Beyond the Door III
Director– Jeff Kwitny
Starring – Mary Kohnert, Bo Svenson, Victoria Zinny
Country of Origin- Italy/Yugoslavia
Distributor - Vinegar Syndrome
Number of Discs - 1
Reviewed by - David Steigman
Date- 11/12/2019
Beyond the Door III also known as Amok Train is a film that I and perhaps others hadn’t heard of and could be considered somewhat obscure. The “Beyond the Door” title was used because it was intended to make the film more recognizable and would become part of the trilogy, despite it being unrelated to the other two films. The two films in this “series” consist of the original Beyond the Door followed by Beyond the Door II, mainly recognized as Shock, which was directed by directed by legendary Italian horror director Mario Bava. Beyond the Door II became an unofficial sequel to the first film. Ovidio G. Assonitis, who produced the original Beyond the Door film, had not intended for the 1989 film to be titled Beyond the Door III. Amok Train, Death Train, and The Train were other titles considered and or used for home video releases. Ultimately Beyond the Door III was selected because the other two “Beyond the Door” films were successful.
In this picture, the majority of the film does indeed take place on a train, hence the movie titles with the word ‘train’ on it. The story is about a young, shy girl Beverly Putnic (Mary Kohnert, of the Star Trek the Next Generation TV series), and her classmates who travel to Yuogslavia to watch a ritual. Accompanying them is Professor Andromolek (Bo Svenson, Delta Force, Deep Space) who is their guide. As a plot convenience the professor happens to be a Satanist. He lures the students into his devilish traps who are then are sacrificed to Satan. Beverly Putnic who is the lone virgin apparently, is the main ingredient to bring Satan back to life. Knowing they are in deep trouble, the kids try to escape on a train where to their chagrin more murders lie ahead.
Call it a horror version Murder on the Orient Express or a poor man’s Terror Train, Beyond the Door III, outside of the gruesome, original clever gore scenes is a somewhat incoherent “train wreck” of a film. The acting and dialog are rather clumsy and the film as a whole is pretty dreary to sit through. But still, horror genre fans will most certainly enjoy and get a kick out of this schlock. It’s not a complete disaster of a movie but it’s a long way from being great cinema, and easily could have been a better film.
Promoted by Vinegar Syndrome as "Newly scanned and restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative," Beyond the Door III arrives on Blu-ray looking quite good with stunning colors and visuals. Skin tones look accurate and film-like. The outdoor scenes in broad daylight are just breathtaking. Interiors such as the inside of the train are also detailed with deep textures. Black levels are balanced with proper shadowing. Overall the image quality for the movie is well-done.
The English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio track used for this Blu-ray is excellent with crisp and clear dialog throughout. The action / horror scenes is when the audio, such as the music, screams and even the train sounds come in much stronger. English subtitles are available for this Blu-ray.
Vinegary Syndrome has added quite a few supplements to make this a truly awesome package. “Running Amok" is a 40 minute interview with director Jeff Kwinty, who basically discusses his career in film. He does mention he went to the legendary B-movie director Roger Corman for his first job in the film business. There is no better way to start a low budget directing career than by being guided by the master himslf. Kwinty recalls his first meeting producer Ovidio Assonitis, and later moving to Rome to help the producer with his films. He recalls memories of his time with Assonitis, leading up to how he landed the directorial chores for what would eventually be called Beyond the Door III.
"A Long Walk to Yugoslavia" is an interview with cult movie star Bo Svenson, where he talks about his history during the production of Beyond the Door III. His voice changes throughout where he speaks both English and veers off into sounding like a pirate for some odd reason. It’s an interesting and amusing interview.
Another Interview, this one with cinematographer Adolfo Bartoli is one where he talks about his career, his time with Assonitis, his visual style, among other tidbits about and what his thoughts were of Beyond the Door III. His English isn’t the best, but you should be able to understand him.
A DVD copy is included in the package, and it comes with a limited edition slipcover. The slipcover is limited to 2000 which is most likely more than enough for this obscurity.
This release by Vinegar Syndrome I can easily say is a highly recommended one. They have done a tremendous job bringing Beyond the Door III to life on home video. I can’t imagine another label giving it the royal treatment as ‘VS’ has done!
