''Human Experiments'' (also known as ''Beyond the Gate'') is a 1979 American

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed and co-produced by Gregory Goodell. It stars

Linda Haynes Linda Haynes (born November 4, 1947) is an American actress who appeared in several films in the 1970s and early 1980s before retiring from the business and becoming a legal secretary. A life member of The Actors Studio, Haynes is best known for h ...

Geoffrey Lewis Geoffrey Lewis may refer to: * Geoffrey Lewis (actor) (1935–2015), American character actor * Geoffrey Lewis (scholar) (1920–2008), British professor of Turkish * Geoffrey Lewis (philatelist), Australian philatelist * Geoffrey W. Lewis (died ...

Ellen Travolta Ellen M. Travolta (born October 6, 1939) is an American actress known for playing Louisa Arcola Delvecchio in ''Happy Days'' and ''Joanie Loves Chachi'' as well as Lillian in '' Charles in Charge'' (1987-1990). Early years Ellen M. Travolta wa ...

Aldo Ray Aldo Ray (born Aldo Da Re; September 25, 1926 – March 27, 1991) was an American actor of film and television. He began his career as a contract player for Columbia Studios before achieving stardom through his roles in '' The Marrying Kind ...

Jackie Coogan John Leslie Coogan (October 26, 1914 – March 1, 1984) was an American actor and comedian who began his film career as a child actor in silent films. Charlie Chaplin's film classic ''The Kid'' (1921) made him one of the first child stars in the ...

and

Lurene Tuttle Lurene Tuttle (August 29, 1907 – May 28, 1986) was an American actress and acting coach, who made the transition from vaudeville to radio, and later films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's more versatile a ...

. This film earned its notoriety for being targeted by England's

Director of Public Prosecutions The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in jurisdictions that are or have been members o ...

during the

video nasty Video nasty is a colloquial term popularised by the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (NVALA) in the United Kingdom to refer to a number of films, typically low-budget horror or exploitation films, distributed on video cassette that w ...

furore in the early 1980s. Although it was listed on the first "

" list issued by the DPP on July 4, 1983, the film was never prosecuted under the

Obscene Publications Act Since 1857, a series of obscenity laws known as the Obscene Publications Acts have governed what can be published in England and Wales. The classic definition of criminal obscenity is if it "tends to deprave and corrupt," stated in 1868 by Lord ...

and had originally been given an uncut (now defunct) X rating by the

BBFC The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of f ...

for theatrical release in 1979.

Plot

Rachel Foster (Linda Haynes) is a country singer travelling alone through the United States. She resists the advances of lecherous bar owner Mat Tibbs (Aldo Ray) and in her hurry to leave town, she accidentally wrecks her car. Looking for assistance, she finds what appears to be an abandoned house - but after stumbling inside the place, she discovers the scene of a grisly multiple homicide perpetrated by a young boy. As no one believes that the child is responsible for such a horrific act, she's railroaded into a women's correctional facility by the prurient bar owner's brother Sheriff Tibbs (Jackie Coogan). As well as falsely charged with the murders, the innocent musician now finds herself at the mercy of prison psychiatrist Doctor Kline (Geoffrey Lewis) who has diabolical intentions. Kline has some radical techniques for "curing" criminality, and after a failed escape attempt she undergoes his 'treatment' and completely loses her mind. After she is rehabilitated her name is changed to Sarah Jean Walker. Afterwords the warden gets notice that the boy woke up and confessed to killing his whole family. Klein, in an effort to keep Rachel under his thumb and to hide his radical therapy methods, tries to have Rachel kill the warden but, Rachel seems to come to and break the programming. She shoots the office up and seems to wound Klein. Sometime later, Rachel is seen once again singing in a dive bar, however, she now goes by her new name, Sarah Jean Walker.

Cast

as Rachel Foster *

as Dr. Hans Kline *

as Mover *

as Matt Tibbs *

as Sheriff Tibbs *

as Granny *

Mercedes Shirley Mary Mercedes Shirley (January 6, 1926 - January 29, 1999) was an American actress. She appeared in television programs including ''The Twilight Zone'', ''77 Sunset Strip'', ''The Invaders ''The Invaders'' is an American science-fiction te ...

as Warden Weber *Bobby Porter as Derril Willis *Darlene Craviotto as Rita

Home video

Scorpion Releasing released the film on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

in 2018, featuring an

audio commentary An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...

track with director Greg Goodell.

Extended version

References

Citations

General and cited references

* Martin, John: ''The Seduction of the Gullible: Curious History of the British "Video Nasties" Phenomenon''. Nottingham: Procrustes Press, 1993, page 206. .

External links

* * {{rotten-tomatoes, human_experiments, Human Experiments American horror films Women in prison films 1970s exploitation films 1979 films 1979 horror films 1970s prison films 1970s road movies 1970s English-language films 1970s American films