Unspeakable: Beyond the Wall of Sleep

Unspeakable-Beyond-the-Wall-of-Sleep
Unspeakable: Beyond the Wall of Sleep

Unspeakable: Beyond the Wall of Sleep movie takes its inspiration from another short story, ‘Beyond the Wall of Sleep’, written by H.P. Lovecraft. Several occasions are employed in the film to acknowledge the great writer with mentions of Miskatonic University as well as Arkham Asylum among others. Our hero (Edward Furlong yes, that Edward Furlong and yes it is still super fun watching him act in movies) goes by the name of Ambrose London whose name may have been borrowed from author Ambrose Bierce, to whose “Beyond the Wall” Lovecraft’s own short descriptive story is believed to be inspired by.

Chances are you may see the resemblance of this film to Lovecraft’s eighteen-page composition but the fact is that the conception of Lovecraft’s renderings was simply deficient in any sharp-toothed, phallic gorillas, several less eunuch-events, and just one neither here nor there, half-faced, corporeal female reproduction unit of a barman and a Nazi donkey. I will save you the time of waiting for anticipation, don’t shatter it with exclamations of spoilers we are not that far and we are yet to start the opening credits.

Chad Ferrin, who together with Tubi and Prime also released H. P. Lovecraft’s The Old Ones, took the essence of Lovecraft’s text and made it his own And he continued to make it his own so as to speak. And yes people may have said “That is it, stop running! You have gone past the line” but he was way too far gone for any of that to matter. When it comes to recounting the creative vision behind the script and making of this picture, no stone was left unturned. The film is disturbing, political, and boastfully obscene, and the authors admit the goal was to offend. Certain phrases will cause even normally jaded viewers to exclaim “Oh my God” in disbelief. Such viewers would have been made hardcore by the time the last credits have run. The experience of watching this film is bound to have one transform Kermit the frog into Keith Richards

The movie starts rather slowly, however; it gets intense as it progresses. The movie stars Robert Miano who takes on the role of Jim Fhelleps, a patient with apparent disassociative identity disorder, who is imprisoned in the Arkham Asylum. Even though modern medicine has given him a close estimate of his actual problem, the truth is much deeper and more complicated than that. In times when the person who is self-introduced as Jim Fhelleps is not willing to identify himself as such, he becomes Joe Slater, a man with distinctive features. This is also noticeable in the different colored eyes, teeth, and other physical characteristics. Dr. Barnard’s concerns at one point during the film constitute, “There are two men in that body”, which is telling.

Miano was handed a script that would challenge any actor. Over the course of the story, there are a total of two characters and two entirely separate worlds that have to be seen as interlaced but still separate from one another. The law has restricted what can be called ‘social engagement’ for Miano and a very specific type of self-talk, so in trying to avoid sounding vulgar it is hard to say the exact amount of vocabulary used during his personae switching. As the guardian of one self’s two of the trigram’s inner petal heads, Miano twitches with both Fhelleps and Slater in rapid succession. This was Miano’s second role and impulsively this performance ramped up the project’s level significantly higher.

Susan Priver manages to make Dr Barnard look like a smart, capable, and extremely passionate physician blessed to have a lot to give to the world and who has no idea the kind of revolutions that the case of Fhelleps will trigger. In response to that, quite the opposite is said in those words Furlong’s Ambrose London seems to be much older and weathered and rugged, and not only is he prepared for the rough ride that lies ahead of him he is actually looking forward to the rough ride ahead and plans to ride it himself. Like I said fun to watch.

I don’t consider his unsettling decision to take his own life as much of a spoiler as most people would consider it to be so I will just go ahead and say that it was Dr Willet who, played by Steve Railsback in a stunning cameo, had the idea to seek the help of Ambrose, who used to be a super respected oneirologist There’s a parenthesis here where I say in brackets oneirologist one who researches dreams as I had to google it so I assume others don’t reach out for that term so frequently as well.

But then Fhelleps or his other identity Joe Slater was waiting for things to unfold like this. Fhelleps has his own agenda and with the help of an Arkham orderly called Neville who is possessed he goes for his own plans. Jerry Irons the Co-Producer is amazing in this role as the once nice and considerate Neville who now is full of anger works as a nurse against his patients, runs an insane asylum, and looks like a classic stereotype of the orderly in these places.

Another side character worth mentioning is Sonia London, Ambrose’s wife played by Ginger Lynn Allen she was quite entertaining but there should have been a few cut scenes incorporating her character especially given her prominence in the storyline.

It would have been difficult, however, and so much had to be crammed into this movie’s running time which is just under ninety minutes including some of the most gruesome blood and guts and FX makeup that you are not at all prepared to witness. All special makeup effects, including the extraordinary Joe Castro, the ‘Chiseled Death More Blood College” (Guinness Book of World Records for “highest body count in a slasher film”) creator, were made in Scott companies. The action takes place so swiftly that you will indeed need to pause the picture in order to take in some of the visuals (as opposed to the much more numerous images that you will wish to avert your gaze from, no disrespect intended to Joe, more to all of us and indeed to the morality of the world as an idea). One actor still bears the scars of his character permanently on his face hence one side of his face is all damaged, the quality of the cut was so good that the concept phantoms of the opera come into the picture. In this film, Jeff Leroy, who in the indie circles is recognized for his miniatures and monsters artistry, also helped with the special effects, making some rather interesting eye candy.

What makes the medical visuals even more interesting is the combination of advanced surgical techniques and the antiques look that one may find in an asylum straight out of Lovecraft tales. The movie services the present day though it is a low-technology present that includes answering machines, VHS tapes, audio cassettes, and chain smoking. Most of the music is also not in sync with the story it often suggests old horror with Hitchcock thrillers but then advances to new-wave sounds with a darker tone. The plot, told in shades of black-and-white with explosive elements of color, as well as sepia always transitions from different eras, chronicles, and decades within that specific story.

Moving across the genres into the literary world, Ferrin tosses self-aware humor into the already off-the-Railsback third act. There’s no doubt that it was an independent film since no studio would go near the movie (which is not negative). Some films are not made for and are not suited to promotional and commercial purposes. Realistically, if you are watching this flick now, you know exactly what you are getting yourself into, and it’s the same as when you are going to withdraw collecting a bucket of water, vitamins, and three buckets like Mark Renton before you press the play button.

One could approach testing this one as entering a cold swimming pool, and it would be a great idea. If a viewer is still feeling fine, and particularly for new information set the brain ablaze with excitement after the opening credits it’s more likely that the viewer will watch this as a movie rather than a series of violent invasions targeting the comfort level of an individual’s mind. However, if it is indeed the case, there is this fascinating bleak narrative that is told using the work of many artists, containing very strong similarities with the works of Lovecraft but surrounded by things no human eye was ever meant to see. Thank you for your attention to the article.

Bai Ling. She fits in as described in this review and also in the movie. Just when you thought everything was over, there is Bai Ling, relentlessly hounding you in the most outrageous way, pounding the last nails to the coffin so that you do not get to the other side of the sleeping wall for a long time. A memorable performance, to say the least. Perhaps this is a spoiler, but this was more of ‘bear with me. There’s a Bai Ling at the end of the tunnel.’

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