Voices From Beyond 4K Review (Severin Films)

Voices from Beyond (aKa Voci Dal Profondo and Voices from the Deep) is a 1991 horror film co-written and directed by Lucio Fulci (The Beyond, Zombi, The New York Ripper, City of the Living Dead, The House by the Cemetery, Don’t Torture a Duckling, A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin, The Devil’s Honey, Conquest, Perversion Story, The House of Clocks, and The Sweet House of Horrors). It was co-written by Piero Regnoli (Burial Ground, Nightmare City, Demonia, Patrick Still Lives, Urban Warriors, The Bronx Executioner, Satan’s Baby Doll, After the Condor, and Cry of a Prostitute). It was produced by Luigi Nannerini (A Cat in the Brain, Touch of Death, Seven Deaths in the Cats Eyes, The Murder Secret, Bloody Psycho, Escape from Death, and Massacre). When the scion of a wealthy family Georgio Mainardi (played by: Duilio Del Prete from High Crime, Redneck, A Spiral of Mist, and The Devil Is a Woman) dies under shocking circumstances. Every heir plus others which includes Mario Mainardi (played by: Pascal Persiano from Demons 2, Inhuman Voice, Erotic Short Stories, Paganini Horror, and The Sweet House of Horrors), Lucia Mainardi (played by: Bettina Giovannini from The Monster of Florence, The Colors of the Devil, One Step from Heaven, and Mean Tricks), Hilda Mainardi (played by: Frances Nacman from Ocean, Voyage of Terror: The Achille Lauro Affair, and Errore Fatale), Davide Mainardi (played by: Damiano Azzos), and Rita (played by: Antonella Tinazzo from Domino) has a motive for murder. His daughter Rosy (played by: Karina Huff from The House of Clocks, The Black Cat, The Gamble, and Zanzibar) does her own investigation into the uneducated death. Will the restless spirit of the deceased now seek vengeance from beyond the grave???? Voices from Beyond is an Italian Television production from the legendary Lucio Fulci. His last few films are honestly better than their reputations. The master of Italian gore was still making entertaining features later in his career despite having smaller budgets. Italian TV was basically similar to HBO, Cinemax, and Showtime back in the day. It wasn’t shy about violence or nudity. The script was co-written by veteran Piero Regnoli and it keeps the mysterious atmosphere going. Duilio Del Prete as Georgio Mainardi is the unlikable head of the family. He has pissed everyone off and he treated everyone like they were nothing. He always held his power and money over them. He pushes them to their limits. Karina Huff is Rosy Mainardi, she has separated herself from her unstable family. She didn’t want anything to do with their chaos so she’s been living her own existence without them. After her father passes away, she keeps getting visited by his ghost. He tells her everything is not what it seems and she decides to look into it because everyone around her has their motivations and they just want their inheritance. The rest of the supporting cast includes Pascal Persiano, Frances Nacman, Damiano Azzos, Antonella Tinazzo, Bettina Giovannini, Lorenzo Flaherty (Private Crimes), Paolo Paoloni (The House of Clocks), Sacha Darwin (Touch of Death), Rosa Maria Grauso (Vendetta II: The New Mafia), and Lucio Fulci (A Cat in the Brain). Fulci actually shot this one with an American and worldwide audience in mind. This family drama and murder mystery hybrid shows what happens when greed takes over. Voices from Beyond went for a sleazier approach, it has plenty of eye candy and steamy moments. It still does have enough gore and grotesque scenarios but that’s not the main focus here. It keeps itself suspense, thrilling, and intense as the all of the surprises are revealed. It has plenty of flashbacks that lets the viewer experience how complicated the leader of this wealthy family was. It’s full of nasty characters that are not trust worthy so it helps with unknown nature of what really happened. It’s an interesting entry for the ghost and haunting sub-genre. It delivers on almost everything the audience would expect. I think it’s more obscure and respected less because it’s not a gore fest like most of Fulci’s work but it still holds up after all of this time. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Severin Films! This 2160p (1.88:1) unrated transfer with HDR10 is from a brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative. This is an impressive improvement over the previous Code Red Blu Ray and the DVD from Image Entertainment. Fulci always made sure his features had stylish cinematography and excellent production design for these sharp visuals no matter what financial backing he had. It has a few different audio options which includes English: DTS-HD 2.0 and Italian: DTS-HD 2.0 tracks on the UHD. The audio has it’s moments but mainly the score pops out the most when it comes to it. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, the tension is elevated, and the music has a huge boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. The only extra on the UHD is the “Trailer” for Voices From Beyond. It has the little over 14 minute “About Death” from 1990. It’s a rare audio interview with director Lucio Fulci done by Michele Romagnoli. He goes over the concept and the themes of it. He wrote it in 1988, the ghost sub-genre was really big in America at the time. He claims people said he ripped off Ghost when this was released but he came up with it before that one. He discusses his thoughts and theories on death. This is an interesting conversation with the horror director and it’s actually all about Voices From the Beyond. It’s in Italian with English subtitles. It has the almost 16 minute “Beyond the Living”. It’s an interview with actor Pascal Persiano. He chats about his first meeting with Fulci during an audition. He says they both had reputations that weren’t accurate. He talks about their working relationship and friendship over the years. It’s in Italian with English subtitles. It has the little over 11 minute “A House for the Dead”. It’s an interview with set designer Antonello Geleng. He brings up that he worked with Lucio on 2 other previous projects before this. He helped out on Voices but he wasn’t actually the set designer for it because he was working on something else at the time so he couldn’t find the additional time to do both. He goes over some of the stuff that he was involved here. He’s humble and he has some great memories about his experience on this despite having limited time on it. He gives credit to the actual production designer in this. It’s in Italian with English subtitles. It has the almost 14 minute “Like A Father”. It’s an interview with prop master Vincenzo Luzzi. He chats about his first meeting with the director and how he tested his skills right away. He says Fulci could be mean but usually the person deserved it. He mentions a few other collaborations with him. He brings up how they had to be very creative having barely any budget. It’s a very detailed sit down about various experiences he had over the years with Lucio Fulci and it’s very honest about everything. It’s in Italian with English subtitles. It has the little over 22 minute “Lucio’s Last Wave”. It’s an appreciation interview with author Stephen Thrower. As always, he drops all kinds of information and knowledge about the low budget production. He goes over the changes in Italy when it came to film. Action and Science Fiction were more popular than horror at the time. Fulci set up his presents line later on which included this one. He wasn’t responsible for directing all of them. He realized how little he was getting from his bigger deal that ended being most of his later efforts but he couldn’t get out of the contract. It has an additional CD with Stelvio Cipriani (The Bloodstained Shadow, Rabid Dogs, Tentacles, Sister Emanuelle, Fearless, The Great Alligator, Pieces, Nightmare City, and Piranha II: The Spawning) with the soundtrack for Voices from Beyond. It’s 43 minutes of music and 12 tracks. It comes with a high quality slipcover, musical score listing insert, and it has alternate artwork underneath. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!