Beyond the Darkness

source: Beyond the Darkness

After a career of tackling subjects, such as *, nunsploitation, and gore-*, filmmaker, Joe D'amato (Porno Holocaust) decided to take a different approach to a little project he was working on in the late seventies. Beyond The Darkness would be Joe D'amato's first romantic-drama (that I know of). Some might claim this to be slightly depressing, or perhaps, a bit controversial. The world is full of liars, this is unfortunate, but don't let them cloud your judgment, because Beyond The Darkness is wholesome entertainment that could easily be enjoyed by any member of the family, and that's a personal guarantee. Beyond The Darkness tells the touching story of a rich young man named Frank, and his undying love for his dying lover. Frank and Ana's love for one another probably would have stood the test of time, and everything, if not for this strange illness. I suppose it's just her time, or is it? Enter Iris, the maid. Iris is in love, and possibly obsessed with Frank. Frank only keeps her around for nourishment, but she's really in to him. Iris feels, the only way to deal with this little inconvenience called Ana is voodoo. Ana dies, Frank cannot cope with the loss. After going insane, and taking his hobby, as a taxidermist, into consideration, Frank decides he would rather have a dead Ana in his life than a no Ana. A bold decision, indeed, but this is true love we're talking about here. Frank has robbed his girlfriends grave, and this is where things really start to pick up, Frank takes Ana back to his place, and graphically tears the insides out from his beloved. After a scene right out of hell, involving a portly/pushy-hitchhiker, stoner chick, who gets her finger nails yanked out, and killed by Frank after walking in on his madness. Frank is caught by Iris, who is disturbingly understanding. Iris helps Frank put a newly-stuffed Ana in Franks Bed, and, in yet another scene right out of hell, Iris helps Frank cut the Portly, stoner chick into little pieces, graphically, and dissolve her remains in acid. After all this, Iris makes dinner. At this point, Frank must see how dedicated this woman is to pleasing him, because Iris's dream has come true, Frank has proposed marriage. The happy, new couple should be happy together, but what about the corpse in Franks bed? And What if Frank can't stop killing? Oh well, I'm sure everything will work out OK, besides, this is a romantic-drama. I haven't seen a lot of Joe D'amato's work, but this is, by far, the best I've seen. Call The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, macabre, then watch Beyond the Darkness. As we all know, Italian horror is a little on the boring side, and unfortunately, this one is no exception. Not a whole lot of boring, but the gore, and the purity of the horror overshadows it. If you have no tolerance for boring, then I don't know, go watch some Florida Gore, I guess. Beyond The Darkness flaunts a menacing, nightmare of a score by our pals from Goblin, which might actually be half the impact one would feel from viewing this stomach-turning epic. I suppose, Beyond The Darkness doesn't completely fit the mold of how a romantic-drama should play out, although, it's still a masterpiece. What Beyond the Darkness really is, above all, is vile, plus, it's the only film that I've ever seen that made me queasy, and that's saying something. Anyone who could appreciate such filth obviously has a screw loose. 10/10

Joe D'Amato is regarded as a rather greedy hack by most people acquainted with horror. Now that's not too far from the truth. But before D'Amato started cranking out movies with an inverse relation between quantity and quality, he made this startling horror movie. Startling in the sense that it's actually GOOD! Don't get me wrong. Just because it's good doesn't mean it's not exploitation. It has truly gory scenes such as a taxidermy which doesn't leave much to the imagination, nails being ripped off, some implied necrophilia and a particular scene of a "stew" being munched on with an extreme close-up which made my stomach do a somersault. Well done Joe for that! However, these gore scenes are spread out and in between them, there is some attempt to build suspense. There is some good acting particularly by the very creepy but oddly sexy Franca Stoppi(RIP) who plays the caretaker from hell, Iris. The cinematography (by Joe himself) is gorgeous in spite of all the carnage around. It doesn't seem like a cheap B-movie. The music by Goblin is as expected, superb. That said, the movie is not perfect. It stagnates from time to time. There is absolutely no humour (except some unintentional stuff but you will be too busy gagging to notice) to lighten the relentlessly downbeat tone. Also, the lead actor can be too over-the-top sometimes. That said, I am shocked that this is a film by Joe D'Amato. It would seem he actually had talent. It's tragic that he was so caught up in making money that he didn't fulfill it. The horror aficionado missed out on a few more quality horror movies.

Whatever your stance is on sleazy Italian horror films from the 70's-80's, it can't be denied by anyone that this film is some kind of minor masterpiece. Here is a film that works on every level -- not just the "gore" level that a lot of these films work on -- and is actually quite tasteful in its depiction of corpse-loving. First of all, the atmosphere in this film is amazing. Dialogue is left to a bare minimum, especially at the beginning of the film when there's hardly a line spoken for a good half an hour... though the music of "The Goblins" (Goblin, right?) is actually quite out of place in this particular film, as Joe D'Amato's directing style doesn't really lend to their blend of.. uh.. progressive-disco or whatever it is (on the other hand, their music perfectly fits Dario Argento's oversaturated colors in his films)... however, sometimes it hits the right notes at the right time. Everything has a sort-of washed-out look to it, which is nice. And almost the whole film takes place at night, which is nice, of course. The film is actually a very simple story of not being able to let go of someone you loved, but it's well-acted (shockingly!) and there's enough gore (though not as much as you would think by some of these reviews) and suspense to keep you watching. Just all in all, a really good picture without any real flaws that succeeds at all that it does. Not much else to say, really -- except, what's with the ending? Anyway... highly recommend.

When the wealthy orphan taxidermist Frank Wyler (Kieran Canter) loses his beloved fiancée Anna Völkl (Cinzia Monreale), victim of voodoo conducted by his jealous housemaid Iris (Franca Stoppi), he robs her corpse, embalms and brings to the bed in his room. He does not overcome his feelings for her, killing every woman he has some involvement. Meanwhile Iris wants to marry Frank and helps him to dispose the bodies. The sick, twisted and kinky "Buio Omega" has all sort of perversions and disgusting scenes, with sequences of necrophilia, mutilation, torture and embalming. However, the characters are awfully developed, and the viewer never knows, for example, whether Frank changed his behavior after the death of Anna, or he was indeed a twisted character. The weird Iris is also badly developed. The graphic and gore scenes are among the nastiest I have ever seen in a film. My vote is six. Title (Brazil): Not Available

D'Amato's adherence to all things vile and sleazy sometimes produces rubbish. In the case of BEYOND THE DARKNESS, he's delivered something great. The theme is necrophilia and obsession. A man obsesses over his recently deceased girlfriend and beds her in his country house. Sexual intrigue with his maid livens proceedings and a sequence in which a hitchhiker has her fingernails removed is the one to write home about. I'm not reluctant to say it: I love stuff like this when it's relentless, made without guilt, and moves at a quick clip. The Goblin soundtrack feels just right and the special make-up effects are more than adequate. D'Amato achieves a vile, putrid, rotten atmosphere with this gem, and you can't fault the guy for that, can you?

This perverse, disgusting, but extremely well-made horror movie is considered by some to be the ultimate "spaghetti splatter" flick. If it isn't, there aren't many that surpass it for sheer repulsiveness. It's imagery and tone are still shocking by today's standards. Even AUDITION director Takashi Miike has yet to make a movie this unrelentingly sordid and creepy. A taxidermist goes quite a bit off the deep end when his girlfriend dies (unbeknownst to him, due to a voodoo spell cast by his jealous housekeeper) and steals her body from the cemetery so he can embalm her and continue their relationship. Anyone unfortunate enough to get in his way (mostly pretty young women) is murdered savagely. We are given explicit scenes of outrageous gore, including our hero eating his girlfriend's heart, dismembering a body and dropping the parts in a tub full of acid, a young hitch hiker getting her fingernails ripped off with pliers and the now infamous scene involving the disembowelment of the girlfriend's body. For years it was rumored that a real cadaver was used for this scene, but it was eventually proved to be an incredibly impressive special effect. Though having never become as infamous as his cohorts Lucio Fulci and Ruggero Deodatto, one could argue that director Aristide Massaccesi (credited here under his best-known pseudonym, Joe D'Amato) is the true "godfather of gore" just because of this film alone. You be the judge, just make sure to have your barf bag ready. This is also the only Italian horror movie to actually make me jump from my seat. Massaccesi delivers one of the screen's most effective jolts. I will not disclose what happens. Let's just say my heart was racing for a little while after it! NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Murder, mayhem and mutilation…shown in all its pride and glory! Buio Omega a.k.a Buried Alive a.k.a Beyond the Darkness is a finger-licking and ultra-gory sleazefest. D'Amato's film certainly is a landmark in the Italian shlock/sick cinema as it contains some of the grossest and explicit nauseating sequences ever shot on film. The young and introvert Frank cannot live without his recently deceased girlfriend Anna, so he digs up her corpse, embalms her and keeps her around his mansion. After this, he descents further into madness and starts to kill girls randomly and his freaky housekeeper Iris assists him. Now, Frank is pretty messed up in the head but Iris is just downright insane!! She makes a hobby out of dismembering dead bodies and she breastfeeds the 22-year-old Frank! The first half hour may seem a little lame and low on bloodshed but, as soon as the gore kicks in, it doesn't stop till the end credits role and it becomes more and more repulsive by the minute! D'Amato servers a disturbingly realistic embalming-process along with some detailed torturing scenes, dissections and gruesome butchering! Of course, like it should in Italian's nastiest, there are a lot of perversely orientated undertones present such as necrophilia, cannibalism and even a variant on the ‘Oedipus'-theme! Joe d'Amato never was world's most brilliant director. That's okay, since he never claimed to be and he always clearly mentioned his influences. He's more like a businessman with more adult films on his repertoire…The horror films he made are vicious but technically weak, all together! Nonetheless, Buio Omega is an exception! Unlike his other horror films, Buried Alive has tension, a great soundtrack, a constant morbid atmosphere and even a bit of surprisingly good acting! Cinzia Monreale, who plays the dead love-interest Anna, became more famous after starring in Fulci's masterpiece the Beyond and the creepy aunt Iris also starred in a few delightful `babes behind bars' flicks. The circle of fans that likes this kind of films is rather small…but they're very devoted. For them, Buio Omega is a must see!

Joe D'Amato's "Beyond the Darkness"/"Buio Omega" is one of the most transgressive horror movies ever made.Regarded as Joe D'Amato's best film "Buio Omega" certainly delivers some of the most disgusting gore ever put on screen(fingernails are ripped off with pliers,a body is dismembered with a butcher knife and its pieces are thrown into a bath of acid etc.)The infamous embalming sequence is truly revolting.Kieran Canter is perfect as a young taxidermist Frank Wyler and Franca Stoppi gives excellent performance as Iris.The film is certainly twisted,so if you're a fan of Italian extreme horror you can't miss this depraved masterpiece.Check it out.9 out of 10.

Aristide Massaccesi a.k.a Joe D'Amato directed Buio Omega in the early 80's. Back in the day when movies weren't accused of being the cause of violence in schools and nonsense like that, filmmakers as D'Amato dared to stretch the limits of what can be seen in a screen. The gory scenes in his movies are not unintentionally funny they look like awful and painful, and D'Amato uses incredibly long shots in these murders shots. That is the main difference between his films and the American production to set an example Underrated as only an exploitation director D'Amato showed he had a trademark mixing gore and sex. He tried to take horror to the extreme without making a parody. The plot is quite simple, out of this simple story we get a collection of bizarre strong images. The gore is hard as a punch in your nose. This rawness makes Buio Omega unique as one of the most extreme pieces D'Amato made (along Anthropophagus). As we watch the hideous acts of this taxidermist we are surprised because he is not judged using the old trick of put phrases that make him look evil. Buio Omega is almost a silent movie. The moral view is on the viewer not in the filmmaker. But the last act has a common moral resolution that could let the people feel they are living in a just right world. The place you probably will find Buio Omega is an old rack of a dirty old video store, the kind of video that is found only for those treasure-seekers of unseen rare films. The music of Goblin is adequate for this kind of production; with their intense tunes they make the viewer feel even more uncomfortable. Synthesizers is all what this band needs to create dark ambient.