‘Journey into the Beyond’ Blu-ray (review)

Bring up spooky lights one through three.

Roll creepy sound effects.

We are now ready to Journey Into The Beyond…

Cue Theremin.

Cue Mr. Barrymore.

Journey Into The Beyond is a fantastic shock-o-rama mondo documentary that examines a handful of pretty excellent and most likely debunkable paranormal and psychic phenomena throughout the world.

Made in 1975, Journey Into The Beyond is a real trip.

I hadn’t ever seen this before though I had heard about it.

Perfectly narrated by the incomparable character actor, John Carradine, this film by Austrian filmmaker Rolf Olsen tackles the unknown world of the supernatural.

In this case exorcisms, levitation, seances, miracle surgeries, voodoo, telekinesis, and life after death!

This film is Great with a capital “G”!

This film can be considered almost a sort of precursor to future shockumentaries and TV shows of the era such as Faces of Death, In Search Of…, That’s Incredible, Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, and later on Unsolved Mysteries.

Films like The Blair Witch Project, The Last Broadcast, Cannibal Holocaust and every other Horror mockumentary has at least a chunk of its DNA based on these films and TV Shows.

I was absolutely obsessed with these shows as a kid.  They freaked me the “eff” out and kept my night terrors fully fueled.

And still, I could not stop watching them.

So when I was asked to review the latest release of this movie I was like, “Hell’s yeah!”

This film is totally engrossing.

Director Olsen, who was known for, and would be known for later in his career, everything from violent action movies, sexploitation epics, and even children’s films really leans into the “spooky” factor and the grotesque by filming unadulterated footage of horrific “psychic” medical procedures, witch doctors performing eye surgeries with no anesthesia and just hacking out cataracts and dentists doing oral surgeries with the power of the mind and hypnosis instead of knocking the patient out. So-Called “Miracle doctors” who can remove a giant tumor from a person’s back with a dull knife, no sterilization and their dirty fingers.

You get the picture.

The film is not for the squeamish. There is some animal cruelty and it being the 70’s they definitely harmed animals in this film.

So be warned.

It can be outrageous and offensive. Again. It IS the 70’s afterall.

Though to the modern more inured sensibilities most of the “shocking” things, animal cruelty aside, is mostly pedestrian almost 50 years later. What with shows like Fear Factor, Dr. Pimple Popper and all those “shock” reality shows available at the click of a button.

Journey Into the Beyond… can be schlocky at times and sort of laughable, when viewed through the very filtered lens of the modern era. I think my favorite part is the fact that at the beginning of the film they have an announcement and title cards that state that they will play soothing chimes before something particularly upsetting and graphic is about to happen to warn the squeamish. Then tell the audience that they will play a few piano notes when it is safe to watch again.

Today it seems like a “gimmick” but back then many were horrified by this movie. There were mass walkouts, people throwing up in the theater and people fainting in their seats.

There is just something special about the poorly lit, hand held, gritty, scratched film, guerilla filmmaking style of camerawork juxtaposed against the very clinical talking heads segments that make it so unbelievably believable. It 100% benefits from Carradine’s magnificent English-accented-old-man-voice-over that ties it all so neatly and creepily together.

Overall, this is a really fun watch. If you were ever a fan of the previously mentioned “supernatural” and “paranormal” TV shows, and like seeing bizarre if not totally fake “unexplainable” events, then you should totally fire up the old streaming stick, Roku, or computer. Go pop some popcorn and give this 1975 time capsule of the “unexplainable” a watch.

Sadly this is not available on Laserdisc, RCA CED, VHS, Betamax, or even DVD… as far as I know.