Beyond the Door (1974) is one of those films that leaves you wondering how such a bizarre, incoherent mess could make $15 million. Directed by Ovidio G. Assonitis and Roberto D’Ettore Piazzoli, the movie is clearly trying to cash in on the success of The Exorcist—and fails spectacularly in every department. The plot is a muddled jumble of demonic possession, rapid pregnancies, levitation, projectile vomiting, and a whole lot of nonsensical supernatural nonsense, all wrapped up in an attempt to be a “shocking” horror film. If it weren’t for the genre’s low expectations at the time, this film would have likely been forgotten as one of the countless exploitation films of the 1970s.
The film follows Jessica Barrett (Juliet Mills), a seemingly normal woman living in San Francisco, who becomes pregnant and soon finds herself at the mercy of strange and violent supernatural occurrences. If this sounds like a poor man’s The Exorcist, that’s because it is. In fact, Beyond the Door is almost a paint-by-numbers rip-off, lacking the subtlety, tension, or genuine scares that made The Exorcist a cinematic landmark. The film’s efforts to mimic the slow burn of its predecessor are laughable at best. Instead of creeping horror, we get a barrage of wild, poorly executed demonic antics that try to shock but only leave you groaning.
Jessica’s possession—or, more accurately, her increasingly ridiculous behavior—is treated with all the gravity of a soap opera. Mills tries her best to sell the role, but it’s hard to take her seriously when she’s writhing on the floor, vomiting in a fountain of green goo, or having convulsions that look more like the after-effects of a bad meal than a supernatural curse. The filmmakers seem to think that throwing a series of bizarre, jarring images at the screen will create suspense or horror, but the result is more confusing than terrifying. We get a rapid-fire series of events with no real coherence: Jessica grows sicker, levitates for no reason, gets strapped into a straitjacket, and then contemplates whether she wants an abortion, all while being chased by some very non-threatening “evil” energy. The supernatural events are so laughable that even when they’re supposed to be horrific, you’re too busy rolling your eyes to care.
The pacing is another major issue. The film lingers on scenes of Jessica’s disturbing behavior, but instead of building tension or atmosphere, it just drags the plot along at a snails’ pace. The film makes a big deal out of Jessica’s troubled pregnancy, but you’re never really given enough emotional or psychological depth to care. The characters are flat—her husband Robert (Gabriele Lavia) is your typical clueless spouse, and the supporting cast is relegated to random, unexplained appearances that barely serve any narrative purpose. It’s like the filmmakers threw a bunch of horror tropes into a blender and hoped something would stick. And when they do try to explain what’s going on, it’s convoluted at best.
Then there’s the central villain, Dimitri (Richard Johnson), who is not so much sinister as he is a cartoonish villain straight out of a bad melodrama. He’s a Satanist who helps bring the Antichrist into being, but his motivations and the logic behind his actions are nonsensical. Why does he want the Antichrist born? Why does he have such a large hand in Jessica’s life? The film doesn’t bother to answer these questions. Instead, Dimitri’s role feels more like a plot device than an actual character with depth. His relationship with Jessica is never properly explored, and the resolution of his character’s involvement with the demonic entity feels rushed and anticlimactic. After all, he’s killed off by the entity for what seems like sheer amusement—an empty gesture that doesn’t provide any real resolution.
The film’s visual effects are dated and laughably bad. The levitation scene, which should have been a moment of horror, looks more like a bad magic trick. The projectile vomiting? It’s all just gross for the sake of being gross, without any real terror behind it. At one point, Jessica vomits green bile all over a mirror in what is supposed to be a dramatic scene of possession. Instead, it’s so over-the-top and ridiculous that it’s hard not to laugh. The overall effect is less The Exorcistand more a student film trying to imitate it with a fraction of the budget and none of the subtlety.
If there’s any merit to Beyond the Door, it lies in the fact that it’s unintentionally hilarious. The absurdity of the entire film makes it a strange, campy spectacle to watch with friends while laughing at the sheer absurdity of it all. From the ridiculous “demonic possession” scenes to the bizarre plot twists, the film’s attempt to be a serious supernatural horror flick fails miserably, but it does offer plenty of moments to chuckle at. It’s not a film that’s so bad it’s good—it’s simply so bad that it’s painful to sit through.
The final twist, in which Jessica’s son Ken (David Colin Jr.) reveals his glowing green eyes, supposedly setting up the sequel, is as anticlimactic as it gets. After all the buildup, you’re left with a sense of “that’s it?” The film ends on a note that is both predictable and unsatisfying, leaving no lingering sense of dread or finality. Instead, you’re left wondering how a film so messy, derivative, and full of cheap thrills could ever have been considered a “success.”
In the end, Beyond the Door is a tedious, ineffective attempt at supernatural horror. It’s neither scary nor suspenseful, and it’s a poor imitation of The Exorcist in every possible way. It may have been a commercial success, but that only speaks to the market’s hunger for anything resembling The Exorcist in the wake of its success—not the quality of the film itself. If you’re looking for genuine horror, look elsewhere. If you want a bad movie to laugh at, Beyond the Door will certainly deliver on that front.
