Stuart Gordon (along with his partner in grime, Brian Yuzna) give Cronenberg a run-for-his-money when it comes to body horror. There’s no better example than the twisted, oozing, pulsating beast that is From Beyond. Gordon and Yuzna adapted this H.P. Lovecraft story, and it stars genre-staples Jeffery Combs, Barbara Crampton, and Ken Foree — this movie is a win-win-win.

Two scientists (Combs and an ultra-sleazy Ted Sorel) tinker with a machine that is supposed to stimulate the pineal gland. Some shit goes down, and Sorel is sucked into a netherworld, gone without a trace. Combs hires a couple detectives to find out what’s going on, but all hell breaks loose when the machine is turned back on. Not only are Combs and the detectives now able to see (and be attacked by) strange creatures that exist in this alternate dimension, but Sorel returns — only he’s super deformed and even hornier than before.

This is one of those movies where the imagery is so utterly sweaty and slimy and weird…it just sticks with you. Once again, I saw this as a child and was scarred for life…but in a good way. One of the great horror films of the 80s.