Beyond the Wall of Sleep (2006)

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Don't Believe the Hype

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

I first watched this movie a few years ago, when the cover art on the film caught my eye. I found it to be confusing the first time through, but nonetheless a really good film. It kept me on my toes and I constantly asked myself, "whats next?" The climax of the story was very surprising, and it's something I did not expect. I ended up watching the film a few times during my rental time, every time seeing something I missed the time before. The girl with her brain exposed sent chills down my spine, and the black and white filming really brought on a sense of old antique horror. Having said that, the acting is so-so, and some parts seemed very comedic when they should not have been, but overall I found it to be a very interesting film, and recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good psychological horror film. I became obsessed with the film, and the name "amdouchous" will stick with me forever, as the name of my pet turtle! (RIP Amdouchous)

This movie is the single greatest convergence of atrocious acting I've ever seen. I've watched individual actors give bad performances. I've seen entire casts that weren't really any good. But H. P. Lovecraft's Beyond the Wall of Sleep is like a career guide to aspiring actors – if your work resembles any of the performances in this film in any way, stop taking acting classes and go learn to be a plumber.The story involves a backwoods insane asylum and one of Lovecraft's patented crawling horrors trying to break into our reality. But you'll barely even notice the story after being physically stunned at the variety of titanically terrible thespianism on display. It's not just that the performances are bad. It's that they're awful in such distinctly different ways. Fountain Yount portrays young intern Edward Eischel and he looks like he stepped right off of a porno set. You could take every single scene of this guy, splice them into actual porno films, and no one would notice anything wrong. Kurt Hargan plays Dr. Wardlow, the person investigating the violent murders that take place in the story, and he turns the role into an insane version of the uptight Niedermeyer character from a thousand lame Animal House rip offs. Marco St. John plays Dr. Fenton, head of the asylum, and appears to think he's in a Mel Brooks movie but his exaggerated accent and goofy facial expressions wouldn't make Mel Brooks laugh even if he had lapsed into senility. Perry Poston plays Eward Eischel's Uncle Irving like he's Jon Lovitz' Saturday Night Live Master Thespian on Prozac. It's not just that they suck, it's that each actor seems to have thought they were acting in a different film and they each suck in markedly different fashions. In the entire film, the only guy who gives a legitimate performance is William Sanderson as inbred nut job Joe Slaader. You might recognize him as Larry from Newhart, acting here without his brother Darryl and his other brother Darryl. The fact that he's able to do a decent job proves it's not the script that deserves to be burned up and buried in a shallow grave.Don't think the acting is the only thing you have to worry about though. If you took out all the music video-style quick edit montages, this 84 minute film would be about 57 minutes long. It also has two scenes that would be high in the running for "World's Worst". One is a candidate for "World's Worst Slow Zoom" where halfway through the scene you begin to suspect the director is actually playing a practical joke on the actor. The other would be "World's Worse Exploitation of a Topless Actress". This poor girl has to lie on a table, naked from the waist up, and writhe around while Crazy Niedermeyer Doctor and Lovitz on Prozac Guy have an interminably long conversation which appears to be an "I can act worse than you" contest. Watching the scene, you'll be caught between pitying the actress for having to listen to such abominable dialog and pitying her for having bad breast implants. Since the movie was set in 1911, I guess we're supposed to think they were made out of sorghum or something.Sometimes a movie based on a novel or short story can be so good it will motivate you to seek out the original work. Beyond the Wall of Sleep achieves the same affect with an opposite motivation. I've got to get a copy of the original Lovecraft story just to verify that it can't possibly be this pointless and awful.If you watch H. P. Lovecraft's Beyond the Wall of Sleep, you will come to doubt the existence of an afterlife. Because if it did exist, H. P. Lovecraft would have come back from there to beat the people who made this film like red headed stepchildren.

After reading the comments posted for this movie, I felt the need to add my opinion.I am a major Lovecraft fan, and have read all of his work I have been able to get my hands on. But the reason I recommend this movie to people has nothing to do with my love for Lovecraft.What really interested me about this movie was the way it made me feel. Most horror movies really go for a 1 second shock as they jump out to get you. Repeatedly through the movie obviously but a series of quick scares are the backbone of 99% of horror.Beyond the wall of sleep brought a creeping feeling of dread to me, with the exception of 5 min at the end, it never strayed into standard "BOO" horror lands in my opinion. It just got uglier and uglier making my soul feel dirty.I just felt it was an interesting approach to horror, although I don't know if it was the directors intention. I recommend this movie to anyone who considers themselves a fan of non-traditional horror stories.

OK, this movie is hard to put into words...i believe the point of the film was to make YOU feel insane....its very jumpy and has good points ...i believe the "acting" was meant to be very dry and non emotional ..like you were reading the movie as apposed to watching it .... very poetic actually .... and thats why liked it ...i rented it out of curiosity and me, my woman and buddy spades-1999(user name on here)watched it one night, and he asked me "man, whats with you and all these weird, making no sense movies you put me through" ...lol...i don't believe him or my woman liked the movie, i however thought it was something .... I'm not sure what... but it spoke to me in a weird way ... and very few movies have done that so ill be buying it one day ...not for the $19.99 that hastings has been asking for it but a couple of bucks sure ..lol....if your wanting to watch something that will leave you saying "what did i just see?" then go for it, it does have things to offer an open mind ...(4), vocalist GOD IN A MACHINE