BEYOND THE DOOR 3 (1989) ** ½

A group of college students take a trip to Yugoslavia to witness a historic passion play that predates Christianity.  Their professor (Bo Svenson, Part 2, Walking Tall) leads them to a cabin in the woods where they are almost burned alive by a crazy old witch.  They hop aboard a passing train hoping to get away.  Pretty soon, they realize the train has a life of its own.

Beyond the Door 3 has nothing to do with the other two movies in the series.  It’s kind of dull in places and doesn’t make sense in others.  Even though it’s not exactly what I’d call “good”, I’m still glad I saw it.  I’m a sucker for ‘80s unrelated sequels, especially ones with such outdated fashions and attitudes.  If it’s not the best film in the series, it’s certainly the most fun.

The gore is plentiful and helps it from being another forgettable movie with the number “3” in the title.  There are plenty of scenes of impalements, burning bodies (some that look like mannequins), decapitations, and people being cut in half.  We also get an excellent face-ripping sequence and the finale is really bonkers too.  

Some fun comes from seeing Svenson talking like Bela Lugosi (although you can spot the days his dialect coach took a day off).  Unfortunately, he disappears for a good chunk of the movie.  You can also derive a few laughs from the obvious train models that are used throughout the film.  All I’ll say is that there were a LOT of toy trains demolished during the making of the film.

AKA:  Amok Train.  AKA:  Evil Train.  AKA:  Death Train.  AKA:  Winds of Evil.  AKA:  Dark Train.