Beyond Evil was directed by Herb Freed (you might know him from Graduation Day) and stars John Saxon as Larry Andrews, a contractor of some sort who moves with his wife Barbara (Lynda Day George) into a new home in the Caribbean. His friend Del Giorgio (Michael Dante) and Del's friend Dr. Frank Albanos (Mario Milano) — who adds barely anything to the plot but serves as a tag-along to Del, and a suspicious yet unfulfilled character — obtained the place for them after the owners died, and it's a damn castle.
Of course, Barbara and Larry are taken with the place, even after the tale of the owners' deaths. It seems that the lady who had owned the house was in a loveless marriage with a cheating husband, and she practiced black magic as revenge on him. He ended up killing her, but not before she killed him too, and now the house is supposed to be haunted by the vengeful black witch. The hoodoo doesn't get to the newlyweds until Barbara is possessed by the evil spirit, and then it's up to Larry to save his wife before it's too late.
If it sounds like a familiar plotline, it is. It plays out exactly like anything from The Exorcist to The Amityville Horror. While not original, it is pretty entertaining. I love John Saxon — he's a great actor and seems like a pretty cool guy. But one thing that gets me in this movie are all the flaws.
For example, at one point it seems like Del Giorgio is out to get Larry and Barbara. For what reason? Well, it would make sense to assume that Del is trying to break it off between Larry and Barbara, since it is mentioned that Del had had a fling with Barb in the past. It almost plays out - Barb is possessed, and starts making out with Del, and the audience thinks that maybe, just maybe, this vengeful plot arc will play out, only to find that Barb kills Del before anything can actually happen and makes everything else a moot point. I just wonder if it was actually supposed to seem like Del was in cahoots with Dr. Frank Albanos, or if it was just something that I misinterpreted. Either way, I also found it weird that Frank was both a doctor and always at the construction site.
Which leads me to another question - what's up with the construction site? It's never really explained what's going on, and while it's not important, there are scenes at the work site where I was left wondering what exactly they were doing. The movie's not boring; the hauntings are semi-dramatic, and it was fun to see Saxon almost get killed by a falling wooden idol, but much of the movie is really loosely pulled together into a barely coherent plot. There's also a witch doctor that Saxon goes to to help exorcise the demon in Barbara, but to no avail — nothing happens. There are also only about five deaths in the whole movie, but they're spaced out enough so that one doesn't get bored too quickly.
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