I drove by this place recently on Beverly Blvd. east of Atlantic, and I was intrigued by what appeared to be a very unique kind of video rental store. The décor and Horror film imagery of the storefront had me wondering; “Could this be a specialized, horror/cult film genre video store in E.L.A? The kind of place I dream about? –Wow!â€
I couldn’t wait to check it out. This seemed like “my kind of placeâ€, while living in the Eastside, I usually had to travel across town to find a place like this to satisfy my eclectic tastes for off beat and cult style entertainment.
I paid them a visit on this weekday afternoon only to find them closed. Damn! Disappointed, I checked out their business hours. OPEN FROM 5PM TO 10PM MON THRU FRI. WEEKENDS 12 TO 10PM. Even their hours were trippy!
My curiosity and persistence grew and finally paid off this weekend when I at last was able to enter and explore this demonic Eastside sanctum of ghoulish delights!
The owner, TONY, has some wickedly good taste for alternative cinema to say the least.
He’s an extremely amiable and soft spoken cat. I spent a pleasant and interesting time discussing his new business and sharing our philosophies about alternative art & culture in the East vs. West side of town context. After laboring at preparing the building space for nearly a year, he finally opened for business not long ago. Like many of us who grew up with a passion for fantasy and horror, he envisioned FROM BEYOND and harbored a dream to one day open this store. Finally, he and his cousin decided that they could continue simply dreaming about it or take the real steps towards making their dream a reality. After overcoming that huge leap of the realities of manifesting their dream, the FROM BEYOND store is now open in the Eastside. A true labor of love!
A few years back, TONY lived in the Los Feliz neighborhood where he became a fan of the old MONDO VIDEO store, the now defunct fringe cinema emporium that claimed one of the greatest collections of sleazy and aberrant cinema ever to disgrace the screens.
TONY has taken that model and perfected it to eclectic ideals for those of us who treasure good storylines, and good direction in our cult/horror entertainment, beyond the predictable splatterfests. His selections reach into the furthest creepy and bizarre corners of the world to include titles from Brazil’s COFFIN JOE, Lucha films, Euro-Horror/Trash, Extreme Asian Cinema, Exploitation films, Classic Monsters, and countless undiscovered treasures, thanks to the deep & diligent cinema archiving that Tony has now put together for his film catalog at FROM BEYOND. (I assume that the store name is taken from the classic H.P. Lovecraft story). There are plans to expand the interior use of the store into art gallery displays and also to present back alley film screenings in the near future. If this is your cup of poison, I highly recommend you drop in an say Hello and check out the store.
Here are some truly remarkable facts I learned about the store:
•   Most movie rentals are only $2.00!
•   He is very flexible on the return dates. He has yet to charge a late fee!
•   Tony works at a full time job downtown during the week, thus explaining his limited store hours. Not only does he commute from his day job to his business every day, he commutes on the bus!
Tony adds: “Also, if there is any movie that you are looking for, hit me up. Maybe we might have it, if not, I can search for it. That’s the thrill of this for me!!!! Have a ghoul day!!!!!!â€
Warning: If you are faint hearted, have a weak stomach, or get easily offended at movies that depict scenes with blood, gore, violence, drugs, and/ or sex in them, we recommend that you visit the local Blocksucker down the street. But, if you are cool with this and enjoy watching movies about monsters, vampires, zombies, cannibals, aliens, ghosts, freaks, madmen, Mexican wrestlers, samurais, gangsters, bikers, hookers, druggies, etc… Welcome, please step right in!!! We are located at:
5414 E. Beverly Blvd, East L.A., 90022. We are just two blocks east of Atlantic Blvd. Hours: Weekdays 5:00PM-10:00PM Weekends 12:00PM-10:00PM . *Â (323) 722-2298
Please note, sometimes we’ll have to close for a brief period, but I will leave note well in advance when we do, Thanks!!!
FROM BEYOND DVD & VIDEO STORE
“Specializing in unique and obscure films from around the world!!!!!!”
http://www.myspace.com/theycamefrombeyond
One more reason to not have to go to THE WESTSIDE to suit your eclectic tastes!
Support our locals!
Though I’m not really into this kind of stuff, this sounds very cool. I will definitely tell BusTard about it.
Browne
I’ve been looking for the horror genre by a certain Julia Roberts, do you think they might have those?
Chavo- Even this store has it’s limits!
What a great find Al. It looks like a store you might open.
It totally reminds me of Mondo Video when it was in pre-gentrification Los Feliz. I loved that store and the owner was always really cool with me and my friends.
I will definitely check out the store when I’m in the area. I wish From Beyond, great success! Oh, I can’t wait to check out their “Vida Loca” section! 😉
Walt!- I wish!!!
Cool now we just need a comic book store in E.L.A . Use to be one near the corner of Atlantic and Whittier Blvd back in the late 90s . I might take a trip and see if they have Faces of Death on dvd .
I am regular at From Beyond and I wont be slowing down. This place rekindle my love for movies. Obsolutly no commplants about From Beyond. definitly dont pass it by or you’ll regret it.
hey, Dr. Arm, there is a comic book store further up on Beverly Blvd. before Gerheart. Comic City owned by Todd aka. Tizzod
It’s too bad there aren’t more stores like this in East LA, because there are a ton of them in the San Fran Mission, SF’s Chicano/Mexican mecca. You have all kinds of comic book shops, book stores, and eclectic video stores, which have everything from sci fi to gore, and also carry lowrider magazines to appeal to the more mainstream crowd. But, it’s San Francisco, where things “far beyond” are the norm. They like to scare Lou Dobbs on two fronts, up here…
East LA’s a bit more old school, on the other hand. So, it’s good to see someone bring this form of entertainment there. There’s always an audience for this genre, in every corner of the world. Put a store up like this in Compton and you’d be surprised how many closet film geeks and punk rockers in the area, who normally stay inside and hide out from the gang drama, will show up. If you build it….as it were.
WAY TO GO BABY!!!I’M SO GLAD TO SEE THIS UP HERE!!! MOVIN’ ON UP BABY!!
Thanks Al, I’ll have to check “From Beyond” out. As a long time movie aficionado I never dug cult horror movies until my grandsons got me hooked a few years ago.
But after watching the classic Bruce Campbell “Evil Dead” series and then the great “Hellraiser” flicks by Clive Barker, and with the help of my Grandsons, I discovered that they are not only scary but humorous and sexy, the whole enchilada!
The grandsons got me going lately on Asian Horror flicks that are first rate and lots of fun.
Al, as a horror fan yourself have you got the chance to see the Korean horror movie “Gwoemul” (The Host), by Korea’s great director “Joon-ho Bong”? I highly recommend it, made in 2006 and in English or Korean it features a great creature created by scientists polluting Seouls Han River. Joon-ho Bong said he based the creature on Steve Buscemi’s role in the movie Fargo, good flick.
I’ll be checking out From Beyond soon, but it sounds like calling first is advised.
I’m a fan of Joon Ho-Bong. “The Host” is terrific. For you, and any others out there who may be discovering Asian extreme Horror & Action films, here’s some recommendations to introduce you to some great mind-boggling cinema:
-The films of Takashi Miike (Dead or Alive, Ichi the Killer, Audition)
-Kinji Fukasaku’s “Battle Royale”
—For Action & If you love Martial Arts, check out the films starring Thai action star Tony Jaa (Ong Bak,Tom yum Goong)
I could go on & on, but try to check these titles out asap and let me know if they don’t blow you away!
Tarantino’s recent film, Death Proof, which was kind of an obscure project he did as a double feature with Robert Rodriguez (Mariachi, El, Desperado), called “Grindhouse”, is wild, too. It’s a must for anyone with a gore craving. Warning to all others, it’s not as easy to watch as Jackie Brown… Grindhouse was sort of a tribute Tarantino and Rodgriguez did to the old ’70s grind house genre. Wild stuff. Fun stuff, if you have the stomach for it. Haven’t seen Rodriguez’s part of the double feature yet. It’s called “Planet Terror”. That might be my next on my rental wish list. Next time I’m in LA, I might give From Beyond a ring to see if he has the dvd for rent.
Thanks Al, I looked up Ichi The Killer on INMDb and saw a preview, wow! Ichi is a bad looking mudder fodder and even blew smoke out of the slits in his cheeks.
It’s on order now!
From beyond is definitly the best place to rent horror/gore movies and they are good folks aswell