Voices from Beyond (1991) User Reviews (27)

Fair-to-middling Fulci.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 9 April 2018]

Lucio Fulci's penultimate movie is par for the course for the Italian godfather of gore in that it is a largely incoherent effort, an offbeat horror mystery enlivened by some bloody effects to keep the director's die-hard fans happy. There are also several surreal dream sequences (including one involving rotting zombies) and a reasonable helping of sweaty nudity for those who prefer their Euro-horror on the sleazy side.

The story starts with a wealthy man, Georgio Mainardi (Duilio Del Prete), dying from sudden internal haemorrhaging. As an autopsy is carried out (in graphic detail, naturally), Georgio's spirit questions what has happened to him. Determined to find out the truth, he contacts his daughter Rosy (Karina Huff) from beyond the grave; however, with the majority of Georgio's family and acquaintances having good reason to want the man dead, and with the guilty party covering their tracks, Rosy won't find it easy to solve the mystery.

While a long way from the director's best work, there are still a few scenes that make this one watchable: the aforementioned autopsy will appeal to gorehounds (also worth a mention are the frequent cuts to Georgio's interred body, each time the corpse a little more decomposed); those who enjoy the bizarre will love the freaky dream sequence set in a restaurant patronised by weird creatures with tentacles, where a serving of fried eggs turns into a plate of eyeballs; and those who like naked ladies will appreciate the T&A from pretty blonde Huff and brunette Bettina Giovannini as Georgio's wife Lucia.

Weak plot but stylish direction (SOME SPOILERS)

[gridoon · 6/10 · 25 January 2002]

One of Lucio Fulci's last films, this is a cross between a murder mystery and a horror shocker. It has a rather weak script and resolution (it just doesn't seem to matter much who did it one way or the other), but it's stylishly, sometimes imaginatively directed by Fulci. (SPOILERS FOLLOW)......Some viewers called this too tame; I guess it depends on your standards. It does feature a gruesome autopsy scene, repeated shots of worms munching on a rotting corpse, a attack by decomposed zombies (!) and a scene of a man who spits blood. Not your normal "mystery" stuff, I'd say. (**1/2)

mystery with some gore and nightmares; just OK - pretty predictable

[FieCrier · 4/10 · 11 February 2005]

More of a mystery movie with some gratuitous horror elements thrown in; mediocre overall.

It starts with a woman having a nightmare in which her sex partner gets out of bed, goes into the room of her crying child, and kills it. She wakes up. Then, that man is dying in a hospital, spitting up blood. His estranged daughter arrives, and he manages to contact her through her dreams (I think), and he wants her to find out who killed him before his body entirely decomposes in its grave.

There's not too much mystery about who did it, or even how; most viewers will have figured that out long before it is revealed. I'm not sure the way he was killed would really have worked.

Anyway, the horror elements get in through: a gory autopsy, the recurring dream of the man killing the boy, a nightmare in which a plate of eggs turn into eyes which are then cut, and several shots of the decomposing man both in nightmares and actually in his grave.

I was a little surprised to see a dedication in the end by Fulci to Clive Barker! Interesting.

Not a bad TV movie from Fulci

[Chris-773 · 8 June 2001]

A morbid little TV movie in the style of "Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense" or "Tails of the Unexpected". Viewers expecting fulci's ultra violent horror may be disappointed. Even so, given the limited budget and TV format he added a realistic autopsy scene together with repeated shots of a corpse in various stages of maggot ridden decay. The only thing that works against this film is that every scene is shot in soft-focus and very brightly lit, which spoils the overall effect. Also it has a happy ending a rarity for a Fulci movie.

Not an essential film by any means but certainly one for fulci's fans. Wait for the end titles though as it includes an odd dedication to Clive Barker from Fulci.

An OK film, Not Fulci's Best

[CMRKeyboadist · 5/10 · 27 January 2006]

This is one of the last films Fulci directed and you can tell. As this is a decent film it is not a horror movie. It's more of a mystery with very little of what made Fulci a great horror/gore director. It really does stray from the norm for Fulci as this story is more on the story and characters than it is on gore.

Basically, a very wealthy man dies an unnatural death (spewing up blood). His family are all a bunch of money grubbers except his daughter (who is the star of the movie). She has a dream one night that her father comes to her and tells her that he was murdered and that she needs to find the person that killed him before it's too late.

Now, the story is kind of interesting but things just don't click together. You can tell with many of the scenes that Fulci was trying to incorporate his psychedelic horror style but the story wasn't right for that style. There were though many scenes that were good and very eye catching. The music in the movie was very hypnotic and enjoyable. The big problem with this movie is the gore. There is very little gore. The gore that is in the movie doesn't even go on par with his work in the late 70's and early 80's. Though, there was one funny scene at the beginning of the movie involving a crying child and his crazed father threatening to stab him with a knife.

Over all, for Fulci fans I have to rate this a 3/10. For a regular movie, I have to rate this a 5/10. It's not bad but it's not good.

not so bad but also not so good

[Buio_Omega · 5/10 · 30 March 2004]

****WARNING!!!!! POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

Voices From Beyond is the last Fulci' work. It's about rich businessman Giorgio Mainardi who dies suffering, spewing blood, and his whole family is watching as he suffers. When Giorgio dies, his spirit connects from beyond the grave with his beloved daughter Rosie to find out, who is responsible for his death.

This film is a little bit of disappointment, but there are some interesting scenes giving thrills. Not much gore - Fulci's trademark, but includes a zombie attack, rotting head and some eyeballs pretending to be fried eggs. Recommended for Fulci completists and true die-hard fans. I give 5 out of 10.

The Last Decent Film By Lucio Fulci

[myboigie · 7/10 · 2 October 2006]

This is another one that isn't all-that-bad! It's a post-Sachetti scripted story (co-written by Fulci), but it's still a great supernatural-mystery sprinkled-with the horror that Lucio Fulci-fans adore. A brief-synopsis: a young-girl's father has been murdered by-poisoning, and a telepathic-link is formed between the deceased and the child. However, time-is-slipping-away for them, as the communication between the dead-man and his daughter is dependent-on the decay of the corpse--the more he rots (which Fulci shows us in delightful-detail), the weaker-the-link of communication. Will they discover who murdered him? Reminiscent of the opening-prologue of "Sunset Boulevard", Fulci delivered his last good horror-film here, there would be no-others. Having a narrative partly-delivered-by a dead-man was (and is) still uncommon, and an interesting experiment by Fulci which bears-fruit.

I found-myself pondering on the many-many issues of mortality watching this film, and it can certainly be read as a parable of the link the living share with the dead--the dead do speak-to-us, but we have to listen-carefully, and usually with detecting and forensics!Understanding the dead--in-part--is understanding the human-condition. Eventually, we have to let-go of the deceased, and move-on. One has to marvel that such an ailing-man (diabetes plagued Fulci his entire life) was capable of such a film, done with an almost non-existent budget. Fulci had a very tender-relationship with his daughter, so it could be inferred that there is some autobiography at-play here.Fulci knew he was dying slowly of diabetes.

Fulci was a valued-director--he could deliver under austere-conditions, and with over-50 films, his "hit-ratio" is surprisingly-high. He was cheap, and he usually delivered a solid-film with so little. Always remember that a majority of his films were made for under $1 million, and you begin to understand how truly-great he was as a director, a veritable-magician. People who compare other films by a director aren't worth listening-to, because people and times change. Yes, the films are frozen, but why should we be frozen too? Voices From Beyond is well-worth repeated-viewings, and almost totally-forgotten. Sure, it isn't his best film, but it's pretty good. It teaches us that we can let-go of the deceased, since they are always with us anyway. Long-live Lucio Fulci's legacy!

For Fulci completists only, not very good but has a few familiar moments

[Stevieboy666 · 5/10 · 10 November 2020]

The spirit of a dead businessman enlists the help of his daughter to help find out who murdered him. Made for TV this is one of notorious Italian film director Lucio Fulci's last movies, a far cry from his classics such as The Beyond and Zombie Flesh Eaters, but at least slightly better than the awful The Sweet House of Horrors. Despite having an obvious TV movie look we do thankfully get some Fulci trademarks such as a maggot infested corpse, gore, female nudity (topless) and even a short zombie sequence. But really this movie is recommendable to Fulci fans only, the story is silly, the English language dubbing is appalling, a mother and daughter are played by actresses who were only a couple of years apart in age, some slow motion flashbacks look crap and I was getting a bit bored towards the end. Highlight is Fulci's cameo carrying out a gory autopsy. I love many of Lucio's movies but I won't be watching this one again.

Fulci's beyond the grave mystery.

[lost-in-limbo · 7/10 · 24 February 2019]

Rest in peace, oh no, not this sorely departed soul. He wants his conniving killer revealed with the help of his innocent daughter. One of his last directorial efforts, Lucio Fulci presents something peculiar, and very patchy. You wouldn't think you're watching a made-for-TV presentation though. While not packed with violence, there's still a persistent mean-streak with Fulci's signature style. Explicit brutality towards a child, squashed eyeballs in a soup, mausoleum zombies (in a dream), topless nudity and flashes of a rotting, oozing corpse covered in flies and maggots. A TV-movie you say? Even with those nightmarish details, Fulci's vision is restrained, but there's something rather expressive and personal in his canvas of work.

The histrionic story is a hazy murder mystery without the mystery build-up, filled with lingering suspicions, sordid family secrets and the afterlife (presented by an echoing voice-over) getting involved through the use of allusive slow-mo dream sequences caused by either guilt or grief, depending on the character, to communicate or torment. Those prolonged dreams, and sometimes nightmares were striking and strange, along with the flashbacks, but without them there wouldn't be any thrills/intrigue/exposition/shocks - just melodramatic tropes and cold stares. While the narrative hardly comes out of first gear, its slow nature gives off a hallucinogenic vibe with the screen being soaked in moody imagery, foreboding aesthetics, swirling camerawork and a distinctive score.

This supernatural mystery doesn't entirely come together, yet remains hypnotic in its ideas and atmosphere.

Ok Fulci Movie

[davidkennedy-91087 · 5/10 · 6 October 2019]

Lucio Fulci might be best known for his gore flicks, but he's usually at his best when he has to scale things down and focus on more of a story. Voices From Beyond might not be his flashiest or goriest film, but the script is stronger than usual and there are a few interesting moments that make it worth seeing at least once.

Giorgio was murdered by someone in his family, but he doesn't know who. His body might be in the ground, but he's perfectly aware of it and his spirit lingers on a different plane, trying to warn his daughter that there's a mad man or woman in the family. He makes his spirit known to her and tries to get her to uncover the mystery of who his killer is.

Voices from Beyond has an interesting story even if the execution isn't always the most interesting. At times, the ghost dad scenes are a bit on the cheesy side, but then they'll show us a close up of his rotting, decomposing corpse and gross us out and the film will be back in our good graces again.

This is lightweight Fulci at best, but it's not terrible.

A gem of the late Fulci

[AS-69 · 8/10 · 10 August 2001]

Caution: Some plot and scenes revealed

"Voices from beyond" is one of Fulci's most coherent and successful productions, especially among his last films. As usual, the subject are the horrors of death and what comes after it.

The story deals with the death of Giorgi Mainardi, a man with a lot of money and enemies. After the prologue and the opening credits we witness the violent death of Mainardi, vomitting loads of blood. During his burial ceremony we are introduced to the main characters and in flash back sequences to why they had good reason to hate him. After his death, Mainardi manages to keep contact to the living: To his only trustee, his daughter Rosy, he talks in dreams, and his enemies he haunts with terrible nightmares. This concept gives Fulci the opportunity to insert many wildly surreal dream sequences (including, believe it or not, a zombie attack), and he makes good use of it. This dreamlike aspect of the movie is contrasted to the clinical analysis of Mainardi's death and decay, starting from his unpleasant demise on the death bed, ranging over the autopsy carried out by the Maestro (i.e., Fulci) himself, and ending in repeated shots of his decaying corpse.

Other fine images include a still life with broken light bulbs (the device used to kill Mainardi) which summarizes the evil plot against him.

We also watch the claustrophobia of Mainardi's father whose spirit is still alive but who has no means to communicate with the outside world, except his tears. He has to suffer interminable mockings through Mainardi's enemies.

Maybe this character expresses Fulci's own incapacity to express himself properly in his latest movies due to extremely limited budgets and equipment. In fact, in an interview Fulci declared that he wanted to make one more movie with sufficient production values (i.e., "The Wax mask"), so that he can die in peace. As everybody knows, fate has declined this favour to him.

Nevertheless, with "Voices from beyond", Fulci has demonstrated that he could create something of value even with restricted resources.

You're dead, so .STOP TALKING!

[Coventry · 6/10 · 14 August 2006]

"Voices from Beyond" is an overall solid Italian thriller, padded with typical Fulciesque gore scenes. I say padded because you'll quickly notice that, albeit very cool and delightfully gruesome, the gory bits are absolutely irrelevant to the story and they just seem to be included because the fans expect no less from Mr. Fulci. The gore occurs during several nightmare-sequences, a totally gratuitous autopsy and through repeated images of a slowly decomposing corpse. The rotting process goes incredibly fast here, by the way. Only moments after the burial, the corpse is already covered in maggots and cobwebs! Anyway, you certainly don't need these gloriously gooey moments in order to follow the story, but they sure make the movie more entertaining and easier to digest (…except if you have a weak stomach, of course). The actual story, written by Lucio Fulci himself, is quite compelling and revolves on the arrogant and despicable Mainardi family. The patriarch – Georgio – died from food poisoning, but his soul is restless and can't help thinking his dead was a carefully planned murder conspiracy. Therefore he seeks supernatural contact with the only remaining person he can trust, namely his cherubic teenage daughter Rosy. Guided by the voice of her departed father, Rosy investigates the various reasons why the entire Mainardi family wanted Georgio dead. The premise might sound a little silly; yet "Voices from Beyond" is quite involving and the tension is adequately build up. The film as a wholesome may not rank among his best efforts, but this is definitely one of Lucio Fulci's finest achievements in directing! There are several highly imaginative scenes to state his mastery, most notably the part where Georgio's body lies in state and the family members come to pay their last 'respects'. With each person standing before him, we are informed – through flashbacks - about the conflicts (read: possible motivations for killing) between him/her and the deceased. Very powerful! There are negative aspects as well, of course, like the occasionally poor dialogs and monologues, especially when Georgio's soul speaks! I suppose this is why dead people don't talk… They say stupid and cheesy things. Also, you should prepare for a dull and completely UNexciting climax. It's a really lousy ending to an overall recommended thriller. Now then, who wants a slice of eyeball-omelet?

generic

[byautumndead · 4/10 · 8 April 2007]

This is definitely not one of Lucio Fulci's better flicks by any stretch of the imagination. The plot is pretty bad, a millionaire is murdered and his spirt calls upon his daughter to find out who did it. But the biggest problem i have with this (besides knowing who killed him within 10 minutes of watching the movie) was wondering why anyone should even care? The father comes off as being a really big jerk to everyone he came across (including the daughter who he asks to help him) which made it quite hard for anyone to care who killed him. But no one really watches a Fulci flick for a good storyline, to do so would be like watching a porn for incredible script writing and acting. Typically his movies try to compensate for this by adding excessive scenes of gore but even that is lacking in this movie. If you're looking for a good Fulci flick, check out The Beyond.

Voices from Beyond

[Michael_Elliott · 22 February 2010]

Voices from Beyond (1991)

** (out of 4)

Made-for-TV flick ended up being the next to last film for the Italian goremaster. In the film a father suddenly dies and his young daughter arrives and starts hearing his voice. The father wants his daughter to discover the truth behind his death but it won't be easy as he made quite a few enemies in his life. One could debate the merit of Fulci's later day works but then again we could debate much of his gore period as well. If you don't mind the cheapness of his later films then you might want to check this one out as it somewhat comes off as a greatest hits from the director. The story itself is pretty stupid and it's doubtful anyone watching is really going to care who the killer actually is. I can't sit here and say that I figured out who did it but then again I really wasn't trying to figure it out. Also, as expected, the performances aren't the strongest and none of them are helped but the cheap dubbing that sounds rather silly. With that said, how many people actually come to Fulci for a story and good acting? What we come to a Fulci film for is gore and this one here offers quite a bit of it so don't let the fact that this was made-for-TV stand in your way. The gore levels are pretty high from start to finish as we get a fake looking stabbing, an autopsy scene with guts being pulled out and several other gory deaths. We also get another nice touch of visiting inside the father's grave every few days just to see what shape his body is in. It's also worth noting that there's a sequence where zombies attack one of the possible suspects so it was somewhat nice seeing the director doing one more scene inside that famous genre that he helped shape. The film also throws in a fair amount of sex and nudity so the sleaze factor is pretty high on all levels. Again, this isn't a masterpiece or one of Fulci's strongest works but it does contain enough of what we've come to expect from him.

A poor mess from a disillusioned mind

[Leofwine_draca · 2/10 · 27 November 2016]

If repeated eye close-ups, a soft-focus lens, and dream sequences moving in slow motion are your thing then this abysmal supernatural thriller from Lucio Fulci may be the film for you. Otherwise, skip it, as this is a Fulci far from the success of ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS or any of his other classic zombie gut-munchers. This is an old, muddled embittered Fulci, a man preoccupied with being over-the-top "arty" and supposedly stylish when instead all he can do is make the film look cheap and tacky, a director who had seriously lost his 'bite' when it came to horror films in 1990. At least he had some of the gore dripping for his next film, his swansong, NIGHTMARE CONCERT.

VOICES FROM BEYOND is a film packed with cheap scares and bad dream sequences, with attempts at atmosphere by having sets enshrouded in cheap-looking dry ice whilst monotonous synthesiser music plays loudly over the images on screen and threatens to blow your mind. None of the old acting hands are around to give the film any kudos either or any of those "cool, look, it's him!" type moments. Here, the cast is a bland one, a gang who couldn't act their way out of a paper bag, and even the repeated bared breasts of blonde female lead Karina Huff fails to generate the excitement that Fulci was desperate for.

The film's singular gory highlight comes at an autopsy, when a pathologist (played by a gleeful Fulci, up to his old tricks again) pulls out the guts from a corpse in graphic detail, snips them up and chucks them in a jar. Aside from the opening sequence which takes the term "death bed" literally with gallons of blood pumping from the mouth of a dying man (which promises a return to the old days which never occurs) this is a relatively bloodless and shoddy offering. The rest of the horror comes from repeated shots of a corpse decaying in its coffin, as while we watch flies appear and maggots crawl from the body's eye sockets - bizarre, seeing as the coffin is buried six feet below ground level. I guess it's those "burrowing flies" causing trouble again - or maybe it's just a film "of images".

Sure, this movie does have a few cool moments - I liked the voice-over narration of the corpse, a good effect used in literature a lot but rarely in films, and Fulci harks back to the old days by throwing in a nightmare sequence involving an attack by a few mouldy-looking zombies. But what a let-down of a non-ending! Our female lead laughs in the graveyard and walks off, what the heck?! Then watch closely for a final message from the director in which Fulci pays tribute to his "real friends" - one is none other than Clive Barker! This film's a poor mess from a disillusioned mind.

It's convoluted nonsense in my opinion. Very disheartening stuff from Fulci

[callanvass · 3/10 · 1 October 2013]

A family man dies rather suddenly without proper explanation. It's covered up as a stomach hemorrhage. His daughter Rosy is called upon by the spirit of her dead Father to uncover the truth surrounding the mystery of his death.

I love Lucio Fulci, despite his love and hate affair with people. I find him to be an innovator when it comes to Italian Horror. When he started to become ill, the quality of his films diminished, and this movie is proof of that. There are many random scenes that make no sense, and come across as needless. Example… We get a dream sequence with one of the suspected people being attacked by Zombies who are coming out of a crate. I've come to expect Lucio Fulci to be brash when it comes to violence, but there is also a very controversial dream sequence where the dead father stabs his son to death. It is later revealed in the ending as to why he does this, but it still raised my eyebrows a bit. I also thought the voice over from the dead Father was completely otiose. It came across as an annoying diversion, more than anything else. I know the actors were dubbed, but the dialog is inexplicably moronic. The ending is slightly clever, believe it or not. Too bad I was bored way too much to even care about it! This isn't gore filled like a lot of Fulci movies, but fret not. This does have some. We get bloody stabbings an eyeball omelet served on a platter, nasty blood puking, maggot infested corpse, intestines are extracted from a stomach, and more. The acting isn't really worth mentioning. Everyone is dubbed, and pretty terrible. I will say Rosy (The lead) resembles Linda Hamilton in some ways.

Final Thoughts: As a big Lucio Fulci fan, I was very disappointed in this. I can't in good conscience, recommend this one to you, unless you're a die-hard Fulci fan that hasn't seen this movie.

3/10

Not up to Fulci's usual standards

[applenutcrunch · 3/10 · 19 October 2001]

Seeing a photo of a man being attacked by zombies gave me hope that Lucio "Zombi" Fulci might be up to his old tricks. Unfortunately, other than the close ups of a rotting corpse, there's little to recommend in this story of the murder of a wealthy man and his daughter's quest to figure out who killed him. None of the characters are appealing and by the time you find out how they did it (that twist, at least, was cool), you stop caring. The only good thing I can say is that it made more sense than Nightmare Concert!

Sub standard, disappointing Fulci

[The_Void · 6/10 · 26 May 2006]

I'm a big fan of Lucio Fulci; many of his Giallo and splatter flicks are amongst my favourites of all time, but this made for TV movie is extremely sub par and not what I've come to expect from the great Italian director. The film is neither interesting, like some of Fulci's more tame Giallo's, or gory like the majority of his cult classics; thus leaving it lacking in both major areas, and ultimately ensuring that the film isn't very good. The film works from a plot that has been used many times previously, but still it's an idea that always has the chance of springing an interesting story just because it focuses on the theme of the afterlife, which is the ultimate unknown. This film focuses on Giorgio Mainardi; a man that isn't exactly well liked and after he dies of an apparent stomach hemorrhage, there aren't many people that are sad to see him go. This means that his ghost is trapped somewhere between life and the afterlife, and so he decides to try and get to the bottom of his death, and his only ally in this endeavour is his daughter.

The video that I saw this film on is proudly proclaimed that the film is "in the style of HP Lovecraft", and that's one of the most blatant attempts to sell a film I've ever seen. There is nothing even slightly reminiscent of the great horror writer in this tale, and the reason for that tagline would appear to be because of title similarity to the Stuart Gordon/Lovecraft film, 'From Beyond' - which is a lot better. The film does benefit from a distinctly Italian style, and the score is rather good. Unfortunately, however, Fulci has seen fit to positively roast every scene in it - and so the theme quickly becomes annoying. The plot plays out in a really boring way, and most of the scenes simply involve the ghost 'desperately' trying to find things out, or the daughter placing her suspicions over her family members. This movie was made for Italian TV, and so it's not surprising that it's all rather tame. There's a little bit of gore and a nightmare sequence with zombies; but this isn't the Fulci we all know and love. Overall, this film is extremely mediocre and not a good representation of Fulci's talents. Not worth bothering with, unless you're a Fulci completist.

Decent movie, good atmosphere, acting, cinematography, fx and music, slow in the middle, ending sucked

[Bababooe · 7/10 · 12 February 2017]

Decent movie, good atmosphere, acting, cinematography, fx and music, slow in the middle, ending sucked The story is good, but the middle section, especially the scene by the lake was very slow, and the ending sucked. The acting was good. I liked the voice over of the dead guy. It has atmosphere and the music was very good. Cinematography was good.

Decent movie, good atmosphere, acting, cinematography, fx and music, slow in the middle, ending sucked The story is good, but the middle section, especially the scene by the lake was very slow, and the ending sucked. The acting was good. I liked the voice over of the dead guy. It has atmosphere and the music was very good. Cinematography was good.

Incredible Film with an awesome ending quote!

[videoguy631 · 10/10 · 17 October 2021]

It is surprisingly how incredible of a movie this is so late in Fulci's career. It's a nightmarish cinematic masterpiece of terror. The score, acting, story, music, cinematography, pacing, it's all here and all great. Absolutely worth buying! Totally better then anything Argento has filmed within the past 30 years.

Murder main course, side of gore

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 3 March 2018]

This is Fulci's next to last movie, dedicated "to my few real friends, in particular to Clive Barker and Claudio Carabba." At this point, Fulci was shooting TV movies and direct to video stuff, often lending his name to lesser directors.

Giorgio Mainardi lies dying, surrounded by his uncaring family, wondering why. He has an internal hemorrhage from an ulcer and nothing can be done. His daughter Rosie comes for the funeral and the reading of Giogio's will, which has caused a family rift. Giogio's stepmother refuses an autopsy. Giorgio's father is on death's door from a stroke. And Giogio's stepbrother was having an affair with his third wife. It's Fulci, the soap opera!

Giogio is rotting away in his coffin, but his spirit communicates with Rosie. At the funeral, everyone remembers the dead man and how he treated them. Lucy remembers that he hated how frigid she was. Mario remembers being humiliated. Hilda remembers how cheap he was. And Rita, his mistress, remembers him going back to his wife and cutting her off. In short, Giogrio loved - and was loved by - nobody. It gets worse - Rosie gets the entire will, but Lucy is allowed to stay in the house. However, there is no money for David, Lucy's son who Giogio would not claim as his own.

An autopsy happens despite protests and the pathologist (hello, Fulci!) discovers the small intestines are damaged. And those intestines - kept for further observation - are destroyed.

Despite Hilda's objections, an autopsy on Giorgio goes ahead. The pathologist (Lucio Fulci) takes a sample of his small intestines and discovers some lacerations to the interior wall. He puts the sample in a jar of formaldehyde for later inspection. A little later, Rosie and her college boyfriend Gianni (Lorenzo Flaherty) discover that the jar containing the organ pieces removed from Giorgio's corpse has been "accidentally" smashed. But Gianni, a medical student with access to the pathology lab, tells Rosie that he'd found tiny splinters of glass in the intestines before the accident accrued later that night. He suggests that they go the police with their suspicions, but Rosie, who is now frequently and telepathically in touch with the spirit of her dead father, insists they investigate themselves rather than attract a public scandal.

After some twists and turns, Hilda is revealed to be the culprit, using David as her patsy. She created a game where he would use a mortar and pestle to smash up light bulbs and put them in Giogio's ice cubes. However, instead of informing the police, Rosie tells the family that her father will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

There are plenty of gory dream sequences, a decomposing corpse and lots of blood being vomited. But the script - by Fulci - has a nuance missing from much of his work. It's not his best film, but it's interesting. And definitely worth watching.

"To Everyone's Joy, He Finally Dropped Dead!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 2 November 2019]

VOICES FROM BEYOND opens with a "bang". An erotic dream sequence, also containing the bloody murder of a child gets our attention immediately. Then, Giorgio Mainardi (Duilio Del Prete) dies, spitting up blood like a fountain! It's clear that this is a Lucio Fulci film, and we haven't even gotten to the gory autopsy!

We soon learn that some of Giorgio's family, especially his coldhearted sister, Hilda (Frances Nacmen) and her gutless son, Mario (Pascal Persiano), are quite happy to be shed of him. Giorgio's daughter, Rosy (Karina Huff) seems to be the only one who actually loved this guy. When Giorgio's disembodied voice cries out for justice, Rosy becomes the sleuth that must figure out how her father died.

As a later Fulci film, VOICES... is better and more cohesive than others of the same period. Aside from the usual ultra-gore and beaucoup nudity, there are some interesting elements, like the supernatural contact through dreams, reminiscent of Fulci's earlier movie, THE BEYOND. In fact, several dreams draw from the director's past canon, featuring everything from rotting zombies to eyeball pasta! Giorgio's corpse is also shown over time, in various stages of putrefaction.

The story itself is solid and engaging with the character of Rosy being strong and inquisitive rather than silly or infantile. Is this a perfect movie? Well, no. It has some clunky, cheeezey moments, and an abrupt, unsatisfying finale, but still manages to be worth recommending...

Fulci fans are bound to find something to keep them watching in this horror mystery

[Condemned-Soul · 7/10 · 7 April 2021]

Lucio Fulci's penultimate film is a bit of a convoluted affair, but I thoroughly enjoyed its deliriously off-kilter energy as it weaved together multiple genres.

The gore master seemingly wanted to throw everything in this, fondly incorporating various elements from his previous work: erotic scenes (Lizard in a Woman's Skin), brutal knife stabs (The New York Ripper), maggots in close-up (City of the Living Dead), dreamlike camera lens filter (Conquest), murder mystery plot (Don't Torture a Duckling), violence towards eyeballs (take your pick), and even zombies! (The Beyond). Yes, zombies. In a random nightmare sequence, Fulci relishes the opportunity to include those mud-caked corpses one last time, and I appreciated it.

Overall, the story in 'Voices from Beyond' plays like a weaker version of Knives Out with a horror twist, but it's thoroughly watchable if you can get onboard with its offbeat and occasionally melodramatic ghost story treatment, featuring trademark imagery from the Italian director while boasting a good soundtrack too.

6.5/10.

Atmospheric Last Movie by Lucio Fulci

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 21 August 2022]

The powerful, wealthy and healthy businessman Giorgio Mainardi (Duilio Del Prete) suddenly has a mysterious stomach hemorrhage and dies. The doctor demands an autopsy to find the reason of his death. His daughter Rosy Mainardi (Karina Huff), who is in the university, returns home for the funeral. During the ceremony, each member of the dysfunctional family meditates of a motive to hate Giorgio. His wife Lucia Mainardi (Bettina Giovannini) has had a love affair with his stepbrother and believes Giorgio knows that her son Davide Mainardi (Damiano Azzos) is not his son. His stepmother Hilda Mainardi (Frances Nacmen), who married his crippled and mute father (Paolo Paoloni), recalls that he had limited her expenses. His stepbrother Mario Mainardi (Pascal Persiano) recalls when he refused to indicate him to an executive position in the Mainardi's administration. His lover Rita (Antonella Tinazzo) recalls that he had humiliated her in their last encounter in a restaurant. Out of the blue, Giorgio contacts Rosy from the beyond and asks her to find who might have killed him. When the sample of the autopsy is destroyed, Rosy's boyfriend Gianni (Lorenzo Flaherty) tells her that he had a sample in his laboratory and found glass as the cause of the hemorrhage. Now Rosy decides to seek out who killed her father and let him rest in peace.

"Voci dal profondo", a.k.a."Voices from Beyond", is the atmospheric last movie by Lucio Fulci. The good supernatural story and screenplay shows a wealthy dysfunctional family where practically all the members and his lover have a motive to kill the patriarch. In the end, greedy explains the motive of the Machiavellian murder of Giorgio. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Vozes das Profundezas" ("Voices from the Depth")