Beyond the Door (1974 film)

Beyond the Door
Italian theatrical release poster
ItalianChi sei?
Directed by
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRoberto Piazzoli
Music byFranco Micalizzi
Production
companies
A Erre Cinematografica
Montoro Productions Ltd.
Distributed byVariety Distribution
Release dates
21 November 1974 (Italy)
  • 2 May 1975 (1975-05-02) (Houston, Texas)[1]
Running time
97 minutes[2]
Countries
Budget$350,000[3]
Box office$15 million[3] or $7.1 million[4]

Beyond the Door (Italian: Chi sei?, lit. "Who are you?") is a 1974[3] supernatural horror film directed by Ovidio G. Assonitis and Roberto Piazzoli, and starring Juliet Mills, Gabriele Lavia, and Richard Johnson. The plot follows a San Francisco housewife who becomes demonically possessed in the midst of a pregnancy. The film was a co-production between the United States and Italy. It was released in the United Kingdom in an extended cut under the title Devil Within Her.

Beyond the Door opened in the United States in May 1975, and became a major commercial success, grossing approximately $15 million. Critical reaction to the film was largely negative, with numerous critics deeming it an imitation of The Exorcist (1973). That film's distributor, Warner Bros., filed a lawsuit against the production company behind Beyond the Door, claiming copyright infringement. A settlement was ultimately reached years later in 1979.

This would be the first entry into the Beyond the Door trilogy in the United States as Mario Bava's Shock (1977) was re-titled Beyond the Door II and branded as a sequel, though it has no relation to the 1974 film. A second sequel, Beyond the Door III, was also released in 1989, though it too bears no relation to the previous two films.

  1. ^ a b c "Beyond the Door". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Los Angeles, California: American Film Institute. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019.
  2. ^ Muir 2012, p. 339.
  3. ^ a b c Shipka 2011, p. 146.
  4. ^ Donahue 1987, p. 292. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada