Scientists are constantly pushing the boundaries of human knowledge, discovering new things, and occasionally making breakthroughs that improve everyone's lives. But every once in a while, someone comes along who decides that ordinary scientific research simply isn't exciting enough. Why study physics or biology when you can build a machine that allows you to see creatures from another dimension? And if those creatures happen to be hungry, aggressive, and completely uninterested in respecting personal boundaries, well, that's just an unfortunate side effect. Welcome to From Beyond (1986), a gloriously disgusting science-fiction horror film that makes turning off the laboratory equipment seem like a perfectly reasonable career choice.
Directed by Stuart Gordon and based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, the movie follows Dr. Edward Pretorius and his assistant, Crawford Tillinghast, who develop an experimental device called the Resonator. The machine stimulates the pineal gland, allowing humans to perceive creatures and phenomena existing beyond ordinary reality. Naturally, this turns out to be a terrible idea.
After an experiment goes horribly wrong, Pretorius disappears under mysterious circumstances, while Tillinghast is left dealing with the consequences. He's subsequently placed in a psychiatric institution, where psychiatrist Dr. Katherine McMichaels, played by Barbara Crampton, attempts to determine whether he's suffering from delusions or actually discovered something terrifying.
Jeffrey Combs stars as Tillinghast, once again demonstrating that nobody plays a socially awkward scientist with questionable judgment quite like him. After his unforgettable performance in Re-Animator, Combs returns to the world of experimental medicine, where apparently the only qualification necessary for scientific research is an inability to recognize an obvious disaster before it happens.
Barbara Crampton is equally entertaining as Katherine, who begins investigating the Resonator despite increasingly convincing evidence that perhaps she should find another patient. Ken Foree also appears as Bubba Brownlee, a police detective who gets dragged into the supernatural nightmare. He's easily the most sensible person in the movie, which isn't saying much considering the company he's keeping.
The special effects are the real attraction. From Beyond is packed with bizarre creatures, grotesque transformations, tentacles, slime, and enough biological weirdness to make a medical textbook spontaneously burst into flames. The practical effects are wonderfully imaginative, particularly when the characters begin experiencing physical changes after prolonged exposure to the Resonator.
The movie also features some wonderfully uncomfortable sequences involving Dr. Pretorius, who returns as something considerably less human than he was before. His transformation is spectacularly disgusting, and the creature designs demonstrate just how much fun practical effects artists could have before computer-generated imagery took over everything.
Of course, the movie isn't particularly interested in scientific accuracy. The explanations involving the pineal gland and alternate dimensions are mostly an excuse to throw increasingly ridiculous monsters onto the screen. The characters also make some spectacularly questionable decisions, repeatedly returning to the machine despite knowing that it has already caused several people to experience horrifying transformations.
At some point, you have to wonder whether anyone in this laboratory has ever heard of unplugging something.
Final Verdict: From Beyond is a wonderfully twisted piece of 1980s horror that combines Lovecraftian science fiction, outrageous practical effects, and plenty of gloriously disgusting body horror. Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton make an excellent team, while Stuart Gordon delivers another entertaining reminder that scientific curiosity can have some seriously unpleasant consequences.
It's weird, bloody, occasionally hilarious, and packed with enough tentacles to make an aquarium look positively boring.
Just remember: if you build a machine that allows you to see creatures from another dimension, perhaps don't switch it on. And if you do, maybe don't invite Jeffrey Combs over to help with the experiment.
Directed by Stuart Gordon and based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, the movie follows Dr. Edward Pretorius and his assistant, Crawford Tillinghast, who develop an experimental device called the Resonator. The machine stimulates the pineal gland, allowing humans to perceive creatures and phenomena existing beyond ordinary reality. Naturally, this turns out to be a terrible idea.
After an experiment goes horribly wrong, Pretorius disappears under mysterious circumstances, while Tillinghast is left dealing with the consequences. He's subsequently placed in a psychiatric institution, where psychiatrist Dr. Katherine McMichaels, played by Barbara Crampton, attempts to determine whether he's suffering from delusions or actually discovered something terrifying.
Jeffrey Combs stars as Tillinghast, once again demonstrating that nobody plays a socially awkward scientist with questionable judgment quite like him. After his unforgettable performance in Re-Animator, Combs returns to the world of experimental medicine, where apparently the only qualification necessary for scientific research is an inability to recognize an obvious disaster before it happens.
Barbara Crampton is equally entertaining as Katherine, who begins investigating the Resonator despite increasingly convincing evidence that perhaps she should find another patient. Ken Foree also appears as Bubba Brownlee, a police detective who gets dragged into the supernatural nightmare. He's easily the most sensible person in the movie, which isn't saying much considering the company he's keeping.
The special effects are the real attraction. From Beyond is packed with bizarre creatures, grotesque transformations, tentacles, slime, and enough biological weirdness to make a medical textbook spontaneously burst into flames. The practical effects are wonderfully imaginative, particularly when the characters begin experiencing physical changes after prolonged exposure to the Resonator.
The movie also features some wonderfully uncomfortable sequences involving Dr. Pretorius, who returns as something considerably less human than he was before. His transformation is spectacularly disgusting, and the creature designs demonstrate just how much fun practical effects artists could have before computer-generated imagery took over everything.
Of course, the movie isn't particularly interested in scientific accuracy. The explanations involving the pineal gland and alternate dimensions are mostly an excuse to throw increasingly ridiculous monsters onto the screen. The characters also make some spectacularly questionable decisions, repeatedly returning to the machine despite knowing that it has already caused several people to experience horrifying transformations.
At some point, you have to wonder whether anyone in this laboratory has ever heard of unplugging something.
Final Verdict: From Beyond is a wonderfully twisted piece of 1980s horror that combines Lovecraftian science fiction, outrageous practical effects, and plenty of gloriously disgusting body horror. Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton make an excellent team, while Stuart Gordon delivers another entertaining reminder that scientific curiosity can have some seriously unpleasant consequences.
It's weird, bloody, occasionally hilarious, and packed with enough tentacles to make an aquarium look positively boring.
Just remember: if you build a machine that allows you to see creatures from another dimension, perhaps don't switch it on. And if you do, maybe don't invite Jeffrey Combs over to help with the experiment.
Review posted
October 30, 2026