Shock

Alternate titles : "Beyond the Door II", "Demons of the Night".

Tagline : "Prepare yourself..."

Italian regulars Daria Nicoladi (a frequent collaborator with Argento) and John Steiner play newlyweds Dora and Bruno Baldini, who along with her son Marco, who was from her abusive former Husband, move into the home she previously shared with her ex.

But despite her new husband's best efforts to be a good step-father, her son still pines for his biological father, despite his abusive nature and the fact that he was presumed dead, after his boat was found abandoned at sea.

But then strange things start happening around the house, like strange gifts and notes turning up, signed by her ex husband. Her son behaves extremely abusively towards his stepfather, even cutting his picture out of their wedding photos. And she has strange dreams about her ex husband coming back as a zombie and trying to kill her.

This raises the question, if this is just abuse trauma, combined with her son rebelling against his step-father, or are sinister supernatural events occurring in the house? Well, I'm sure we can all guess the answer to that one.

Directed by Mario Bava, and also starring Euro-horror regular Ivan Rassimov, the film was renamed "Beyond the Door 2" for it's US release, though was not in any way connected to it. This was a bit of a slow burner, but isn't a bad film over all, which should appeal to Bava fans, or lovers of Italian supernatural films.

It's not quite "The Omen", but is definitely worth a watch.

Overall Marks : 5/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• Filmed in just 5 weeks, during the summer of 1977. Filming wrapped in June, then hastily rushed into post-production and released into Italian cinemas in August of that year.
• The film was loosely based on the 1971 novel "The Shadow Guest" by American suspense novelist Hillary Waugh
• Director Mario Bava's final film.
• The UK theatrical version and subsequent video and DVD releases were of a shorter version, which removed some of Ivan Rassimov's scenes. Current Blu-Ray releases are of the longer, complete version.
• The blue promotional poster used for many releases of the film, showing a girl with a Stanley knife, was adapted from William Teason's cover artwork for the Shirley Jackson novel "We Have Always Lived in the Castle".
• John Steiner and Daria Nicoladi also appeared togethor in the Dario Argento film "Tenebrae" (1982).
• Lamberto Bava, the Director's son who also worked on the film, turns up in a couple of supporting roles, as one of the moving men and as an airline passenger.
• Scriptwriters Dardano Sacchetti and Francesco Barbier had previously worked with Mario Bava on the film "A Bay of Blood" (1971).
• David Collins Jr, who played Dora's young son Marco, also played the young son in "Beyond the Door" (1974), which this film was marketted as a sequel to in the US, although was completely unrelated.

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