Beyond Evil (1980)
Article 6044 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-13-2022
Directed by Herb Freed
Featuring John Saxon, Lynda Day George, Michael Dante
Country: USA
What it is: Witch possession

An architect and his wife move to an island and take up residence in a mansion believed to be haunted by a witch. The wife begins acting strangely…

You know, if your horror movie is traversing a much-worn plot path, it takes quite a bit of inspiration and novelty value to keep things fresh. And there are a few touches here that do add a bit of novelty to the proceedings, the most interesting one here being the role a wedding ring plays in the outcome. Unfortunately, any fresh ideas here can’t alleviate the lethargic unfolding of the story (which includes far too many vague and awkward conversations in which nothing is revealed) and its inability to mine suspense from the situation because it doesn’t realize that the audience is probably two steps ahead at every point. The end result is another one of those by-the-numbers horror movies that have minimum impact if any at all.