part-animatronics) that could be suitable companions to David Cronenberg’s Brundlefly (The Fly also came out in 1986). While Gordon and Yuzna’s body horror doesn’t reach the giddy tongue-in-cheek heights of Re-Animator; From Beyond is a gross-out sensual delight that's worth revisiting, and becomes something altogether new if viewed as a really bad acid trip.

THE DISC Aside from a pristine Blu-ray print, this Second Sight release hosts a delicious array of bonus features, including interviews with director Stuart Gordon, writer Dennis Paoli and actress Barbara Crampton, featurettes on the film’s editing, music and (my favourite) special effects; plus an illuminating commentary from Gordon, producer Brian Yuzna and actor Jeffrey Combs.

Released 25 February on Blu-ray and DVD, from Second Sight http://youtube.com/v/5kENuvJ2MIA