From Beyond (film) - Production

Production

Gordon had previously worked with both Combs and Crampton on Re-Animator, and he cast them in part because he had become used to working with a company of actors during his time in theater, and felt that doing the same thing with Lovecraft movies would allow the actors to know coming into the shoot that they would be asked to do "all sorts of odd things" and thus adapt more quickly to his direction. He was interested in the possibility of making a series of Lovecraft films with the same cast, like Roger Corman's Poe adaptations. Gordon, Combs, and Crampton would work together on a third Lovecraft adaptation in 1995, the direct-to-video Castle Freak, and Gordon would later direct versions of two more of Lovecraft's works: the film Dagon in 2001, and the second episode of the Masters of Horror television series, H. P. Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch-House, in 2005. Many members of the production staff for Re-Animator also held similar roles in the production of From Beyond, including screenwriter Dennis Paoli, producer Brian Yuzna, executive producer Charles Band, director of photography Mac Ahlberg, and special effects artists John Carl Buechler and John Naulin.

Albert Band, who served as the production manager of From Beyond, also makes an uncredited cameo appearance as a wino.

From Beyond was shot in Italy with an Italian crew in order to save money. Gordon says that the film would have cost fifteen million dollars to make in the United States, whereas the foreign production enabled him to hold costs to approximately two and a half million dollars. It was shot on a soundstage called Dinocitta just outside of Rome. Dinocitta was originally constructed by Dino DeLaurentiis, but was seized by the government for nonpayment of taxes, and then sold to Empire Studios. From Beyond was one of the first films shot at that venue during its period of ownership by Empire. Gordon shot his film Dolls at the same time, and it was released the following year.

As with his earlier film Re-Animator, Gordon made use of medical advisors to be sure that the actions taken by the doctors and nurses of the film followed proper medical procedures. Four separate special effects teams worked on the effects for From Beyond. According to Yuzna, the production ran out of money before the effects on the finale could be finished.

According to Gordon, securing an "R" rating from the MPAA was a challenging ordeal. He quotes them as initially saying his presented cut of the film had "ten times too much of everything". He was ultimately able to get away with making small trims, and without removing any entire sequences from the film.