23 April 2024
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Beyond the Door (1974)
94 min.
Directed by Ovidio G. Assonitis.
With Juliet Mills, Richard Johnson, Gabriele Lavia, Barbara Fiorini, David Colin, Jr., Nino Segurini, Elisabeth Turner.
Also known as The Devil Within Her, this popular Italian rip-off of The Exorcist stars Juliet Mills (of TV's Nanny and the Professor).

Already a mother of two demanding brats, mild mannered housewife Jessica Barrett (Mills) has mixed feelings when she discovers she's pregnant with her third child.

Even more bewildering is the fact that her pregnancy seems unnaturally accelerated, not to mention she begins to be plagued with violent thoughts and manic paranoia. What could it all mean?

Well, it seems Jessica is carrying the devil's own spawn. Not sure *how* it really happened, but yes, indeedy, inside her gestates a Child of Supernatural Evil so powerful it threatens to consume not only Jessica, but all those around her!

As you might surmise, Beyond the Door features all the prerequisite vomiting, screaming and head-spinning, but lousy dubbing and a forced feeling don't do it any justice. Mills gives a valiant performance here, but the loopy plotline and derivative stylings keep this from being a superior effort.

Sidenote: Mario Bava's 1977 Beyond the Door II has no relation to this one, and should be better known as Shock.

Italian title: Chi Sei?: Who Are You?.

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