Rare Flix: Beyond the Doors (aka Down on Us) {1984}

I just can't get enough of Larry Buchanan.

Well, that's a lie.  I just didn't want to forget to watch and review this for another 5 years after this happened last time.  When I did his pair of 'Documentaries' back in 2015, I found this on YT.  The good news- it's still there.  The bad news- it's still there!

This is the confusing half-real, half-fake, all-bad Film known as Beyond the Doors...

In the Cold Open, a man is shot by his friends while hunting.  Insert Dick Cheney Joke here.

This guy is in all of the Larry Buchanan Films.  Joy.

His kids learn that he worked for the CIA.  The Mom tells that he had hidden in the house.  The code is the son's birthday.

Yeah, nobody could crack that!

What secrets do his notes (which literally go up to the day before his death) hold?

We learn that he was in charge of monitoring people from the 'Counter Culture' after Nixon became President.  His main targets included Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin (for starters).

The Film straight up invents moments like this where they meet and hang out.

It also can't block its shots and you can see the top of the cheap-ass sets.

Another target is Jim Morrison.  His not-so-similar look-alike does his best to spout things that sound like Poetry, but has none of the gravitas or depth that The Lizard King had.

It is also worth noting that this Film picks a clear part of History to be set in- specifically Morrison's low point where he put on weight, grew out his beard and got morose.

...or he just kind of has stubble...a little bit.

*The top is from the Film.  The bottom is from real life*

The Film- which runs for nearly 2 hours- meanders through 'slice of life' moments involving all three performers, interspersed with non-licensed sound-similar-but-not-really songs.

All of them are filmed in the same, cheap Studio Set.  That even includes 'recreations' of famous moments like Hendrix doing The Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock.  

The likeness is uncanny.

* It helps to not know the history of the people whom you are watching a Film about *

The *hook* of the Film comes at around the 80 minute mark when we learn that the deaths of these Famous People were brought about by the CIA.

Yes, they had to drug the known-drug-users and go beyond the call by...

1) Breaking into their Rooms

2) Tapping the Hotel Phones

3) Making fake calls

4) Pretending to be Ambulance Drivers

Oh and apparently injecting something- presumably heroin- into Janis Joplin's oranges to create an overdose.

Mind you, Joplin had a $1300 a day Heroin habit, but this is what really did it!

In a twist, Morrison escapes a possible CIA hit (although he seems to be unaware of it).

Back in the present of 1984, the Son finally gets done reading the papers and goes to the Spanish Hospice where Morrison fled to.

Will he see Morrison and tie this all together?

Nope- Morrison died (off-camera) in 1974.  The End.

A long trip that doesn't really pay off that much.  So I think you need to know what the state of this Film is before I summarize.  The Film has no Blu-Ray release.  The Film has no DVD release.  A VHS rip exists on YouTube and has for many, many years.  That should tell you alot right there.  The actual Film clocks in at just under 2 hours and has no right to.  It spends so much time on nonsense and Musical Numbers that it drags.  Actually, saying it drags is almost putting it too nicely.  It grinds to a crawl for most of the runtime.  They make sure that you see a woman lecture Hendrix on him not speaking out politically.  They make sure you see him meeting with the two ladies who would make plaster casts of Rock Stars' *ahem* members.  They make sure that you see Jim Morrison making out with a lady in the Women's Restroom while Janis Joplin waits outside.  If you cut these non-sequitur bits and many of the Musical Numbers, you'd reach a far better runtime.  The hook of this is seeing the last twenty minutes really.  It wasn't worth it all that much.  After Bob and I watched this, we spent far too long discussing how little sense the supposed CIA Plots made.  If he wants to, he can share some of them- I just don't have the space for ranting.  The Actors playing the famous people are, at best, alright.  Fake Hendrix works, while Fake Morrison does not even remotely work.  Fake Joplin is okay, but we don't get to see what we need to make the tale feel properly-tragic.  Really late in the Film, they try with Hendrix and Joplin, which feels weird.  No sale.  This was Larry Buchanan's second-to-last Film- good.  If you want to track it down, there's some morbid curiosity to it, but good luck making it past the first 30 minutes...  

Next up, it is either Anime or Horror- just not both.  I'm not sure where I'll go at this point, so enjoy the mystery.  Stay tuned...