Beyond the Limits (2003) User Reviews

comments.....

[face_of_terror · 4/10 · 21 March 2004]

PLOT

A young female journalist Vivian comes to the Cemetery to get an interview from its keeper , a creepy looking guy named Frederick. Frederick tells her two strange stories that lead to an unspeakable and mystery secret.

COMMENTS

A few options I would like to comment :

1. Acting. Acting is actually poor except for a few people that can actually act so you can believe them. The Director Olaf Ittenbach has a cameo appearance in the beginning of the movie. Among actors , Darren Shahlavi looks really solid and shows good martial art skills. Those of you who seen 'Bad Moon' with Gary Daniels and Shahlavi , will probably agree with me. Another martial art specialist , Matthias Hues appears in the end of the movie as one of the bad guys. Other actors look really poor , and almost all of them have an accent (no clean English , whatsoever). But in this kind of movie you don't expect great acting at all.

2. Gore. Ittenbach does a great job here with all the SFX , gore effects. As usual , in Ittenbach's movies there's a lot of gore, tons of blood , people get slaughtered , cut into pieces , and tortured in very disturbing manner. Everything looks real , what is a big plus for this kind of movie. Its not as gory as Ittenbach's earlier movies "Premutos (1997)" and "Burning Moon (1992)" but there's enough of it to satisfy a gore fan ,believe me. Also with all the gore ,the movie is extremely violent.

3. Plot. I started getting the plot with about 3-4 minutes left till the end. First story told by Frederick is about a bunch of guys who get involved in to this usual 'money-drugs' thing , and in the end they all get slaughtered like animals , in very violent ways. Second story takes place , probably in medieval Europe. A demented inquisitor is searching ancient writings which can make him eternal and give unrestricted power.By searching he tortures and kills people who don't obey him, in very gruesome ways. Both stories lead to Fredericks's own secret. But when Vivian realizes that , it's just too late…..

OVERALL

Recommended to Olaf Ittenbach's fans only. Fans of gory movies will be satisfied as well. For those of you expecting acting , plot or anything else except gore…..keep searching. Would I recommend this movie ? Watch for yourself people… I did like the violence and gore....everything else in this movie just doesn't worth it.

The Gore Quest for the Eternal Heart

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 14 April 2008]

The rookie journalist Vivian (Kimberly Liebe) seeks Frederick (Christopher Kriesa), the caretaker of the oldest cemetery in an undefined country, asking for an interview and the old man tells the story of two "costumers" and both connected by a mysterious secret. The powerful gangster Jimmie Levinson (James Matthew-Pyecha) accuses his former partner Paul Pattuchi (Joe Cook) of stealing a load of cocaine and orders to kill his beloved girlfriend Clarice (Xenia Seeberg). Paul is found dead later in a cottage, and Jimmie and his friends and girlfriends are visited during a dinner party by Robert Downing (Daryl Jackson) first and then by the sadistic Mortimer (Simon Newby) and his partner Rick (Thomas Reitmair) seeking the truth about Paul and a suitcase with a mysterious relic. The second story takes place in the Middle Ages, where the cruel David Deming (David Creedon) and his minion Tom Brewster (Russell Friendenberg) chase the renegade priest James Flynn (Hank Stone) in the name of the Inquisition but actually trying to force him to reveal the secret of the Eternal Heart to grant immortality.

The low–budget "Beyond the Limits" is extremely gore but is not a bad movie. Most of the performances are only reasonable, the choreography of the fights with sword is terrible, but I liked the plot. There is an enormous exploitation of violence, but the special effects are very impressive and realistic. The only work of director Olaf Ittenbach that I have had the chance to see is the awful "Legion of the Dead", and "Beyond the Limits" is better and better showing a great improvement in his career. The characters Mortimer (mainly) and Brewster are among the most sadistic I have ever seen. The torture at the dinner table and in the castle chamber, the massacre in the church and the trip to Hell are extremely impressive and strong, and of course not recommended to sensitive persons. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Além dos Limites" ("Beyond the Limits")

Note: On 30 May 2013, I saw this movie again.

Beyond the Limits: Gorehounds will love it

[Platypuschow · 6/10 · 8 January 2018]

I went into this expecting another low budget horror effort but have walked away pleasantly surprised.

Beyond the Limits is a German made horror anthology consisting of two stories and a wrap around which are all connected.

The first thing I noticed is how good it all looks, fans of gore will love this as its one of the most brutal movies I've seen in years. Gory, horrifically violent and merciless but with a story to justify it.

From a gangsters dinner gone wrong to Christians killing off heretics to a mysterious graveyard caretaker with a nasty secret.

I enjoyed this though the whole thing doesn't come together as well as I'd hoped. Take each story as separate and it's more entertaining that way.

Beyond the Limits isn't for the faint of heart and I'm not exaggerating when I say this is hardcore stuff, if you're up for it and like that sort of thing then you can do a lot worse than this.

The Good:

First story was fantastically sadistic

Great sfx

Horrifically violent

The Bad:

Doesn't all connect as well as it should have

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I don't remember Rick & Morty being like that in the cartoon!

About an hour in was a fantastic example of old school Christian "Love"

A gore marathon

[ogrishel · 23 June 2006]

"Beyond the Limits" was a big surprise for me since I am very disappointed in the latest movies concerning the special effects because I hate those cartoon-like computer effects. Olaf Ittenbach is absolutely fabulous as the gore master from Germany because he likes to do the FX the classic way without the help of computer animation.

The movie is composed of two "Tales from the Crypt"-like stories and the main subject is the trip of the "eternal heart" through time, from the alchemistic Middle Age to present days, causing a gore marathon on its way.

The main characters are sadistic psychos who really enjoy to torture and kill their victims in the most gory way someone could imagine. The acting is quite good and impressive for this kind of movie because it makes you really feel the terror and pain of the victims.

This is not a scary movie, it's just a very well done splatter horror from Europe, much better then many Hollywood movies of the genre.

I give it a 10 out of 10 because Olaf Ittenbach rules!

nothing as I ever seen before

[kliuv1 · 3/10 · 20 January 2004]

This is some god forsaken piece of blood soaked, gory piece of cinema. Then again calling it a piece of cinema is going a bit too far. This is just a collection of (good) SFX shots of mangled bodies and people getting slashed in all manner of fashions. I love violence in movies, but this is really Beyond The Limits. I have no idea of what those mad Germans were thinking, but this is too much. A little recap of what you can see in the movie^ - heads getting cut off - women raped - legs, hands? fingers ripped off - people tortured in every possible manner and so on and so on. To be honest, if I would have red this earlier I would have loved to see the movie, but now I have to admit that I feel kind of dirty. I'll go and take a long shower and not sleep for a week. Always knew ze Germanz are into this sort of thing :-) P.S. Almost forgot, the acting is the worst I have seen in any movie in all my life!!!

One of the worst movies ever

[CarfelMA · 1/10 · 8 November 2003]

I'm a fan of horror and splatter movies but this here absolutely is one of the worst ones. The plot is stupid and quickly forgotten while watching. The dialogues are much more stupid and seem to be only written of some dirty words repeating all the time. And talking about acting, it's so typical for a german production, they don't care about how good the actors are, they just want to present perfect sets (from a well known swedish furniture company *smile), blood and violence. But as bloody and violent "Beyond the limits" is you more laugh about it during the whole movie, because it all turns out to be a comedy what was not intended. There is almost not any scene without dirty language (for exampe a sentence with about ten bad words in a row) and people getting killed and blood spreading all over the place. I wonder what the screen writers expected to create. This one will never be a big movie and will be quickly forgotten. Watch for yourself and I guess you will agree.

Gore! (But Unfortunately Little Else)

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 2/10 · 25 January 2008]

German director Olaf Ittenbach is widely known for his gory films, and "Beyond The Limits" sure is a gore-fest. Unfortunately, the excessive violence and gore, as well as a tiny bit of macabre humor, are the the only values this movie is recommendable for. Granted, there are a few shock moments, i'll give it that. The plot is absolutely ridiculous, and most of the performances are ridiculously terrible. Furthermore, it has recently become popular among low-budget horror directors to accompany their movie with recurring and extremely annoying computer-generated soundtracks, and the 'eerie' score of this movie is no exception. The gore is excessive, but in no way shocking or disturbing. In case its a brainless gore-fest you're looking for, you might be mildly entertained, but there plenty of brainless gorefests that I would recommend a hundred times over this one. In case you have any expectations regarding suspense or eeriness whatsoever, I recommend to skip this one. The film is divided into two main parts, one of which plays in present times, the other one in the 15th century. Even though I am a fan of medieval Horror, I liked the first part slightly better, since it doesn't even bother to fake a plot, and simply concentrates on being gory. Crap and not even recommendable to hardcore gorehounds.

Really bloody useless

[Finntroll · 3/10 · 6 July 2005]

Once in a while I like to kick back with a movie that doesn't tax my brain at all and just lets me enjoy a stupendous amount of blood, guts and limbs. Beyond the Limits certainly gave me my fair share of the latter, but unfortunately it also features so much stupidity that I actually started to wonder what the hell I was doing. It also had really serious problems with acting, as some of the actors looked more scared of the camera than of the murderer. And the dialog must be some of the cheesiest I've heard since Ittenbach seems to think that good dialog consists of a bunch of words drowned in a sea of profanity. The only thing I can't complain about is the bloodshed which looks kind of good, and yes, the gore is obviously the whole point of this movie, but I can't ignore the fact that the movie sucks.

Braindead gorehounds will have a good time but most of us will probably have fallen to sleep by the time it ends.

A Supplication for the Slasher

[jmbwithcats · 4/10 · 25 February 2005]

First understand this movie is a slasher gore fest. Blood for the sake of blood. made to be very camp, badly dialogued, and really bloody. But, the movie redeems itself in a several important ways. It keeps the attention, the story is kind of fun, and the effects are great, as well as original. The film is not linear which is refreshing as well, and credit must be given to the director Directed by Olaf Ittenbach and writer Thomas Reitmair A feel of the Dark Ages permeates the entirety of the film's course, showing the savagery of the times, without a lot of recourse for the feint at heart.

Yes, the acting in this movie is by far the worst acting I've ever seen in my entire life. Lines read with out inflection, tone, feeling, or believability of character.

The editing is very bad, and sadly rushed.

The effects are terrific though, and the plausibility of the storyline is kind of fun, leaving just enough mystery to keep the attention of the viewer.

See, in movies like these, generally they give too much away right at the start, which shows bad scripting and bad directing, thankfully this movie manages to circumvent those two major obstacles.

This movie verges on the realm of extreme Japanese horror without being Japanese. Reminiscent of Movies like Flowers of Flesh and Blood, Ichi the Killer. Although Ichi the Killer has something this movie does not, and that is the charisma of good acting.

The ending is pretty good, and I found my interest kept right until the end simply because the actors who are decent, draw you in, and the effects are really cool in the end. Overall I rate it a 6.5 It could have been better, what with the acting, and editing, and some cohesion problems, but thats okay. There is much worse. This movie is not for the feint of heart.

What a Wild Ride!

[mnscout2002 · 7/10 · 18 October 2003]

Gee, where to begin? This movie is very bizarre and unique; it's not the plot that makes it unique, however, because the plot is quite simple. On one side of equation, there is a misterious... well, item, and on another side, there are people who get tortured and killed right and left in different and quite imaginative ways, because somebody wants this item very, very much.

So, like I said, the plot is simple, but the execution is quite sophisticated. The movie consists of 2 barely connected parts and takes us through modern and Medievil times, and then there is someone who combines the whole story and tells it to (you guessed it) a beautiful, female reporter.

So, how bizarre is it? Here is my take on this very unusual movie:

1. "Beyond the Limits" is one of the most violent, gory films I've ever seen in my entire life (and I've seen quite a few!)!

2. It's also THE MOST CREATIVE and professionally done gorefest I've ever seen.

3. Notwithstanding the previous comment, acting and dialogs in the first vignette are atrocious and over-the-top - totally B-movie material. At this point you will get confused, since you've been told this is not a B-movie (stay assured, it isn't, just wait for the second part). Besides, murders and tortures are so well done, you will forgive the filmmakers for this acting fiasco, guaranteed.

4. Since they didn't have enough money to hire professional actors for entire duration of the movie (just guessing here:), the second vignette is where the director makes it up to you in this department. I think it's flawless. Acting is terrific, and fight scenes will take your breath away.

5. The outline plot is subtle, and the end scene, albeit very strong, doesn't make too much of a sense, which, I must say, is perfect for this movie. The ending, somehow, reminded me of the ending of "Ronin" (with Robert De Niro).

6. The film had to have a fairly good budget, if only for all those special effects having been made so well, but obviously, not enough money went into marketing, which can explain why no one on this side of Atlantic ever heard of this movie, which is sad, sad, sad...

Final Thoughts.

The only reason, I don't call this movie a horror masterpiece is because of the laughable acting in the 1st part. Overall, I'll say, if you like the genre and have a strong stomach, find and see this movie -you'll be glad you did! 7 out of 10.

Total waste of time.

[phantomht · 1/10 · 21 October 2003]

Im not sure what was worse, the acting or the plot. The ending was as un-climatic as it can get, this is one of those movies where you keep waiting for it to get better in the next 5 minutes and never does and you end up hating yourself for sitting through the entire movie instead of doing something useful with your life like clipping your toe nails or clipping coupons out of the local newspaper.

The SFX were better than any other facet of this lil gem, but as awful as the movie is, that isnt saying much.

disturbing piece of violence and gore

[mochaos1 · 8/10 · 14 April 2003]

This movie is hard to describe , for its neither a real horror flick nor a real senseless splatter movie. It´s disturbing , its brutal , its great. the movie splits in 2 1/2 plots , one in the middle age , one nowadays , and the outline plot. The middle age episode is the one which contains the most splatter effects , not that disturbing brutality as the modern episode. Here you see, what can be done with swords an axes. Lots of blood and gore of course. The modern episode , as mentioned , is like a kick (or some more) in the teeth. Painful to watch , hard to believe. Of course , "splatter" at its best , but there is absolute nothing funny in this movie , as splatter usually has. So if you are prepared to see one of the hardest, sadistic ,most violent kills ever , this one is the right thing for you. If you are about to watch a funny splatter movie , you better think twice. This movie is definitely beyond the limits.

A wild blood-drenched nasty with a high 'yuck factor'.

[BA_Harrison · 7/10 · 20 January 2007]

Having read a lot about Premutos (another Olaf Ittenbach movie, often mentioned in the 'goriest horror of all time' debate), but unable to get hold of a copy cheaply enough, I opted instead for Beyond the Limits, a movie which might not have got such great reviews, but also promised to deliver its fair share of splattery delights.

And boy, does the blood flow in this one. Ittenbach and his crew have created a gore drenched anthology-style movie with some of the most brutal scenes I have seen in a long time. In the wraparound story, a young female journalist interviews a cemetery caretaker for her newspaper; he tells her the shocking tale behind one of his recent 'customers' and then follows that up with another set in medieval times.

The first story has a dinner party (attended by a group of mobsters and their wives) interrupted by a pair of ruthless killers. The sadistic assassins, hired by a man seeking vengeance for the death of his wife, set about slaughtering the party guests. But all is not as it first seems...

The second sees a bloodthirsty inquisitor and his henchmen slaughtering innocent people in a quest to revive an ancient demon. Chock full of torture and gruesome deaths, this is definitely not for the squeamish.

Ittenbach handles the direction confidently and there are some well filmed action scenes and great use of scenery and lighting. Unfortunately, he does also succumb to the use of annoying visual trickery and unnecessary MTV style editing (a particular bugbear of mine). The quality of acting varies from reasonable to very bad, but let's face it—it's the gore that really counts, and that is of a very high standard indeed: vicious, unrelenting and downright unpleasant, but very convincing.

Beyond the Limits is not a film that should be watched by casual horror fans (it's way too disturbing for most viewers, I fear), but those who enjoy 'extreme' movie-making should be more than happy with the tour de force of revolting effects that splash across the screen.

Below the limits

[mart-45 · 1/10 · 19 June 2006]

I am currently halfway through this film, and as it so very boring, I thought I'd pass some time writing this review. You see, I never (usually) leave a movie unfinished, but this time I'm rather tempted to make an exception. I am only kept away from the "Stop"-button by some perverse yearning to see how bad a film actually can get - there might be a few more surprises in store! Besides, a rather handsome actor appeared for a change, and he is actually able to do some acting, also a very refreshing mutation. But I don't actually know what redeeming factors I could find in this... what's the word... film? It's not funny, it's not interesting, it's not even horrifying. The sadistic gore fest is rather amusing, at the same time being utterly disgusting. There are better and more interesting slashers around, that actually manage to entertain. I personally find that kind of constant limb-hacking very tiresome. The multitude of accents from Bronx to real and fake British and imaginary medieval European is an acoustic gore fest in itself.

very impressive if you can stomach it.

[wantitnow · 22 January 2004]

okay the actors in the first story are clearly amatures but given motivations and content Ie - a reason to show graphic Ittenbach effects, I guess they were playing by numbers but the story and perfomances in the med-evil story are quite engaging - Darren Shalavi (I-Spy)is quite remarkable as the quite sorry Dennis who decides to use his impressive fighting abilities to defeat Brewster played with gusto by Rusell Friedenberg (Legion of the dead) and the evil lord Demming to save his love. the visual effects, graphic as they are compare on a higher level to Ittenbachs earlier work - Black past and Burning Moon and Premutos but this time using dual stories tied in by a beautiful reporter and graveyard caretaker tryiong to explain things for us, we get a more complex and anticipated story. the main problem with this film is that no matter how great Shalavi, Ittenbach and some of the rest of the cast are or not, as with the gangsters in the first story, the effects do add some craziness to the film and as with Ittenbachs last film Legion of the dead they will be cut from most releases as they ended up being here in Germany due to the increadable realism, so you get a diluted version which may not make to much sense. Heck though if you like gore and sword fights along with your torture this is the film for you, seek out the directors cut though.

What was this?!?

[IsilmeAngel · 2/10 · 9 January 2006]

I took the time to watch this one... and how I regret to have ever done it! The only thing that made it the slightest worthy was the hilariousness of it. Be warned: there are no actors in this film, only people who were paid to read a few lines, kill, die and scream a lot. Of course I'm no fan of gore films, but this... The plot is rubbish and easily forgotten due to the weak producing. The only things that do anything for the movie at all are the special effects used and the quality of the sets.

*****Beware Possible Spoiler********

It really gathered my attention with the beginning scene in the graveyard but it was all lost the minute the so-called reporter appeared and everyone started getting killed in all possible ways imaginable.

Don't waste your time on this one... except if you're a gore die-hard fan or if you feel like having a laugh for the simple ridiculousness of it!

This movie is Bulls**t!!!

[gotogabi · 1/10 · 4 April 2005]

I'm sorry to inform that this it is not the film that you will attend.

The film that you are about to see it is extremely unpleasant.

4 00:01:29,990 --> 00:01:32,976 I am sure that there are plenty of places in the room number 2.

5 00:01:33,636 --> 00:01:34,053 However...

6 00:01:34,227 --> 00:01:36,623 ... it likes himself histories of intelligent orphans

7 00:01:36,658 --> 00:01:38,603 and reasonably attractive,

8 00:01:39,644 --> 00:01:43,117 mysterious fires,

9 00:01:43,430 --> 00:01:45,896 Italian food and secret organizations...

10 00:01:46,347 --> 00:01:53,293 then be. While I proceed the children's footprints of all Bouduller.

11 00:01:54,543 --> 00:01:57,426 My name is Lemon Sniccked,

12 00:01:57,356 --> 00:02:00,656 and it is my sad one to owe to document this story.

13 00:02:02,357 --> 00:02:08,400 Violet Bouduller, the oldest, was one of the best inventors of the world with only 14 years.

14 00:02:09,512 --> 00:02:16,631 Who knew her well,knew that she invented something, when she had her long picked hair.

15 00:02:16,701 --> 00:02:20,069 In a world of abandoned items and wasted materials,

16 00:02:20,556 --> 00:02:23,438 Violet knew that there was more some thing.

17 00:02:23,959 --> 00:02:29,203 Something that she could transform in some thing, for any occasion.

18 00:02:29,689 --> 00:02:32,537 And there was not anybody better to test their inventions

19 00:02:33,753 --> 00:02:34,690 that his/her brother.

20 00:02:37,226 --> 00:02:38,476 Klaus Bouduller,

21 00:02:38,684 --> 00:02:39,726 the brother of the middle,

22 00:02:40,074 --> 00:02:41,497 he/she adored books.

23 00:02:42,053 --> 00:02:44,831 Or better... the things that he/she learned through the books.

24 00:02:45,109 --> 00:02:48,895 The parents Bouduller had an enormous library in his/her mansion.

25 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:54,174 A room full of thousands of books on almost all of the subjects,

26 00:02:54,590 --> 00:03:00,390 and nothing pleased more Klaus, that to pass one afternoon filling the head with his/her content.

27 00:03:01,502 --> 00:03:02,509 Everything that read...

28 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:04,071 ... it was in his/her memory.

29 00:03:11,122 --> 00:03:11,851 Sunny,

30 00:03:12,441 --> 00:03:13,553 the newest,

31 00:03:13,692 --> 00:03:15,220 he/she had different interests.

32 00:03:15,845 --> 00:03:17,442 She liked to bite the things

33 00:03:17,512 --> 00:03:19,839 and he/she had four sharp teeth.

34 00:03:21,436 --> 00:03:25,013 There was very little thing that Sonny it didn't like to bite.

35 00:03:35,502 --> 00:03:41,336 Sunny testified, several strange events.

36 00:03:41,683 --> 00:03:48,004 This would probably mean, look at that mysterious illustration in the thick fog.

37 00:03:48,838 --> 00:03:50,262 Or maybe...

38 00:03:51,060 --> 00:03:53,179 what is making a banker as Mr. Pow

39 00:03:53,561 --> 00:03:57,728 walking for the middle of the sand, to meet at the beach.

40 00:04:01,340 --> 00:04:02,556 Children,

41 00:04:03,285 --> 00:04:08,008 lament to have to inform on a terrible accident.

42 00:04:10,405 --> 00:04:15,961 Lament a lot to count, but their parents they died in a fire that distruiu his/her house.

43 00:04:17,455 --> 00:04:19,191 If you already lost somebody that it went very dear,

44 00:04:19,538 --> 00:04:21,483 they already know what sits down.

45 00:04:22,108 --> 00:04:22,907 If they still didn't lose,

46 00:04:23,949 --> 00:04:25,824 it is impossible imagine.

47 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,716 Nobody knows the necessary cause of the fire.

48 00:04:40,168 --> 00:04:42,390 My friends and me, we investigated the maximum that we were able to

49 00:04:42,529 --> 00:04:47,704 but everything that we discovered was that the fire the great distance was ballasted,

50 00:04:47,843 --> 00:04:50,343 atravéz of the reflex and of the convergence of the light.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any WORSE...it does.

[camarossdriver · 1/10 · 26 February 2022]

Olaf Ittenbach shouldn't be allowed to direct traffic on a one way dead end street. I'm assuming he funds his own films,because I can't see any SANE PERSON funding them. The "acting" is actually LAUGHABLE which I guess makes this heap kinda fun to watch,because there isn't one point in this film that I could take SERIOUSLY. If you REALLY WANT to torture yourself,slap in an Ittenbach movie followed by a Uwe Boll movie and wrap up your evening with a good 'ol Neil Breen flick. You will be either laughing your toosh off at the end...or...you will want to go to the garage...close the door and run a hose from the exhaust of your car to the window,and pray for sweet death. (Obviously I don't recommend this) But if you want to get your friends together,and watch this "movie",you will FOR SURE have one HECK of a good laugh! The one POSITIVE thing I can say about this film is that the blood looks somewhat real. Other than that...I WISH I hadn't invested my precious time on this pile.

Toodles.

Oh yes...

[skullrot1 · 7/10 · 6 December 2005]

Oh what a surprise I got when I watched this film. Good production values, excellent SFX, and a coherent (if a little sparse) story to keep things interesting (or two if you want to split hairs). The movie tells two tales as, told by the caretaker of a cemetery, about two of his most notorious acquisitions. The first is a story of cross loyalties based around $500,000, a case of coke, and a laughable sadist with a facial tattoo. The second is a trip back in time to learn the story of the 'Eternal Heart', an ancient relic used to resurrect Belial. Both stories contain adequate amounts of gore and sadism which is colourfully and imaginatively displayed. A good solid splatter-fest for those who have the stomach for it.

What it lacks in acting, it makes up in raw violence

[Torgo_1 · 10/10 · 20 October 2003]

This movie is very very very violent. It is not as gruesome as the last half hour of Naked Blood, not as hardcore as Salo, and not as menacing as the Guinneapigs. This movie is its own little kind of violent. There are plenty of kills in it, and the kills are very gory. My favorite kills are all in the first half of the movie (the modern day). The character Mortimer ranks as one of the most sadistic I've ever seen depicted on screen.

The acting is pretty bad, but this isn't the kind of movie you watch for the acting. I did like the storyline. It starts off in Present Day and jumps back to the 15th Century to explain what the present day shindig was really about.

I highly recommend this movie to anybody who is a fan of gore/splatter movies. It's pretty offensive, and someone who is squeamish won't appreciate it too much, but it's definitely worth watching.

Good solid gore flick

[Sinister_Zombie · 7/10 · 25 May 2006]

I first bought this as a blind buy, and I'm glad I did. Ittenbach went all out on this one. For those of you not familiar with Olaf Ittenbach -he specialises in low-budget gore films that actually are semi-professional in looks (if not acting) and the effects are impressive enough to BE professional.

Anyway, Beyond the Limits is basically divided into 3 sections, 2 of them are set in present day, and one back in medieval times. Two of them are accounts of a story, told to a reporter by a guy who looks after a graveyard. He begins to talk about the recent death of a local gangster, and gradually recounts the story of why he died.

First episode, a gangster is having a party at a house and basically has double crossed some people or something. Things really spin out of control however when the party gets crashed by a sadistic murderer and his partner. Use your imagination for what happens next. All manner of dismemberments, explodings of heads, throat slittings, shotgun blasts to the chest at point blank and loads more with various implements - not forgetting the machete. Ittenbach didn't hold back here, this is all out carnage.

The second episode takes you back to medieval times where some guy who lives in a castle has a vendetta against some religious villagers. Plus he's also after something. There's a bloody massacre in a church - men, women and children in various gruesome ways and is done with brutality and delight by the knights. This second episode centres around a knight who is hard pressed to protect his pretty wife and also to try and protect the villagers from the unyielding castle lord. Things take a sinister turn for the worse when he's discovered as a traitor and has to battle against the this madman who will stop at nothing - rape, torture and murder to get what he's looking for. (You'll see, by the way - that the 2 stories are linked). At the end of this second episode we get an extremely graphic portrayal of Ittenbach's vision of hell. At the end, the film cuts back to the present day, when the reporter discovers that the evil that drove these men is still alive today.

As summaries go, that was longer than anticipated but I think the story is better than some of his other films. In terms of gore, well....we've got the whole bundle. Torture, rape and brutal massacre's are the order of the day and everything is done in a convincing and professional way. The acting could be better sometimes, but again the emphasis is not on that. To put it simply, it does the job. And that should be enough for anyone who would watch a film like this. Amongst the carnage are some fairly nice settings - the nicest being the knight and his wife in a snow-laden wood. Its nice to have these little scenes interrupting the bloodshed, gives the film a whole other angle. Make no mistake, it's primarily a gore film, but variety adds to the mix.

I don't want to spoil the whole film for you, I think I've made my point. Watch it, and appreciate the professionalism and effort that have gone into it. I recommend Ittenbach's other stuff, Legion of the Dead, Garden of Love if you like things like this. Make sure you get the uncut version though!

like a bad porno without the sex!

[JayGill · 6 December 2004]

this film has to be seen to be believed!

i was in tears of laughter yet pain at the same time if you imagine a bad cheap porn film script and then forget to add any sex in it what so ever then this is the film you would end up with. it even manages to change style completely half way through starting as a modern day gunfest and yet changing into a medieval swordfest without any explanation at all. a great film for watching with friends whilst drunk or lending to people you detest with every fibre of your body.

absolutely the worst film i have ever endured.

The intent was pure- the execution underwhelming. Several excuses for extreme violence.

[dilbertsuperman · 7/10 · 11 September 2007]

This has the worst acting ever and some rather dull minded plot twists but it has a glorious amount of violence. While the violence is often a bit under rate.. there are several scenes that will make anyone that likes a good gorefest smile in satisfaction.

I give the director props for going between several different styles of movie inside of one movie- we begin with a gangster sort of setting and before you know it, we are back in time...

But no matter what time it is or where we are- there are several people either being brutally murdered or tortured- hey.. that's what happens in this flick, and that's why I like it- it's mildly comical to wait for the moment in the scene where they just say.. ah hell let's just kill everyone.

PLOT: a woman interviews a cemetery caretaker about the history of a holy relic and the bloodbath it has caused in its' wake. Several violent scenes- poor editing and poor acting are made up for by a large amount of violence to the point of being darkly comical.

Anyone that has had a bad thanksgiving dinner should go home and watch the first scene of this movie. :-) This is a great trash flick for a party or when you are under the influence at home looking for some senseless violence.

There are also some medieval scenes w dungeons for peeps that dig that. This is like a well-budgeted student film that redeems itself by butchering lots of people well.

gore-fest and Xenia

[Cenobitehell · 10/10 · 16 April 2006]

just bought it because i knew Xenia had a part in it.

the title is right, this film really is Beyond the Limits, loads of gore and violence . loads. really good effects too. some people say the acting was bad, but i think only one or two people let that down. the rest were great.

Xenia wasn't in it much, but her characters demise is the main part of the first of the two segments. speaking of blood and gore, Clarice (Xenia) certainly got a mouth-full of it! lol. and the poor girl didn't even know what was going on!

i really enjoyed it, thanks to everyone who made it and I'm really looking forward to the other horrors Xenia gas been working on , especially the one with Debbie Rochon (sp?) who's a splatter queen herself, so to see these two icons (horror/scifi) together in a movie would be great!

(also waiting for the comedy horror, so you've downloaded a demon, any news on when its out? anyone?)

email me if you like. I'm open to all comments and such

[e-mail]

don't worry, any addresses will be kept private.

Nonsensical plot and lots of gore.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 6/10 · 12 August 2007]

A young female reporter has hunted down the caretaker to get an exclusive story on him.The first story the crypt keeper tells her involves a bunch of gangsters,a suitcase with a mysterious secret and lots of gory violence and swearing with a bit of rape thrown in for good measure.The second story takes place in Medieval Times.It's loaded with gore and violence and it has to do with "the eternal heart" which might grant immortality to whoever feeds it the most blood."Beyond the Limits" is slightly better than "Chain Reaction",but not as enjoyable as 90's Ittenbach's splatterfests.At least it offers lots of gore:axes are buried in faces,throats are slashed,eyeballs are removed and guts fall out.Unfortunately there is zero suspense and the acting is simply atrocious.The film is worth watching only for its outrageous gore.6 out of 10.