You go outside and you are in San Francisco. You go inside and you are on a set in the De
Paolis Studios in Rome, Italy. Ah, the
magic of filmmaking.
Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution
support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new 2K-film restoration of
this bit of cinematic magic ready for a double-disc Blu-ray release on Mar. 24.
The film in question is producer/director Ovidio G.
Assonitis’ 1974 (1975 for domestic consumption) horror tale, Beyond
the Door (aka: The Devil
Within Her), starring Juliet Mills
(Emmy-winner for her performance in the 1974 mini-series production of QB VII, but
perhaps best known as Nanny in Nanny and the Professor) as
the possessed wife and mother, who is pregnant … will the baby be the devil’s
spawn?
It’s amazing that American International Pictures,
which was the king of the exploitation films for years, turned Beyond
the Door down (that had a first-look deal
with Assonitis) … it fell to Film Ventures International to distribute it
theatrically. Despite the film being
successful, it got tied up in a legal battle with Warner Bros. over the claim
that it was a rip-off of The Exorcist. A no-fault settlement was eventually
reached.
Another quirk, simply because it was Film Ventures
and not AIP, Beyond the Door
opened in Texas and other venues in the south in May of 1975, but did not reach
the Los Angeles market until August.
As mentioned, this is a double-disc Blu-ray release,
featuring both the domestic theatrical release of Beyond
the Door and the UK version, which was
titled The Devil Within Her.
Other bonus goodies include the feature-length
documentary titled Italy Possessed, and five newly-prepared featurettes — “The
Devil and I,” “Barrett’s Hell,” “Beyond the Music,” “The Devil’s Face” and
“Motel and Devils.”
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