Voices from Beyond is a late-career film from Lucio Fulci, which may not foster great expectations; his directorial output became markedly affected by illness, to the point where he was at times unable to complete projects without assistance though he continued to work up until his death in 1996. This film would be his second-to-last as director, followed only by Door Into Silence. Voices from Beyond suffers from many of the same issues as other late-stage Fulci works like Aenigma or Demonia, but its most prominent element is a murder-mystery involving the rich and horrible Giorgio (Duilio Del Prete), who dies from intestinal hemorrhaging and begins to haunt the dreams of his family members who he thinks were involved in the murder. His daughter Rosy (Karina Huff) is really the only person who seems moved to investigate, while the others who lived and worked with Giorgio bicker over the money from his will.
While Voices from Beyond may not be Fulci’s worst film, it’s also far from his best. As a mystery, it fails to craft an interesting storyline from the people in Giorgio’s life, mostly because they’re so unlikable; it’s plausible that any of them could have or would have murdered Giorgio, because he is also extremely unlikable, and that leaves very little room for the audience to get invested in the proceedings. There aren’t many twists, turns, and red herrings – instead, Fulci is more focused on crafting paranormal dream sequences that pit its characters in various nightmare scenarios that feel like short-form Fulci vignettes. Arguably the best is Mario’s (Pascal Persiano) haunting, which plays out like a cross between Fulci’s Zombie and House by the Cemetery complete with desiccated corpses bursting through mausoleum drawers.
But these dream sequences are used rather sporadically and can’t make up for the more listless movement of the rest of the film. It doesn’t help that Voices from Beyond leans into a melodramatic soap opera feel that puts it at odds with some of Fulci’s more brutal, masochistic tendencies; there’s a vast tonal shift between the violent stabbing of a young child and an almost comically overlong scene where Giorgio pleads with his father to tell him what he needs to know while taking a jog. Ultimately this could have worked with a tighter storyline or if Fulci had incorporated more weirdness akin to Manhattan Baby or the grittiness of The New York Ripper, but Voices from Beyond is overly tepid and offers little enjoyment from its inconsequential mystery besides a thought-provoking, if exceptionally unbelievable, method of homicide.
4K UHD
Severin Films has released Voices from Beyond in a 4K UHD/Blu-ray combo set with a new 4K scan from the original camera negative. The results are excellent; the film sports a very filmic medium-bodied grain on the UHD that is a little more dense and less resolved on the Blu-ray but still showcases a fine level of detail. Facial features and the film’s more graphic depictions of rot, desiccation, and decay are quite visible, as are background textures and scenography. Fulci intentionally employs a somewhat smeary and diffuse lighting style in Voices from Beyond to give the whole film a dream-like atmosphere, even highlighting things like light refraction on glass to signify the importance of ice cubes later on, and that is captured very well with the UHD’s HDR-10 – that overall brightness looks even brighter and more hazy in the UHD, giving a compelling phantasmagoric display. Also notable are the black levels and blue tint throughout, which are well-managed thanks to the HDR with nice subtle gradations. Overall Voices from Beyond looks fantastic on UHD while remaining characteristically Fulci in look.
Audio includes both a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono English and Italian option, both of which include English subtitles (slightly different for the translations). Both sound good with clear dialogue and a good emphatic soundtrack; slight hiss can be heard in both at times, but it’s never obstructive or distracting. The film was technically shot in English but it was eventually re-dubbed, which is noticeable throughout the English track; since there’s no original language for the film, both are good options for viewers without particular recommendation.
This release collects a number of extras on the Blu-ray disc. The first is an archival audio interview with Fulci recorded by Michele Romagnoli in which Fulci discusses Voices from Beyond prior to its release, mentioning his appreciation of its depiction of the afterlife and also mentioning a number of other filmmakers like Cronenberg and Craven, who all made more money from their directorial contributions than he did. A new interview with Pascal Persiano discusses his first work with Fulci, The Sweet House of Horrors, before diving into working with the various cast on Voices from Beyond; he also gets to express his own opinion on the film, which effectively boils down to “it’s fine.” Set designer Antonello Geleng also gives a new interview first talking about his three collaborations with Fulci and his search for a particular house for the setting of Voices from Beyond. He also notes he painted the portrait of the murdered Giorgio in the film. Prop master Vincenzo Luzzi discusses a variety of films he worked on with Fulci and the reasons he wasn’t able to work with him on Door Into Silence before espousing his utmost respect for the late director. Finally, a new featurette with author Stephen Thrower runs about 22 minutes in which he dives into a variety of information about the production of the movie. He does a serviceable job of selling Voices from Beyond as a better movie than it might appear on the surface, at least with a critical lens. A trailer is also included on both the Blu-ray and UHD discs.
In this limited edition release, a CD soundtrack is provided as the third disc in the set featuring the music composed by Stelvio Cipriani, including a small insert listing the track titles. New cover artwork and a unique slipbox round out the physical extras for the release.
Verdict
While Voices from Beyond as a film may not speak to many besides the most hardcore Fulci fan, this 4K UHD release still lends reverence to the work with a great transfer and a host of extras, including a showcase of the funky rock soundtrack. Recommended for those looking to collect Fulci’s filmography, even if the movie is somewhat lackluster.
