#Ted Sorel

[weirdlookindog]

From Beyond (1986)

[slimewalk]

[twilightronin]

From Beyond - Stuart Gordon 1986

[80smovies]

[adamwatchesmovies]

From Beyond (1986)

From Beyond is a backup/substitute movie. In tone, it’s similar to Re-Animator. The nauseating special effects will remind you of The Thing. The mix of bizarre eroticism and horror is akin to that of Hellraiser. There are many others you can compare it to but you get the idea. The thing is, you would never recommend this 1986 film by Stuart Gordon over any of those but if you’ve seen them so many times you’ve memorized all the best parts and you want something like them but not them, this is the movie for you.

Dr. Edward Pretorious (Ted Sorel) has developed the Resonator, a machine that allows humans to see the unseen creatures that live inside our space but outside of our realm. Unfortunately, the machine also allows them to see us. Pretorious is attacked and killed by a creature from this realm and his assistant, Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs) is accused of his murder. His claims of invisible monsters make everyone think he’s crazy, except for Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) isn’t so sure.

The best thing about “From Beyond” is that it knows exactly what sort of movie it is. Writer/director Stuart Gordon (who wrote the screenplay with Brian Yuzna and Dennis Paoli) has no delusions about who is watching and what they want to see. He knows this isn’t some deep tale about the human condition. This is a sleazy, campy horror comedy. It grosses you out. It loses its mind. It doesn’t quite hold up logistically. None of that matters. There’s a lot of gore, plenty of nudity and kink, tasteless depictions of mental health, outlandish characters, and it’s all the better for it. Science runs amok, Eyeballs get sucked out of people’s heads, brains enlarge until they crack through skulls, and you get all sorts of phallic and uncomfortable-looking beasts sliming all over Barbara Crampton. From Beyond knows that you could probably tell this story with a straight face but that it would be all too easy to try, fail, and become the subject of ridicule. Instead, it beats the audience to the punch by making fun of itself - which is not the same as attempting to make a movie that’s “so bad it’s good” on purpose.

The most memorable aspect of this film are the terrific special effects. The primary monster goes through all sorts of transformations/shapes and it’s made extra discomfiting by this running theme of a quasi-masochistic obsession that develops in anyone exposed to the Resonator. It’s funny, and a bit unsettling too despite never being adequately explored. It feels like there’s a scene with Pretorious missing, the one extra point needed to make this more than a weird addition. There's the beginning of an idea present. What kind of horror might emerge from someone who can only get it up by inflicting pain, or from an overly stimulated part of the brain that draws us to danger even though logic says we should stay away?

The performances aren’t bad, but they’re not great either. It would’ve been nice if they were just the teensiest bit better. The story would’ve benefited either from holding onto its mystery for longer or finding a way to avoid the machine being turned on and off over and over. I don’t know if we necessarily need a remake, however. As-is, From Beyond looks great and you just know a new adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft story just wouldn’t be the same in terms of tone or humor. What we need are other movies influenced by this one, or that push some aspects of it a little further. Thankfully, there are plenty.

It’s difficult to imagine someone calling From Beyond their favorite movie. Not because of the uncomfortable horror elements (I’m pretty sure one of the genre’s objectives is to make you uneasy). Because it doesn't do anything better than everybody else. This doesn’t mean it’s bad. It means this is a film that’s comfortable with holding onto its silver medal. There’s nothing wrong with that. One thing’s for sure; it’s memorable and has a certain undiscernable quality that’ll get you coming back to it. (March 4, 2022)

[rhettakins]

From Beyond (1986)

Dir. Stuart Gordon

Obsessive scientist Dr. Pretorius (Ted Sorel) successfully discovers a way to access a parallel universe of pleasure by tapping into the brain's pineal gland. When he is seemingly killed by forces from this other dimension, his assistant, Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs), is accused of the murder. After psychiatrist Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) and detective Bubba Brownlee (Ken Foree) take the case, the trio risks a return to the other world in order to solve the mystery.

[amrv-5]

The Laughmakers (1962)

Part of a series of writeups of unaired or otherwise inaccessible TV objects ft. Alan Alda, which I was able to access via the Paley Center for Media in NYC (November 2024). 

The Laughmakers (1962): Producer: Robert Alan Arthur; Associate Producer: Joseph Manduke; Director: Joshua Shelley; Writer: Woody Allen.

Cast: Louise Sorel - Joyce Hayes; Paul Hampton - Ted Landers; Sandy Baron - Danny; Louise Lasser - Susan; Alan Alda - Phil; David Burns - Sid. 

Summary: Set in New York City, The Laughmakers features a struggling troupe of improv comedians (Ted Landers (Paul Hampton), Danny (Sandy Baron), Susan (Louise Lasser) and Phil (Alan Alda)) who make a last-ditch addition of dilettante Joyce Hayes (Louise Sorel) in an attempt to save their club, The Freudian Slip, from bankruptcy. Though Joyce proves to be a smash hit, even gaining the troupe attention from the Ed Sullivan show, she’s quickly seduced away from improv to NYC’s Beat poetry scene. The troupe tries to win her back with an off-the-wall poetry-based scheme that will require all their improv training to carry. 

Plot recounting: The show opens with the resident improv troupe (Ted Landers (Paul Hampton), Danny (Sandy Baron), Susan (Louise Lasser) and Phil (Alan Alda)) at club Freudian Slip in the midst of a show. They solicit topics from the audience for an improv scene, eventually settling on the theme of “soldiers engaged in psychological warfare.” Ted and Danny circle each other, flinging insults (“You’re a nailbiter, and you need a light on to sleep!”).

After the show, the club owner Sid (David Burns) laments the continuously low audience turnout (“I’ve seen more people play solitaire!”) and implores the comedians to improve business—or else he’ll be forced to turn the club into a strip joint. He heads off to the “day-old bakery,” lamenting that with business as it is, his children will never know the taste of a fresh roll. 

Later, Ted and Danny, depressed over lagging audience attendance, are approached at a bar by Joyce Hayes (Louise Sorel), who wants to know how to get started in improv. Ted and Danny state that the majority of the troupe got their start in off-Broadway plays, and do comedy professionally, prompting a bystander to accuse them of only being in it “for the money.” Joyce expresses an interest in trying improv, and, though her only experience onstage was a college theater class or two, Ted and Danny are charmed (or infatuated) and offer her an audition. 

After a less-than-ideal introduction to the rest of the troupe (in which Joyce reveals she has been kicked out of four colleges and has no formal acting background) and a biffed improv attempt, the troupe is pleasantly surprised by Joyce’s skit-building ability. She improvs a skit in which a mugging is complicated by the realization that the mugger and muggee attended school together—and that the muggee went on to become a cop. (Note: Woody Allen would later reuse this skit in his 1973 film Take the Money and Run.) 

Ted takes Joyce back to her apartment. They flirt boldly, discuss the all-importance of art, and Joyce reveals that her bohemian lifestyle is funded by her father. 

Time passes, and the troupe is ecstatic. The addition of Joyce has set interest in their show booming, even garnering attention from the Ed Sullivan show. Ted and Phil celebrate together after a performance, with Phil especially thrilled (In his home state of Nebraska, Phil states, Ed Sullivan’s face is on the $1 bill). Danny cuts their celebrating short by stating that Joyce has quit the troupe. Joyce, preparing to drive away, tells Ted that she’s become disenchanted with the improv scene, and intends to become a poet. She drives away, and Ted attempts to give chase on a motorcycle, but drives up a ramp into a box truck, which is closed and locked behind him. 

Later on, Ted attempts to convince Joyce to return to improv, but she refuses, too busy working on her poetry. Eventually they settle on a bet: They’ll both present poetry at a local amateur open mic, and if Ted gets a better response, Joyce must rejoin the group. 

Ted attempts to compose a poem of his own, but Danny and Phil regretfully inform him that the poem is terrifically bad. Phil suggests Ted just plagiarize an extant poem, claiming that nobody at the open mic would know the difference, a plan Ted readily agrees to. They settle on the poem “Ode to a Fungus” by John Plume. 

Unfortunately, at the open mic, Joyce’s poem (moderately well-received) is followed by a reading from John Plume—of “Ode to a Fungus.” Panicked, but determined to follow through, Ted pulls out his wallet and gives an impassioned reading of his driver’s license (“State of New York Department of Taxation and Finance. (...) Height. Weight. Color. (...) This is to certify the above expires in 1965. Crazy, crazy driver’s license. You are my father.”) The poem is roundly celebrated as the best of the night. Joyce agrees to rejoin the troupe, Ted admits to the non-poem poem trick, and the two drive away together—directly up a ramp into the bed of a box car, which is closed and locked behind them. 

The episode tag opens with Joyce and Ted completing a successful skit, and exiting the stage. Phil and Susan prepare to enter, asking after the quality of the audience as Ted and Joyce sign off directly to the camera with a “Goodnight, Gracie.” 

Alda-specific review: He’s mostly a bit part in this, with only a few scenes where he’s given speaking lines, but the role he does play is excellently silly. There’s one skit (directly before Joyce quits the troupe) that cold opens a scene after a commercial break, contextlessly cutting direct to the skit’s apparent punchline: Alda, in a silver reflective jacket, hair (or wig?) gelled flat over his eyes, playing a guitar intensely as two women jump up from crotch-level and scream towards the camera, hands clasped to their cheeks (oddly Beatle-esque, but this was America in 1962…). He also gets to suggest Ted plagiarize a poem, and I enjoyed the throwaway line of Phil being a Nebraskan, delivered with Alda’s typical and definitively non-Midwestern accent. 

[brokehorrorfan]

From Beyond will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on February 28 via Vinegar Syndrome. Based on the H.P. Lovecraft short story, the 1986 sci-fi horror film features new cover art by The Dude Designs.

Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator) directs from a script he co-wrote with Dennis Paoli (Re-Animator) and Brian Yuzna (Bride of Re-Animator). Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Ken Foree, Ted Sorel, and Carolyn Purdy-Gordon star.

From Beyond has been newly restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative with HDR. Special features are listed below.

Special features:

Audio commentary by director Stuart Gordon and the cast

Audio commentary by writer Dennis Paoli

Re-Resonator: Looking Back at From Beyond - 97-minute documentary with actors Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Ken Foree, writer Dennis Paoli, producer Brian Yuzna, editor Lee Percy, composer Richard Band, foley artist Vanessa Ament, effects supervisors Michael Deak and Anthony Doublin, and effects artists William Butler, Gabriel Bartalos, John Naulin, and Robert Kurtzman (new)

Interview with director Stuart Gordon (2007)

Interview with director Stuart Gordon (2012)

Interview with actor Jeffrey Combs (2013)

Interview with actress Barbara Crampton (2012)

Interview with actress Barbara Crampton (2013)

Interview with writer Dennis Paoli (2012)

Interview with composer Richard Band (2007)

Interview with executive producer Charles Band (2013)

Multiple Dimensions: The Creatures & Effects of From Beyond (2013)

Monsters & Slime: The FX of From Beyond (2012)

Storyboard-to-film comparisons with director Stuart Gordon

Trailer

Still gallery

Dr. Edward Pretorius, an acclaimed physicist, has perfected his newest invention: the Resonator, a machine which allows those near to it to glimpse life not visible to the naked eye. Imagining the discoveries he could make, Pretorius begins to go mad, much to the concern of his young assistant, Crawford Tillinghast. However, after the machine malfunctions during a highly sensitive experiment and Pretorius is found brutally murdered, Crawford is fingered as the primary suspect. Crawford, now confined to an asylum, becomes the ward of Dr. Katherine McMichaels, who takes a special interest in his tales of the strange creatures able to be seen while the machine is operating and convinces him to help her rebuild the device, woefully unaware of the terrifying, hidden world she is about to enter...

Pre-order From Beyond.

[dustedmagazine]

Civerous — Maze Envy (20 Buck Spin)

Photo by Juliet Guzman

Civerous is one of those death metal band names that seems as if it should actually be a word in the OED, likely something along these lines: “Civerous, adj. Of or in the manner of a predatory quadruped with enormous incisors and canine teeth; voracious; possessing an outsized appetite averse to regulation or restraint.” Unbound from the specifics of an actual definition, it’s a lot of fun to imagine those sorts of usages, beasts and other linguistic contexts for the word. It’s decidedly less fun to listen to Maze Envy, Civerous’s first LP for the prolific death metal label 20 Buck Spin, but fun is not among the priorities motivating music this heavy and intense. It bites.

The band seems to be characterizing that intensity with the inventive subgenre tag “caustic death/doom,” and this reviewer can stipulate to the caustic properties of the guitar tone that dominates Maze Envy’s heaviest passages — it’s tasty. But we should note that guitarist Daniel Salinas and vocalist Issaiah Vaca also play in heady post-black metal band Aylwin, and there are aspects of Civerous’s sound that create textures notably removed from the gruesome down-tuned disgust of death/doom. See the George Crumb-like glissando strings that shimmer and keen through “The Azure Eye,” or the guttering glow of the clean plucking in “Endless Symmetry.” Those two tracks function as introductory passages to longer, more dour and (yep) caustic songs, “Shrouded in Crystals” and “Labyrinth Charm,” respectively. But the intro tunes frame the longer compositions with what feel like arch ambitions. Are those gestures post-, or are they proggy?

Some listeners (hello) do not respond productively to the conjunction of “prog” and “death metal” — and to be clear, it’s not Civerous invoking the problematic p-word. There’s a pummeling toughness in Maze Envy’s heaviest minutes (see the opening of the title track, or the closing three minutes of “Shrouded in Crystals”) that’s akin to the growling, blatting, thunderous approach of a biker gang. Those passages ground the record in doom metal’s traditional grit, a gravid muscularity that struts and glowers. The results are more than adequate to banish the preening peacocking endemic in prog’s valorizations of technical mastery.

But still, Civerous makes an idiosyncratic variety of death/doom. It often feels like high-brow stuff (a decidedly proggy attribute), as interested in ornament as it is in ponderous power. The closest this reviewer can come to making sense of the combination of sensibilities is to compare the music to some transcendent visual moments in From Beyond (1986), Stuart Gordon’s hilariously esoteric sleazefest: see the spectacular death of Bubba Brownlee (Ken Foree), or the initial glimpse of the mutated Dr Pretorius (Ted Sorel). Those shots are as gloriously hyperreal as they are confessedly fabricated with cheap foam latex and syrupy fake blood; they are comic and horrific, vertiginous and goofball. At its best, Maze Envy produces a similar collision of ill-fitting but effective aesthetic elements: a strange sort of good taste, and lots of ripping teeth.

Jonathan Shaw

[micro-expressions]

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[filmes-online-facil]

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Dr. Pretorius (Ted Sorel) e seus colegas estão trabalhando em uma experiência, por meio da estimulação da glândula pineal, querem abrir a mente humana para dimensões superiores. O experimento é bem-sucedido, no entanto, eles são imediatamente atacados por terríveis formas de vida, que aparentemente estão em torno de nós o tempo todo. Quando o Dr. Pretorius é morto por um deles, o Dr. Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs) sob suspeita pela morte é considerado louco, devido a sua história. Só a psicóloga ambiciosa Dr.ª McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) acredita nele e quer continuar o experimento.

[weirdlookindog]

From Beyond (1986)

[visplay]

Chris: I saw the classic, From Beyond, for the first time in years, this time in 4K and it looked the best ever, one of the best Lovecraftian films made by Brian Yuzna and Stuart Gordon with Jeffrey Combs, a must see film for horror fans, Watch: Buy.

Richie: It’s a classic, looked great on Blu-ray, Watch: Buy.

[abriefingwithmichael]

"Santa Barbara" 013 (1984)

Virginia Mayo joins the show here, as Peaches.

One reason I love this show is that it's enormous fun to watch. Performers like Louise Sorel and Lane Davies are a big part of that fun. At one point here, Davies walks into a scene and totally changes the whole dynamic. You can't take your eyes off him. That's real star power.

I also love the romances. Joe and Kelly have their first really long conversation in this episode. A conversation that's not just her telling him to go away. (Though there is some of that, too.) The best scenes, however, involve Ted and Laken reunited after several episodes/days apart. So darn cute.

9/10

[oldschoolteenflicks]

From Beyond (1986) dir. by Stuart Gordon  

[gurumog]

From Beyond (1986) Vestron Pictures Dir. Stuart Gordon