[Susan Foreman]

Wonder how they are going to mess this one up!

"Shameless proudly presents Lucio Fulci’s THE BEYOND aka ‘L’Aldila’

Format: Blu-ray
Release date: mid-May...

When jaded New Yorker (Catriona MacColl) inherits a New Orleans hotel, she calls on composed local doctor (David Warbeck) to contain the inexplicable and increasingly gory accidents that are plaguing the building and its grounds. But soon the Gates of Hell themselves open under the hotel, rendering their fight futile as the dead emerge to walk the earth...

NEW EXTRAS -

• ‘Emily’s Eyes’ – an interview with actress Cinzia Monreale with English subtitles.

• ‘Arachnophobia’ – an interview with actor Michele Mirabella with English subtitles.

• ‘Murder, They Wrote’ – a unique interview with scriptwriter Giorgio Mariuzzo on working with Lucio Fulci with English subtitles.

• THE BEYOND prologue four-way comparison, showing: The Standard Sepia + the Original Colour + the B&W version + the new fourth-way: the Yellow-toned sepia version.

ARCHIVE EXTRAS -

• Sergio Salvati audio commentary with English subtitles

• Catriona McCall and David Warbeck audio commentary

• Lucio Fulci banter on set (short)

__________________________________________________ _________

Shameless is proud to present The Beyond, released on Blu-ray for the first time ever with four different versions of the prologue seamlessly branched:

(1) The now accepted tandard sepia
(2) The original colour footage
(3) The B&W version
(4) A new fourth-way: the Yellow-toned sepia version which we’ve created as an addition, after consulting various notes from director of photography (DOP) Sergio Salvatti.

We do not profess that either the original colour, the B&W version, or new gold-yellow toned sepia versions are the correct versions intended by director Lucio Fulci or his DOP. Instead we have presented the film with the four different prologues so fans of Fulci’s masterpiece can see the original colour it was actually shot on, as never seen before, and to show the various stages of the filmmaking process of this landmark film. We’ve also endeavoured for the first time ever to present a rendering of the yellow coloured sepia, which Salvati has referred to on occasions, so that fans can see this as well. We want to give fans the option to see what this may have been designed to look like, and we hope that the striking new additional alternative visuals may enrich the viewing experience.

Even though it would have been a much lower cost to shoot the prologue using B&W (monochrome) stock - and budgets were always tight on productions then - there was deliberate choice by Fulci, Salvati and his team to shoot the ‘prologue’ in colour (panchromatic). This was a clear plan, and the sophisticated photography and the manner in which it is lit, infused by low level contrast lighting such as torch and other warm lights, results in a magnificent cinematographic chiaroscuro. Our assessment is that one doesn’t apply that level of artistry in order to ‘reduce’ the overall vision to flat monochrome – albeit a sepia toned one, where the process is essentially tinting in ‘sepia’ the black part of B&W.

Shooting in colour (film) was much more expensive: there was the much higher cost of colour stock which in turn required more light, since colour film is less sensitive to light, which also added to production costs. Then the developing and the related post production of colour would have been far more expensive than B&W. Therefore since the prologue was shot on colour negative, it was by design and for a specific purpose regardless of the extra expense otherwise it would have been shot with B&W film stock.

Notwithstanding the beauty of the colour in that opening sequence, the decision was taken by Fulci and Salvati to apply a special colour to it during the chemical film processing. Of course there was no digital manipulation then so the effect was achieved using photochemical methods starting with the colour negative they’d shot on. The colour negative was therefore printed and toned in a certain manner to achieve the visual goals set by Fulci and Salvati.

Interviews and texts regarding that creative process indicate that the effect was designed to enhance the highlights of the burning torches, also the car headlights etc. Several references are made where Salvati refers to a ‘yellow’ tint while at other times the more general term ‘sepia’ is used.

We were diligent and fortunate in being able to access the colour footage of the ‘prologue’, which we had scanned in 2K and restored in order to show how visually stunning it is. And from that original colour base, we also created a fourth interpretation, the yellow-gold toned coloured sepia version sometimes referred to by Salvati:

'We filmed in colour, it had great atmosphere but we decided to tint it… It was mine and Lucio's idea... and graded by Luciano Vittori of Studio Vittori. It's such a powerful opening sequence, we removed the colour from the torches to create atmosphere…I opted for the soft yellow, almost golden filter to enhance especially the torches, car lights … and the burnt lime on the painter’s face. What I was trying to recreate was the effect of an old, yellowed photograph, something outside time, establishing a gap between the prologue and the present day as though they were two separate films, divided by an infinite arc of time indicating the Dimension of the Afterwards. I discarded the usual sepia, the colour of memories, since there are no relationships between the characters based on memory; instead, THE BEYOND is a horror which lies outside time and space...'

We followed information (some taken from Salvati’s own commentary featured in the Shameless release*) and reports regarding the colour and also took into consideration the more atmospheric and metaphysical goals, which the filmmakers also say informed their vision of The Beyond.

Our aim was to provide not only all previous versions of the film, but also a further choice for fans: a version where the application of a ‘sepia' or often referred to as 'yellow’ tone is made by using the colour image as a base, instead of a monochrome B&W base.

The result, we think brings a depth in the visuals never seen before while keeping the desired process of making the sequence looking like an old photograph in order to make the prologue appear distant and otherworldly as was originally envisioned by the filmmakers.

*Sergio Salvati from the audio commentary on the Shameless release of THE BEYOND (translated): ‘We filmed it the usual way, in colour, as you always do, because it's better to start with colour rather than black and white… Then I’d discuss it with Lucio Fulci, who was always looking for something more... it had great atmosphere but we decided to tone it. We did it to enhance the car lights, especially the torches which are in various shots, to make them look a bit unusual.’"