Beyond the Seventh Door (1987)

Perfect cast and a good story

Instant Favorite.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Ex-con and career thief Boris (an endearingly awkward performance by Lazar Rockwood) convinces former old flame Wendy (a winningly spunky portrayal by fetching brunette Bonnie Beck) to rob the castle of Wendy's crippled boss Lord Breston. However, said castle turns out to have kinds of elaborate booby traps in it. Writer/director Bozidar D. Benedikt keeps the crafty and engrossing story moving along at a constant pace, offers an inspired blend of the crime and thriller genres, builds a good deal of tension and spooky claustrophobic atmosphere, and even delivers a cool surprise twist at the end. The sharp rat-a-tat-tat banter between Boris and Wendy adds plenty of spark. However, it's the gloriously idiosyncratic presence of the singular Rockwood that makes this movie so much loopy fun to watch: With his less than stellar command of the English language, goofy facial expressions, enormous mullet, chunky build, and inept, yet still engagingly earnest attempts at acting, Rockwood rates as an absolute hoot to behold from start to finish. A nifty obscurity.

Lazar Rockwood. An actor. A star. A sex object. A God? While he portrayed the somewhat clumsy, absent-minded, speech-slurring ex-con Boris in BEYOND THE 7TH DOOR, one has to wonder how and/or why his oh-so-obvious butchery of acting occurred? His performance, being substandard to the Nth degree, can only be a brilliant tactic by Lazar himself, saving a low-budget independent film from the obscurities in which 99.99% of low-budget films reside---no where! This movie would have been nothing if not for Rockwood's heart-felt gutsy performance, one that was over-looked by the Academy, but somehow unacceptably,the Gemeni awards (or whatever TV and film awards are in Canada) were not appeased by him, or the film itself. Imagine Robert DeNiro or Morgan Freeman or Jack Nicholson in the starring slot, and then honestly ask yourself: would this have been a better movie with a big name star or Lazar Rockwood in the lead role? Think about it! Its not wonder that this movie launched a stellar career for Rockwood; he WAS the movie. Decent plot, average co-star (although not in Rockwood's league, as an actor or as a looker), poor script that was saved by Rockwood's own brilliance, and virtually NO budget...still a film worth watching, but only for a truly remarkable star performance, by an actor whose first language is not English--could you tell?

Today I got to experience 7th door on the Canadian channel drive in and I have got to say that even considering that it was a zero budget, shot in someones basement, crap-fest, the mindbogglingly bad performance by Lazar Rockwood has managed to set a standard by which all pathetic acting (and yes I am familiar with the painfully awful performances of Jessica Alba) will be forever judged against.I know the dialog was terrible, but is that any excuse for the way he would trip over his tongue before every line. I read another user comment that mentioned that his co-star seemed to throw up in her mouth during the love scene but I will admit that I missed that (I think my eyes were bleeding at the time or my mind just blocked it out).But truly the most disturbing fact is that Rockwood managed to get work after this film. His credit list is distressingly large. The plot for this film is very simple, a recently released criminal (played by Rockwood) convinces his ex-girlfriend to help him rip off her boss. Unfortunately what he does not realize is that the guy that he targeted enjoys setting traps for the thieves who try for his treasure. Most of the films run time involves our hapless heroes trying to solve some basic puzzles while inching closer to the big prize.Don't let the tongue in cheek reviews fool you. This is a truly awful movie that people should watch once simply to have a basis for comparison the next time someone complains about a bad film. No matter what movie is bothering them you can step up and say "you don't know what crap is until you endure beyond the 7th door". My only regret with watching this film was not getting a tape in the vcr quick enough so I could force others to watch it. Sometimes sharing pain is the best way to deal with it.

In all seriousness, this film and particularly Lazar Rockwood are so exceptionally bad that it's hard to not watch this movie...multiple times. Canadian cinema and Hollywood have missed the boat on not using Lazar more often, he is the "car wreck" of acting. I just can't look away.I rated this film a 10/10 and meant it, a film this "bad" yet wonderful, is as rare as any "good" 10/10 film there is.It's a shame that this film is rarely seen outside of Canada. A true cinematic treasure that will stand the test of time.Bravo!