Research Paper
Purpose: to dissect a literary work, and find religious significance in terms of Science Fiction, Mystery and Horror. The work I have chosen is a mind altering movie originally written by one of the masters of the macabre, H. P. Lovecraft. The film “resonates” with horror, mystery, and science fiction, with apparently little mention to the foundations of Christianity and traditional religion, but with deep religious significance none the less. The film is the infamous, “H.P. Lovecraft’s from Beyond” ingeniously adapted by Brian Yuzna, Dennis Paoli, and Stuart Gordon.
It begins with a programmer, a physicist, Crawford Tillinghast, writing a few lines of what later appears to be “BASIC”. Pencil pressed between his teeth, as if almost holding back a convulsion, as the computer monitor begins to flash “READY”. He is not alone, his partner, Dr. Edward Pretorius, is another brilliant scientist, who is preoccupied at the moment. What are they doing? They are solving a mystery! As all scientists do, they are searching for hidden knowledge locked in the fabric of the universe, using their powers of observation to detect the undetectable. Searching for “The world behind the world” (Constantine), they are working on a machine to open a doorway into another dimension. Well, in actuality the resonator only ends up opening a doorway to another dimension, as it horribly goes out of control. The true purpose of the resonator is to stimulate the pineal gland, the Third Eye.
Many of the amazing characters have many similarities with the eccentric Sherlock Holmes, who is analyzed extensively in the book “Holy Clues.” Edward sounds extremely dispassionate as Crawford knocks on his door with good news. “Go away” utters Edward with melancholy, seemingly bored to death. “Holmes like many a sensitive, hyperacute soul, is extremely prone to periods of melancholy,” (Holy Clues, pg 50) and it appears so is Edward. The news is that “The resonator! It’s working!” (H.P. Lovecraft’s from Beyond). Crawford has just recently tested the machine with supernatural effects on reality. As he switched it on, it almost immediately seemed to “resonate” in his mind, as Crawford quickly rubbed his forehead and a gust of wind blew his hair back, once again drawing attention to his head. The machine itself consists of four prongs, like tuning forks, which protrude skyward, the entire machine resembling an obelisk of sorts.
Crawford ran the test with only quarter power, with only one of the prongs “resonating” and glowing a shade of teal blue, then purple. The resonator brought into a view, in a strange purple light, a creature appearing to “swim” in the air around the energized prong. Crawford approached it, and the eel like creature quickly lunged and bit his face. He screamed in pain and grabbed the creature, while with the other hand powering off the machine. As it switched off, the creature disappeared, Crawford’s hand still appearing to be clutching it. He runs to tell Edward.
There is so much scientific passion and exploration captured in the first few minutes of the movie. All totally connected to the “Method and Madness” section on “Science, Religion, and the Powers of Observation.” Just as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character Sherlock Holmes “came right at the cusp” of the awakening of the scientific method (Method and Madness). And all these passions, quests, and eccentricities are central themes of the book “Holy Clues” because they are also central to Sherlock Holmes. Even the purpose of the resonator is to extend the powers of perception.
“My God” whispers Crawford, as he watches Pretorius power the machine up to full. “Do you feel it Crawford!” he begins to shiver, shake, and moan, clutching his head. Crawford tells Edward to turn it off, but Edward screams “Never! Can’t you feel it, Crawford, in the mind, THE MIND!” “It’s out of control, you’ve got to turn it off!” replies Crawford, only to be dismissed by Edward’s “trek” into the unknown as Edward replies “No! No! I want to see more, more than any man has ever seen.” This reminds us of Star Trek, one of the main works of Science Fiction dissected by the book “The Gospel According to Science Fiction” by McKee. The Star Trek TNG’s famous beginning of the show has the voice of Jean Luc Picard, narrating the mission statement of the Enterprise, as being “to boldly go where no man has gone before.”
The monitor explodes and Crawford screams, “Edward! It’s running itself!” And ignoring Crawford’s pleas, Edward replies “Something’s coming…” Truly it is beyond the scope of this assignment to retell the whole story, but next we see Edward’s headless corpse, and the arrest of Crawford, who finds himself in a psychiatric ward. There is so much to discuss with just the introduction of the movie. For example, the idea of scientific experiments going out of control is one of the five types of fears that writers typically take advantage of. As described in “Sacred Terror” the fear of supernatural evil is at the core of the human psyche.
“Of all the fears … the fear of supernatural evil internalized and externalized illustrates the principles of sociaphobics most clearly and most paradoxically. To reiterate briefly, rather than simply a psychological state or a set of physical reactions to adverse stimuli, sociaphobics suggests that what we fear, how we fear, and the ways in which react to fear are profoundly shaped by the cultures in which we live. “(Cowan, pg. 171)
There is even a detective in the movie, who wants to figure out the crime scene. Crawford is told that he has to recreate the experiment. Crime mysteries, as well as the other two genres, seem to have come together in this one film. And “the fear of sacred places” is quickly seen as the crime scene, the Pretorius Foundation on Benevolent St., now stirs fear in Crawford (Cowan, pg. 93). Premises of all three books merge in this story. “Fear of the Flesh” (Cowan, pg. 201) and “Sci-Fi role reversal” (The Gospel According to Science Fiction) come into actualization as the recreation of the experiment brings Edward Pretorius back to life! Now he is a monster, who rips of his own face, and transforms to eat “Bubba”, a policeman there to supervise, just before Crawford turns off the machine. The movie flips our world upside down, and tells us that these things are all around us, these creatures, and this is “fear of change” (Cowan, pg. 61). Especially the fear of change of “sacred order” and the fear of inversion, as the genius scientist is now an “evil god.”
The fear of death and of dying badly is also a big theme here, for example, the violation of Katherine by Edward now reincarnated by a monster, and how “Bubba” does die after all, eaten alive by a swarm “flies” (Cowan, pg. 123). Over and over we see the fear of sacred space, as any place in which “the vibrations” of the resonator permeate, is filled with monsters. And the fear of our own sexuality is definitely a theme as well, as the stimulation of the pineal gland makes everyone shiver in arousal.
Again the notion of supernatural evil comes into play as Crawford now “evolves” uncontrollably into a brain eating creature. Like some sort of zombie, Crawford begins to suck out people’s brains right through their eye sockets. The way the resonator starts back up again and again almost on its own accord, and how Crawford himself says that Pretorius “is always here” are more examples of fear of unstoppable evil, and of sacred space. Not until Katherine bites of his new pineal gland, does Crawford return to his senses, or regain a sense of humanity. He begins to insult Edward’s impotence in which “We are the most powerful being in the Universe,” responds Pretorius. His original goal to devour the entire human race, the creature with the mind of Edward Pretorius becomes “schizophrenic” when it gives in to the taunts of Crawford, and eats his head just as it did Edwards. It is ironic how this schizophrenia, which Katherine has always labored to eradicate, actually ends up saving her life. In the end the creature splits in twain, with two little skulls biting each other, and the limb holding on to Katherine is bitten by Crawford’s consciousness, allowing her to jump out the third floor window, just before the resonator explodes.
Never could such notions, that men are evolving into brain eating “zombie’s,” could exist without the freedom of Science Fiction. Or the fact, as presented by the movie, that “the most powerful being in the Universe” is one of these brain eating creatures itself, is just ridiculous, even repulsive, without the freedom of Science Fiction.
In conclusion, “H.P. Lovecraft’s from Beyond” is a brilliant work showing all three ideas we have studied in the course. It is the embodiment of Horror, Mystery, and Science Fiction, done by a true master of all three genres. To this day people worship Cthuhlu and Mr. Lovecraft, and this film has opened my mind to a whole new set of possibilities. Combined with this course, the film has showed me the connection between religion, mystery, horror, and science fiction.
Works Cited
Cowan, Douglas E. Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2008.
Kendrick, Stephen. Holy Clues: The Gospel According to Sherlock Holmes. New York, 1999.
McKee, Gabriel. The Gospel According to Science Fiction. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007.
“H.P. Lovecraft’s from Beyond” movie. Director: Stuart Gordon, writers: Brian Yuzna, Dennis Paoli. Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Thriller. 1986