Books2Movies Club discussion

From Beyond is a short story by H.P. Lovecraft that is actually not regarded as one of his better works (don't look at me, the quote is from S.T. Joshi's book An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia). However, the influence it had on our culture with its twisted take on alternate realities and dimensions is undeniable. For example, I had no idea that a game Half-Life was heavily inspired by this story. My brother used to play it back then with me as an unwitting spectator. Creatures appearing from the alternate dimensions after a botched scientific experiment? How obvious now in the hindsight! So, when you hear again of a similar theme in yet another movie or book, think of this Lovecraft's story.

The story is in public domain, so you can find it online. The most obvious source would be this site: The H.P. Lovecraft Archive.

A loose adaptation of the story, the movie From Beyond (1986) was directed by Stuart Gordon and starring Jeffrey Combs, both of Re-Animator fame. The critics and the audience rated it positively back then. However, as it goes with the other gross 1980s horror movies, beware, it really is an acquired taste. There is also a new adaptation I wasn't aware of, Banshee Chapter (2013). Maybe it is also worth checking out.

The story is really short, you'll be able to read it in mere minutes. Freely share here your impressions and compare the movie(s) with it!

As said above, the story can be read in less than ten minutes. I did myself again two nights ago, and I am still trying to figure out do I like it or not. It was a strange story, very vivid imagery, but so short. A little bit of scary action there was was so abruptly ended. Also I didn't understand the motivation behind that crazed scientist, what was exactly the point of the demonstration to his friend / narrator. What would he achieve with killing him? OK, maybe I should've paid more attention to the details, and maybe the timing for reading it was not so good, after The Haunting and between The Stand reading sessions!

The movie was. So. Gross.

The only thing I liked in the movie was the Bubba character. Everything else was so silly, not to mention outright disgusting. This made me remember why I avoided horror video nights in the early 90s. Boys loved these movies and I couldn't stand them. Plenty of eye candy for them and so much gore. Definitely not my taste!