Beyond the Darkness (1984)

Simply A Masterpiece

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This is a pretty silly movie but sickly entertaining overall as described in various other reviews. I was constantly taken out of the move, though, by one of the worst, most inappropriate musical scores I can remember hearing in a movie. Much of it sounds like someone trying -- and failing badly quality wise -- to imitate one of John Carpenter's synthesizer-heavy scores. Sometimes it switches to something like an obnoxious lullaby. Sometimes it's just random disco. Always bad, also noticeable and annoying, always inappropriate for the mood that would otherwise be created by what's on the screen.

Sickening but effective drive-in fare: if you can take the acid-bath/dinner scene, good luck! Reminds me of schlock/grossout fare like DEVIL TIMES FIVE and DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT, only nastier.D'Amato was a workingman's director who didn't seem to care much about the content; an Italian William Beaudine; he was, however, far better than Jess Franco!From the IMDb bio:During the 1980s and 1990s D'Amato directed over 100 hardcore porn sex films for the Italian video market, although under his many pseudonyms he continued to direct and produce other films. One of them was Deliria (1987) directed by Michele Soavi on which, under his real name, Massaccesi served as producer. He then directed two "Ator the Invincible" films. He directed the violent, hardcore Caligola: La storia mai raccontata (1982), using the name "David Hills", a commercial exploitation (some might say "rip-off") of the successful film by Tinto Brass.His long film career came to an abrupt end when, in January 1999, he suffered an unexpected and fatal heart attack at his home in Rome. He was 62. Joe D'Amato had made his mark on Italian cinema as a talented director, scriptwriter, producer and cinematographer with scores of films and more than a dozen aliases to his credit.

Beyond the Darkness (1979) *** 1/2 (out of 4) D'Amato's rather notorious gore feast is a strange mix of downright nastiness and a twisted love story. A young man's one and only love dies so he digs her up, dissects her and pretends she's still alive. While doing all of this other women pop up in his life but they will need to be murdered. This is an extremely twisted, sick and at times downright disgusting film from the master of sleaze. There are countless sleaze movies out there but this one here features gore, nudity, sex, cannibalism, chopped up body parts, parts melting in acid, dissections, necrophilia and this is just the start of things. This movie is banned throughout the world and it's easy to see why because I'm sure there are very few who will be able to stomach everything that goes on here. I'd guess that most people won't make it past the twenty-minute mark when we get a dissection scene that looks very real and I'm going to guess that some real animal intestines were used. This is followed by a scene of a woman being cut up only to be thrown into a tub of acid. And we still haven't gotten to some of the sicker things. What I enjoyed most about the film is that underneath all the gore it does have somewhat of a heart in seeing this guy, obviously a nut, going through all this trouble to try and be with the one he loves. Original title: Buio Omega.

Aristide Massaccesi better known as Joe D'Amato is an interesting director whose work crossed genres from XXX pictures to horror. A few films even mixed the two like "Erotic Nights of the Living Dead" and "Porno Holocaust" but today we are watching "Buio Omega" which many people consider his best horror piece (others insist on it being "Anthropophagus").A young man mourns the death of his lover but a taxidermist by trade he isn't ready to say goodbye just yet. Stealing her body and preserving it with careful attention to detail he is unable to part from his love. Little does he know his maid is the reason behind his loss and madness it seems she has had her eyes on him from the start. Dealing with his twisted feelings and pain his thoughts turn to rage and anyone that stands of the way between him and his beloved are murdered. The maid helps him cover up these atrocities but not before long a woman comes between them once more his dead lover's sister comes to visit and shes's the spitting image of his lost love.This film is atmospheric and disturbing with graphic scenes of torture and the now legendary scene of embalming which spares no detail (it was once rumored that an actual cadaver was used). Recommending this film to the average viewer would be hard to do but for the seeker of grisly Italian horror this is one that you might consider watching.