I had to rewatch this Fulci classic as i hadn't seen it for some 15-16 years and this time on a Blu-ray (last time on the old US Anchor Bay DVD)
and, my taste hadn't changed since then as The Beyond is an Undisputed Horror Masterpiece, and one of Fulci's 2-3 best films if not the best.
Why? So many has written so much about this and so much more eloquent than i could master, so i pass. But to cut it short, the film is like a
beautiful but monstruos experience, a feverish nightmare with scenes of horror just floating around with the logic of a dream. Almost arty.
The fine cinematography by Sergio Salvati permeates the film with a thick southern Louisiana atmosphere. Also with a soundtrack by Fabio
Frizzi and spectacular special effects by master Gianetto de Rossi displayed in the gory setpieces ... the spider attack is gruesome.

The Dicky the Seeing Eye dog attack on Emily much resembles the Seeing Eye dog attack on Flavio Bucci's Daniel in 1977 Suspiria.

Scenes i really liked were: The scenes with Cinzia Monreale's blind Emily at the piano and with her Guide dog Dicky, a German Shepherd lying
on the floor watching her, and later the scene with her and Dicky vs. zombie corpses and finally her death by Dog.
The old bookstore with the creepy manager, the Town Hall attendant and the spiders, and the shadows of the undead seen through the windows
of the Hotel. At times i found this film to be a bit Bavaesque even, and that's a good thing. The Ending scene is haunting, and like nothing i've
ever seen on film. Cinematography at it's best and true art like some old oil painting.

The old US Anchor Bay DVD

Poor Liza (Catriona MacColl), she's happy as she finally have had some luck, when she inherited an old Louisiana Hotel. But little did she know
that the house not just were filled with Ectoplasm, but also were situated above one of the Gateways to Hell. No lucky break for Liza.
She meets a mysterious blind girl, Emily (Cinzia Monreale) who warns her about the secret of the Hotel, where 50 years earlier the artist Schweick
was lynched accused by the locals of being a warlock. But is Emily of this world, or not?

Warning to Arachnophobiacs though as the famous tarantula attack setpiece is nasty, brrrrr, i hate spiders, and some of them were real, i think.
Even at his most brutal as in The Beyond, The New York Ripper or in The House by the Cemetery Fulci managed to make them atmospherical
and with a fascinating pulse. Also Don't Torture a Duckling, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, Beatrice Cenci and his offbeat spaghetti western are
favourites of mine.

The Spanish Blu-ray in anamorphic widescreen with english audio DTS-HD 5.1 (or italian audio DTS-HD 2.0) with english subtitles, no extras.

The old US Anchor Bay DVD in anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1 with mono audio english or italian with english subtitles. Extras: a commentary
by Catriona MacColl and David Warbeck, interview clips with i.a. Lucio Fulci, the lost german intro sequence in color (otherwise in black and
white, stills gallery