VOICES FROM BEYOND (Limited Edition 4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
Have ghosts ever been more obnoxious? Poor Giorgio Mainardi refuses to stay dead quietly. He spends most of Voices from Beyond drifting in and out of his daughter’s dreams, moaning from beyond the grave, demanding answers while his spoiled family circles his inheritance. In the hands of Lucio Fulci, I expected something somewhat haunting. Instead, what I got was a simple premise that stretches so thin that the atmosphere eventually starts giving way to repetition and exhaustion.
Film ★★☆☆☆
By 1991, Fulci was running on fumes physically, financially, and creatively. The Italian horror boom that once made him infamous was fading, his health was deteriorating, and his later films were getting rougher around the edges. But Voices From Beyond has the energy of a filmmaker swinging for the fences, no longer trying to impress anyone. Admirable, yes, but incredibly sloppy, even when images are visually dreamy and beautiful to behold.
There’s so much potential to this overheated gothic soap opera. Wealthy businessman Giorgio collapses in a hospital bed, coughing up alarming amounts of blood while nearly everyone around him seems more annoyed than devastated. His greedy relatives immediately begin maneuvering for money, secrets spill out almost instantly, and before long Giorgio’s ghost starts whispering into the dreams of his daughter Rosy, begging her to uncover who killed him before his corpse decays beyond recognition.
I love the idea of the dead literally running out of time because decomposition is weakening the afterlife phone connection. Karina Huff is mesmerizing as Rosy; there’s a soft, almost sleepy vulnerability that fits the movie’s drifting nightmare quality.
Duilio Del Prete spends much of the runtime dead and rotting, but he still dominates via voice echoing through crypts and dream sequences.
There are momentary bursts of classic Fulci insanity breaking through the melodrama. He clearly wasn’t interested in constructing a tight murder mystery, his focus rooted in mood, decay, and bizarre imagery. One minute somebody’s wandering through a stained-glass-lit hallway lined with coffins while zombies burst from tombs, the next there are eyeballs floating in breakfast eggs.
That doesn’t mean the movie entirely works. The pacing feels embalmed, some of the acting swings wildly between wooden and hysterical, and the mystery itself isn’t nearly as compelling as I had hoped. The film practically points an arrow at the killer, and I sat there thinking it was clunky misdirection, only to reach the third act reveal and find out it was, in fact, that very suspect.
Voices From Beyond at least feels sincere in a way many late-career horror films don’t. Fulci isn’t just recycling old tricks; he’s seemingly confronting his own mortality head-on, turning this ghost story into an odd confessional.
The film keeps circling the idea that people only truly disappear once they’re forgotten, and beneath all the gore and dream logic there’s something unexpectedly moving about that.
It may not stand alongside Fulci’s greatest work, but it’s one of his most human films.
Video ★★★☆☆
Encoding: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Clarity/Detail: Severin Films’ new 2160p UHD presentation pulls an impressive amount of texture from Lucio Fulci’s late-period gothic nightmare. Facial close-ups expose every tired wrinkle, sweat bead, and corpse-like complexion with precision. Cobweb-covered remains and bodily decay carry tactile nastiness. The naturally filmic grain structure remains stable and organic throughout.
Depth: Despite the movie’s heavy use of foggy diffusion and smeared lighting, the HDR-enhanced image creates a good sense of dimensionality. Interiors layered with candles, glass reflections, and shadowy corridors have a nice visual separation. Even scenes coated in haze maintain convincing background detail, giving the production design and damp gothic environments a strong physical presence.
Black Levels: The UHD’s HDR10 grading gives the film’s darkness considerable nuance, particularly during the many sequences drenched in blue-tinted shadows and low-light interiors. Black levels hold steady without crushing fine detail, texture within dim rooms, funeral attire, and decaying set pieces to be seen rather than losing them to muddy smears.
Color Reproduction: Colors lean heavily into a cold, unhealthy palette, and the UHD presentation embraces that aesthetic. Recurring icy blue lighting schemes appear rich and luminous. Occasional warm highlights from lamps and candles create a striking contrast against the otherwise sickly visual design.
Flesh Tones: Skin tones retain a believable warmth underneath the film’s stylized lighting.
Noise/Artifacts: Severin wisely avoids excessive digital cleanup, allowing the source’s natural film texture and occasional rough edges to remain intact. Grain movement stays consistent.
Audio ★★★☆☆
Audio Format(s): English Mono; Italian Stereo
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Dynamics: This DTS-HD MA 2.0 presentation stays committed to the film’s restrained supernatural mood, with sudden musical swells and spectral sound cues carrying a nice punch, with Stelvio Cipriani’s eerie synth-heavy score rises cleanly during dreamlike passages and moments of supernatural panic without flattening the quieter atmospheric beats.
Height: N/A
Low Frequency Extension: Understandable, bass response remains faint. Cipriani’s low electronic pulses and percussion elements carry enough depth to give supernatural scenes modest weight.
Surround Sound Presentation: N/A
Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue consistently remains clear and easy to follow despite the intentionally hollow post-dubbed quality common to late-period Italian horror productions.
Extras ★★★★☆
The three-disc edition comes housed in a black keepcase with newly commissioned artwork, disc-specific designs, and an insert featuring soundtrack track listings and credits. The glossy limited-edition slipcase has an embossed-style title treatment.
About Death – Audio Interview With Lucio Fulci: Recorded shortly before the film’s release, this vintage conversation finds Lucio Fulci reflecting on mortality, dreams, and the strange overlap between love and the afterlife that drives the story of Voices from Beyond.
Beyond The Living – Interview With Actor Pascal Persiano: Pascal Persiano offers a candid look at stepping into Fulci’s chaotic filmmaking orbit, beginning with The Sweet House of Horrors before moving into his experiences on Voices from Beyond.
A House For The Dead – Interview With Set Designer Antonello Geleng: Production designer Antonello Geleng digs into the visual identity of the film, including his search for the sprawling Castel Gandolfo estate that became the movie’s central location.
Like A Father – Interview With Prop Master Vincenzo Luzzi: Vincenzo Luzzi remembers Fulci as a brilliant technician whose sharp humor and rough demeanor often masked chronic pain and exhaustion.
Lucio’s Last Wave – Interview With Stephen Thrower, Author Of Beyond Terror: The Films Of Lucio Fulci: Author Stephen Thrower supplies the scholarly overview of the package, unpacking the film’s production history, alternate title origins, and its place within Fulci’s declining-budget late period.
Trailer
Soundtrack CD: Severin also includes a separate compact disc featuring twelve tracks from Stelvio Cipriani’s score, blending synthetic percussion, moody electronic textures, ghostly melodies, and pulsing late-80s atmosphere.
Summary ★★★★☆
Lucio Fulci’s late-career supernatural oddity may not rank alongside his most legendary horror work, but Voices from Beyond is still impressive in ambition and style. Severin’s lavish three-disc 4K UHD edition treats the film with care, pairing an impressive restoration with a generous stack of interviews, archival material, and a soundtrack CD that complements the movie’s offbeat atmosphere.
