Destruction of the eyes is a leading theme within Fulci’s L'aldilà (The Beyond).
The movie tells the story of a young woman that inherits a hotel build on one of the seven gates to Hell (and nomen est omen it’s named Seven Doors Hotel), the topic lends itself to use the metaphor of the spoiling of the eyes.
Eyes are gateways; gateways to the soul.
One has to wonder if the makers were aware of the acuteness the message would gain in these internet times where all the horrors ever imaginable are only a fingers tip away for us to revel in. Not the faux horrors cooked by some dim wit mind, brought to life in a dim lit effects shop, to finally be savoured in the dim lighting of our home rooms, not those horrors we shudder over, shrink back from, and then brush off with a laugh, secure in our knowledge that is was only smoke and mirrors, no, not that kind of horrors, but real ones, images of all the depravity humans are capable of, horrors we inflict on others on a daily basis, unspeakable acts of terror that no movie could ever hope to equal, images bound to poison our eyes and permanently stain our souls.
Whoever gets a glimpse of the gates to hell forfeits his life in L'aldilà, in real life we may not die, but still, what has been seen can’t be made unseen, and we should be careful about what we let enter through our eyes, what we let pass through the gateway to our soul for it just might kill this necessary last bit of innocence deep within us…
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