The first part of the movie provides the usual studenty hi
jinks as actors way beyond school years fool around fairly annoyingly. It then
settles into something a lot more interesting when it's basically Blair and
her BF running around the basement of the house pursued by a giant misshapen
killer who in close up seems to be facially modelled on the subliminal demon
glimpsed in The Exorcist.
Of particular interest is the presence of Suki Goodwin,
playing Marti's friend Denise. Goodwin's English accent sounds rather odd
against the rest of the US cast, and a little research shows that she is the
daughter of the late Denis Goodwin, one time scriptwriter with Bob Monkhouse,
who took his own life at the age of 45. Apparently Goodwin was happy to do
nudity in the film, but was acting as the girlfriend of the rather more
reserved Vincent Van Patten, who insisted they both kept their clothes on in
the spirit of decency.
The Mutilator aka Fall Break (USA 1984: Dir Buddy Cooper) Somebody asked me why I would rewatch terrible films? Just
subjected myself to what I think is the fourth viewing of this movie. It's a difficult one to answer because, well, this film is dreadful.
Firstly you know who's doing all the slaying and mutilating so that fun is
taken away from the viewer. And then there's the acting, which improves as the
body count rises (less terrible acting to deal with) but in the opening scenes
is excruciating.
But look a little closer. This is good old fashioned
independent film making, supposedly shot in 29 days, with lots of local colour
(and local people fleshing out the cast). There are some terrific old school
effects on display courtesy of then fledgling Mark (From Beyond, Evil Dead II)
Shostrom. It's got an at times faux musique concrete soundtrack and an ace
theme song. And the killer looks like a mentally disturbed Rock Hudson! An
indefensible waste of 90 minutes of my life? No, no and indeed no.
At the end of the first movie, the tentacled aliens had
asserted their hold on New York City as well as LA, and had just perfected the
art of transferring the brains of their victims into ambulatory alien but human
shaped bodies, presumably to extend their invasion from airborne attack to
ground combat. Beyond Skyline develops the ground combat idea, and chucks
everything into the mix, including martial arts, kaiju creatures, exotic
locations, a baby who grows up in two days, and some effective CGI work. It's
pretty dumb but looks good, and O'Donnell leaves room for a third movie, which
if it's anything like this might be worth catching.
The Possessed aka Demon Witch Child aka La endemoniada (Spain 1975: Dir Amando de Ossorio) This one sometimes gets left out of the discussions on post The Exorcist euro cash ins, but is a demented classic from Mr 'Blind Dead' himself, Amando de Ossorio. Veteran actress Tota Alba looks extraordinary as sweary old Mother Gautère, who is persecuted for her crimes of witchcraft, killing herself before she can be dealt with by the authorities. Her coven arrange for Gautère to possess the body of the police commissioner's young daughter Susan, and before you can talk about somebody sucking something in hell, the young girl gives local sailors a run for their money in the cussing stakes.
The Possessed aka Demon Witch Child aka La endemoniada (Spain 1975: Dir Amando de Ossorio) This one sometimes gets left out of the discussions on post The Exorcist euro cash ins, but is a demented classic from Mr 'Blind Dead' himself, Amando de Ossorio. Veteran actress Tota Alba looks extraordinary as sweary old Mother Gautère, who is persecuted for her crimes of witchcraft, killing herself before she can be dealt with by the authorities. Her coven arrange for Gautère to possess the body of the police commissioner's young daughter Susan, and before you can talk about somebody sucking something in hell, the young girl gives local sailors a run for their money in the cussing stakes.
Marián Salgado as Susan (who dubbed Linda Blair in the Spanish version of The Exorcist) is as game as her American progenitor and particularly vile looking when she transforms into a pint size Mother Gautère, all wispy hair and challenging dentistry, with a side order of castration and random cackling. de Ossorio takes his usual side swipes at organised religion and the nature of good and evil, and the soapy and often wildly theological plot goes off in all directions before the final showdown. This is great value film making from a director never afraid to show his influences, but who rarely turns in a boring film.
This is a long, drawn out movie with very little narrative
tension and some terrible performances. Assonitis' first directorial
outing did not bode well for future outings - he would continue to bore with
mutated Octopus vehicle Tentacles (1977) and the equally baffling Madhouse
(1981) - his lumbering exposition giving way to a frankly silly climax and
incomprehensible denouement. Mills is quite game and looks the part, and the
San Francisco locations are pretty (all interiors were shot in Italy though)
but it's unintentionally funny in places (Mills's wonky eye effects and a scene
where a harassed Richard gets hassled by some serenading buskers stand out) and
it's all a far cry from the movie that started it all. A sequel of sorts followed with Mario Bava's 1977 movie Shock being retitled Beyond the Door II because of its possessed child storyline, but I wouldn't recommend a double bill.
Of course things go wrong (and the going wrong provides a
kind of Lovecraftian 'why' to the events in the first movie). Chris O'Dowd as
the Irishman of the group gets all the gags, including some limp one liners
when his arm, which has been severed in an accident, takes on a life of its
own. I will admit that some of the FX look rather good (thanks to what looks
like the entire eastern branch of IL&M judging by the credits) and it's a
blessing not to have any on board robots, but it's all really silly with a
script that is more than unusually sucky for this type of thing.
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