Beyond Terror – Cauldron Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Spain, 1980
Director: Tomás Aznar
Writers: Tomás Aznar, Miguel Lizondo, Alfredo Casado
Cast: Francisco Sánchez Grajera, Raquel Ramírez, Emilio Siegrist, Antonio Jabalera, Alexia Loreto, David Forrest, Andreé Van de Woestyne, Martin Kordas

Release Date: July 6th, 2021
Approximate running time: 83 Minutes 38 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: LPCM Mono Spanish
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $39.95

"After a drug-fueled night of  violence, a group of young degenerates and their hostages find themselves stranded in a remote, abandoned church in rural Spain. Their evening of debauchery and blasphemy quickly turns to greed when they discover a local legend that tells of a vast fortune guarded by mummies in the catacombs beneath the ruins. Their lust for the treasure is short-lived as they find that the supernatural horror in the catacombs is something further than fear… it is Beyond Terror!" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, “4K restoration from the original negative."

Beyond Terror on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 24.8 GB

Feature: 22.5 GB

Outside of a few very minor source-related imprecations, this transfer looks excellent. Colors are nicely saturated, image clarity and black levels are consistently strong, and grain remains intact.

Audio: 3.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in Spanish with removable English subtitles. Though the audio sounds clear and balanced, range-wise things are limited.

Extras:

Extras for this release include reversible cover art, an image gallery (lobby cards/home video art) with an eight-song soundtrack (26 minutes 45 seconds, LPCM mono), and an audio commentary with film historian Kat Ellinger.

Summary:

Tomás Aznar was a filmmaker whose limited filmography consists of comedies and one horror film, Beyond Terror. Though he had not worked in the horror genre before or after directing Beyond Terror, the result is a film that has all the elements that should satisfy horror film fans. That said, Beyond Terror is a film not without some serious flaws.

The most glaring shortcoming of Beyond Terror is its slow-moving narrative. Fortunately, to combat a slow narrative, Beyond Terror has an outlandish premise and enough WTF moments to keep you from fully disengaging.

Another area where Beyond Terror is not going to win over anyone is its performances, which are limited. The cast are nothing more than props. However, for many of the cast members, this would be their one and only film.

From a production standpoint, Beyond Terror is a film that does very well working on what is an anemic budget. Also, there is an ample amount of carnage, most of which is sufficiently gory. Another strength of Beyond Terror is its solid progressive rock sounding soundtrack, which also features a funky disco track. Ultimately, Beyond Terror is a film that you are either going to embrace or quickly lose interest in.

Beyond Terror gets a strong release from Cauldron Films that comes with a solid transfer, an informative audio commentary, and an option to listen to the soundtrack, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer