From Beyond

Probably inspired by the cliché "never change a winning team," Stuart Gordon walks out of a meeting with producers holding the script for From Beyond.

It's 1986, and we know full well that just a year earlier, Gordon gave birth to the cult classic Re-Animator. He wants to try again, with the same team. Starting with the inspiration: a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, making Gordon somewhat like Corman with Poe's stories.
Adapting the seven-page tale into an 85-minute film are Brian Yuzna, of course, and Dennis Paoli. Yuzna, in particular, took a lot from this project for his excellent Society.
And, as expected, in front of the camera, we find Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs, joined by Ted Sorel and Ken Foree.

Reassembling the band, Gordon directs a well-crafted horror film that relies heavily on its special effects and makeup, which effectively convey anguish and terror.
It's a straightforward horror movie that fulfills its purpose, even adding a dose of morbid eroticism.

That said, not everything flows perfectly, and some choices feel forced—such as Barbara Crampton's latex-clad dominatrix moment, an unnecessary example of the aforementioned morbid eroticism.

We're once again in the world of mad scientists. Crawford Tillinghast (Combs) is an assistant to Dr. Pretorius (Sorel), who has designed the Resonator, a device capable of revealing realms beyond human perception. One of their experiments goes wrong, and Tillinghast is bitten by a strange creature that emerges from the machine. He tells Pretorius, who, intoxicated by excitement, tries the machine himself and dies. Tillinghast is arrested and confined to a psychiatric hospital. Dr. McMichaels (Crampton), tasked with his case, frees him and decides to investigate further, returning to the lab with Tillinghast and Bubba Brownlee. There, they activate the machine again, discovering that Pretorius is alive and thriving in another sinister dimension, where he manipulates them all.

Due to budget constraints, Gordon moves the entire production to Italy, where, with $2.5 million, he delivers this work compared to the $15 million estimated for production in the United States.
The chosen soundstage is Dinocittà, just outside Rome—a studio built by Dino De Laurentiis, where Monicelli shot The Great War, Huston filmed The Bible, and Fellini created The Voice of the Moon. After a rapid decline, the site was eventually transformed into Cinecittà World.