It's whenever the heroes leave the single location where the machine allowing them to glimpse the "Beyond" resides that these low points occur. A slow start and the weak first half of its final act aside, things are a lot of gross-out fun and feature some excellent creature designs. As interesting as all of that may sound though, it wouldn't matter if the film weren't entertaining. Watching the cast spell out their doom largely because of their lustful desires while hiding under the guise of scientific discovery infuses the madness with an understated psychosexual tinge. Then there's her co-lead who already knows the dangers present, yet isn't as combative as he should be to the whole process seemingly due to his attraction towards her. The only reason they're at danger in the first place is the protagonist's intoxication with the seductive allure of the other realm's ability to stimulate parts of the mind and awaken sensual urges. Like all the really good horror movies though, these characters are more at risk of succumbing to their own folly than they are the disgusting monsters that lurk outside of their natural perception and the gory fates they offer that will likely make your stomach churn. The distinguishing factor being that the terror feels appropriately more alien than gothic. What follows is a nightmare of grotesquely malformed beasts with a similar air of kinkiness stemming from the fetishistic use of leather and chains. A lot of parallels can be drawn between this and Hellraiser as a man of deviant sexual tastes falls prey to beings from another dimension after establishing a connection to them and comes back a monster himself. Takes the short story of the same name from one of horror's most significant authors and expands upon its basic premise to create a twisted tale of body horror and sadomasochistic sexuality that ends up carrying greater shades of Clive Barker than it does its original creator, H.P. ![]()
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