Save your money for something good and enjoyable

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

A somewhat effective mash-up of "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Exorcist," Ovidio Assonitis' "Beyond the Door" (1974) yet has little of the class and sophistication of the first or terrifying shocks of the latter. Released a year after "The Exorcist" kicked box-office tuchus (garnering $89 million; the No. 1 highest earner of 1973, if the book "Box Office Hits" it to be trusted), the film suffers from an aura of deja vu, but still has much to offer to the dedicated horror fan. In it, Juliet Mills (daughter of John, older sister of Hayley, but perhaps best known to American viewers as Phoebe Figalilly from the early '70s sitcom "Nanny and the Professor") plays Jessica Barrett, a wife and mother of two. She lives in San Francisco with her husband (a recording engineer played by Gabriele Lavia) and kids; in a further nod to "The Exorcist," one of these kids is an incredibly foul-mouthed little girl, while the son has the strangest habit of drinking cold Campbell's split pea soup from the can with a straw. (I know...ewwww!) Despite being on The Pill, Jessica finds herself miraculously pregnant, with her fetus growing at an alarming rate. She soon starts to evince some very odd behavior, such as eating banana skins off the street, along with violent mood swings and memory lapses. And that's nothing, compared to the inevitable head spinnings, levitations, sludge pukings and gravel-voiced cussing that soon follow. As a mysterious man from her past, Dimitri (Richard Johnson, star of the scariest film of all time, IMHO, 1963's "The Haunting"), tells her husband, Jessica has been taken over by "negative forces" (the "devil" word, strangely enough, is never used in the film)....As I mentioned up top, though occasionally effective, "Beyond the Door"'s ultimate impact is less than it could have been, especially for those viewers who are already familiar with its two antecedents. Still, there are pleasures here to be had. The film opens very strangely, with Old Scratch himself delivering a monologue in voice-over, while hundreds of ritual candles fill the screen; indeed, this might be the most original segment of the entire film! The picture makes good use of its San Francisco and Sausalito locales, while the sound FX are possibly the film's single scariest component. Some other chilling instances: Jessica's initial leering head swivel; Jessica's booming query "Who are you?" (the film's original Italian title, "Chi Sei?," translates as "Who are you?"); and Jessica tossing her husband about the bedroom while simultaneously cackling and dribbling. Unfortunately, the film also contains much that doesn't make a heckuva lot of sense. For example, after two viewings, I'm still not clear as to whether Dimitri was alive or dead, or, if alive, what he was doing for the 10 or so years since his fatal car crash. His ghostly manifestations toward Jessica, those possessed dolls in the kids' bedroom, and that blank-mouthed baby at the film's end all provided further head scratchings. The film is also a good 20 minutes longer than it needs to be; that interminable scene with the street musicians, for example, could certainly have been done away with. And for those viewers who get a little restless with the film, try playing the game of counting how many times some of the characters say "The child must/will be born"; I counted a good eight. One further comment: the current DVD incarnation of "Beyond the Door," from the good folks at Code Red, looks just fantastic, and comes replete with many fine extras, including modern-day interviews with Assonitis, Mills and Johnson. Johnson, now in his mid-80s, looks and sounds terrific, by the way, and his, uh, devil-may-care attitude is a joy to behold....

..this one was so incoherent and silly that i can't imagine possible giving this more than 3 stars. the main reason i didn't give it 1 or 2, is because there were one or two well done "scary" scenes. minus the one or two decent scenes, overall, the plot, and development was so nonsensical it was jaw dropping. Satan's narration was laughable. if Satan and evil is responsible for plagues, and war, and suffering, he's fairly intelligent and has accomplished his goals in that department. if he even want's to take it to a personal level, and possess people, OK, ill drop common sense and believe it, a la the exorcist. at least the exorcist had a good vs. evil theme. the outcome, and overall "plot" of "Satan" in this film made me seriously feel like buying the guy a drink. hey, Satan, you need it more than i do. if you have a chip on your shoulder, and want to cause humankind suffering, at least have your evil plan make some sense and benefit you in some way. i'm not addressing the complete insanity and retardation of this film as eloquently as i would like, but seriously, even if you are a b-movie junkie, a huge horror fan, and don't mind rip off movies, steer FAR FAR away from this film. it may cause you to like horror films less. this was not fun on ANY level. if you want a ridiculous, hilarious, horror film that lacks sense, watch Death Bed: The Bed That Eats. that one is a winner on every level, this, a turd. on every level.

In 1973, William Friedkin shocked audiences with his powerful movie adaptation of Peter Blatty's bestseller The Exorcist; unsurprisingly, 1974 saw opportunistic Italian film-makers offering eager horror fans several tawdry rip-offs, including Alberto De Martino's L'anticristo (The Antichrist), Mario Gariazzo's L'ossessa (AKA The Sexorcist), and this convoluted mess by Ovidio G. Assonitis, which also sees fit to throw in a bit of Rosemary's Baby for good measure.Beyond the Door (AKA The Devil Within Her) stars Juliet Mills as Jessica Barrett, wife of successful record producer Robert, and mother to pea-soup drinking Ken and foul mouthed Gail. When Jessica unexpectedly discovers that she is expecting a third child, she begins to suffer from severe mood swings, frightening her kids and worrying her husband.As Jessica's strange behaviour worsens (head spinning, vomiting, swearing, etc.,), a concerned and exasperated Robert eventually accepts an offer of assistance from stranger Dimitri (Richard Johnson), who just happens to be his wife's ex-lover; but is Dimitri genuinely concerned for Jessica, or does he have his own selfish reasons for helping her? Juliet Mills makes a very poor substitute for Linda Blair, dribbling puke from her mouth rather than expelling with force, levitating a paltry six inches above the floor, and lacking imagination when it comes to cursing, and Assonitis's dull direction, plus a script that makes virtually no sense, results in a turgid mess that is only worth watching if you're a movie masochist. In fact, the only moment in the whole film that really grabbed my attention was when Robert was inexplicably harassed by street musicians, including a funky jazz flautist who plays with his nose. Hilarious!

I will consider this DVD viewing a first-time watch for me, because I saw the unedited edition now released on disc by Code Red, under the European title THE DEVIL WITHIN HER (not to be confused with the Joan Collins film of the same name). Indeed, this Italian horror movie has gone through several title changes -- from CHI SEI? in its own country, to its most recognizable American name, BEYOND THE DOOR. But the only way to see it is under the complete DEVIL WITHIN HER form, since the U.S. version -- which I did see on a crappy videotape 20+ years back -- is a much more incomprehensible mess. Two directors tackled this (Ovidio G. Assonitis and Roberto D'Ettore Piazzoli), which is obviously a ripoff of THE EXORCIST with hints of ROSEMARY'S BABY. Director Ovidio states he got the idea from seeing the Polanski film, and from only reading the Exorcist novel.Juliet Mills (of TV's NANNY AND THE PROFESSOR) stars as a British woman named Jessica living in San Francisco with her husband Robert (Gabriele Lavia) and her two small children. She becomes impregnated with what may be a spawn of the devil himself, and as a result she goes through a series of disturbing trends: smashing her hubby's favorite fish tank, eating a raw banana peel from the street, kissing her sleeping little boy lustfully on his lips, spewing blood and vomit, and rotating her head and levitating. A strange bearded man (Richard Johnson) who has had ties with her from the past, follows her husband around and introduces himself as Dimitri, a cultist who is now trying to help Jessica and to also release his own soul.I don't think this is a good movie, but it's serviceable horror fare with enough shocks and eerie optical effects considering it's an EXORCIST copycat made on a limited budget. Some of the photography is hauntingly done, and Juliet Mills is quite good in her part as the possessed mom. The participation of Richard Johnson also lends something of class to such horrific goings-on. I think this film gets too harshly judged, though I am not surprised if most of those reviewers only got to see the inferior common U.S. Theatrical Cut. **1/2 out of ****