“I thought it was really great…Lots of emotion and real feelings, great characters…The story of the van ride is harrowing…I honesty got goosebumps at that moment….The editing towards the end of the film was quite imaginative….It reminded me in some ways of X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC…I saw a connection between Beyond’s story and a film I made a few years ago called JODOROWSKY’S DUNE….There’s definitely some sort of spiritual connection there, at least in my book.”-Frank Pavich, film director, N.Y.H.C. and Jodorowsky’s Dune
“WHAT AWAITS US: A Beyond Story is a documentary that is just as kooky and unique as the band itself. Not your typical punk rock doc of old men wheezing on about their glory days, it is both an origin story as well as a soul-searching journey to rekindle the flame of youth that will be cited for years to come as a truly singular document of a very important chapter in underground culture”-Tony Rettman, author (NYHC: New York Hardcore 1980-1990, Straight Edge: A Clear-Headed Hardcore Punk History, Why Be Something That You’re Not: Detroit Hardcore 1975-1985)
“The time tested tale of kids practicing their hearts out in the suburbs, hoping one day to play that one club in ‘the city’, gets a masterful treatment in the hands of Kevin Egan. At times it’s a personal band history, a meditation on time’s passing, a celebration of lifelong friendships and how choices we make as teenagers resonate decades after the fact. It’s also wickedly funny and filled with priceless trivia for any diehard NYHC aficionado. Here’s to Holbrook’s finest sonic purveyors!”-Freddy Alva, author (Urban Styles: Graffiti in New York Hardcore)
“A very New York City story about taking your art to the end of the country. A nod to the classical influences and cowbell fostered by the Italian Americans in hardcore. A mediation on revisiting your youth, not in a nostalgic way but in how awkward it can be forming the chords and hitting the notes that made you feel like you were cutting through the malaise of adolescence as an adult so detached from that vulnerable yet determined kid…. it’s wild to think that music made by kids can resonate globally and take you on a trip and leave behind a legacy greater than a single moment.
Thanks for putting this love letter to a great band and the other great bands and humans in the Beyond universe Kevin Egan.”-Anthony Pappalardo, author (Live Suburbia, Radio Silence: A Selected Visual History of American Hardcore Music)
“If you are in a band that had goals, just of playing your local club, putting out a demo, doing some touring, etc. this is something you should watch. It makes you appreciates your youth and the company of friends, creating, traveling, etc. Kevin Egan you knocked it out of the park my friend!”-Chris Enriquez, Revolver Magazine
“The passion that drove the band all those years ago comes bursting through the documentary. Egan clearly poured an immense amount of heart and soul into the project.”-Carlos Ramirez, No Echo
”What Awaits Us: A Beyond Story seeks to right these wrongs by telling the band’s unique place in the growing scene that was hardcore in the late ’80s, leaning on interviews from pillars of that community like Walter Schriefels, Sam Seigler, Porcell, and many many more. ”-Fred Pessaro, The Hard Times
“Much like the band, the Beyond doc has a uniqueness to it with a personal feel as well as great editing and graphic work and if you pay close enough attention you will see what I mean. ”-Chris Wynne, In Effect Hardcore
”WHAT AWAITS US: A Beyond Story is a must-see film on so many levels! If you’re a fan of hardcore or music in general, you’re going to dig this story. …Future generations can look at WHAT AWAITS US: A Beyond Story to know what it was like to start a hardcore band in 1988.”-Sean Reveron, CVULT NATION
”The film offers up an inspiring story about the magnifying effects of fate and determination; about the beauty of a scene with primal origins dove into wondrous evolutionary flux; about reconciling the feats of youth with the rage, rage, raging against the dying of the light of middle age. ”-Shawn Macomber, Decibel Magazine
“Cool story about a very cool band. Nice work Kevin Egan!”-Charlie Garriga, musician (CIV, Judge, Outface)
“What? … a documentary about NYC hardcore in the late 1980s that is also a laugh fest? Yes, that is what WHAT AWAITS US is…You don’t have to have any insider knowledge of the NYC hardcore scene in the late 1980s to fall in love with this film. Anyone who has been a part of any subculture will enjoy the camaraderie, idiosyncrasies, and hyper-specific language and behaviors that come to life in this film. It’s such a fun watch. DEW IT!!!!!!”-Dennis Trainor, Jr., filmmaker (American Autumn: An Occudoc, AcronymTV)
“I would have never guessed a slowpoke sap like Egan could make a movie this cool. Probably someone else made it? All the cool-kids are in this movie. And it has 3D. You don’t even need red and blue glasses. Stuff pops out like those cool books with 10 ducks in a nest in the mountains. Also it has stage dives. And Alan Cage. Anyway its about time someone (whoever it REALLY was) made a movie about the only death-to-false-metal bugjuice-sloshin jamboree-starting poser-killing truck-grinding band in the entire world. Hopefully all you saps will finally do something right with your lives and buy 20 copies so Egan can stop eating vegan dog food and get a proper eggplant parm sub.”-Vic Dicara (108, Inside Out, Beyond)
“Fun, kept me engaged, honest, learned some history I’m not sure I knew, saw some photos I had never seen before. Not a boring slow moment, great flow”- Tim McMahon (DoubleCross Webzine)