Beyond the Darkness (1979) User Reviews (104)

Love and loss with Joe D'Amato.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 25 October 2014]

Out of the handful of horror pictures that the legendary exploitation director made, this has got to be the best in terms of general nastiness. In fact, it's more than nasty, it's downright disturbing at times. The performances are quite good, and D'Amato treats his subjects and his main character with some sensitivity. As mad as he is, one can't help but feel a degree of sympathy for our tormented lead. As a prominent theme here is that of being unable to let go and move on, we can understand how he feels. Yet, of course, we still gape at the deeds that are committed.

Handsome Kieran Canter stars as Frank Wyler, a young man who simply can't deal with the death of his beloved girlfriend Anna (Cinzia Monreale). It gets to the point where he steals her corpse and brings it back to his villa. He preserves her body to the best of his ability, while all this time his devilish housekeeper Iris (Franca Stoppi) helps him without batting an eye. She's *very* devoted to him, you see. Unfortunately, Franks' rage compels him to kill young women who are either in his vicinity or just get in his way.

Supplemented by a very catchy score by Goblin that has its beautiful moments as well, "Buio Omega" has some very good gore. The acid bath sequence is memorable, as is the moment where an unfortunate victims' fingernails are forcibly removed with pliers. Fans of trashy Italian cinema will also love seeing Frank actually suck from Iris's breasts. Canter does a fine job in the lead, and the lovely Monreale ends up getting to play a dual role (she went on to act in Lucio Fulcis' renowned "The Beyond"). The real scene stealer of this film is Stoppi, who's deliciously unhinged. D'Amato also shot the film himself, using his real name of Aristide Massaccesi.

Somber and depraved, Italian horror lovers generally consider this to be D'Amatos' best genre effort.

Seven out of 10.

Oh Joe, is that you?

[stencilman · 7/10 · 12 July 2015]

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.

Sado-Massaccesim

[ferbs54 · 7/10 · 14 January 2013]

Hooo, boy, is this a sick one! Jaded fans of Euro horror, lovers of the outrageous, and gorehounds in general might find their mouths opening in awe and their eyes widening in shock as they get deeper into the Italian cult item "Beyond the Darkness" (1979). Conflating as it does elements of voodoo, necrophilia and deep, deep psychosis, and mixing in some truly stomach-churning blood-and-guts scenes along with multiple bizarre sequences, the film is one guaranteed to impress the viewer--one way or the other. The even better news here is that the film has been very well put together by a group of genuine pros. Despite the repugnant visuals and decidedly outre subject matter, this IS a quality film, and hardly the shlock experience you might be expecting. I generally try not to include spoilers in these minireviews, but feel I must do so here, as it is important for prospective viewers of "Beyond the Darkness" (or, as it was called back in November '79 for its original Italian release, "Buio Omega") to know precisely what they are getting themselves into.

In the film, we meet a handsome young man in his early 20s named Frank Wyler (surprisingly and touchingly well played by future porn star Kieran Canter). An orphaned and only child, Frank lives with his imposing housekeeper, Iris (the unforgettable Franca Stoppi, whose Iris character is such a force of nature, so demented and deadly, that she might as well be called Isis), in an imposing villa in the Italian countryside (the picture was largely shot at Bressanone, around 20 miles from the Austrian border, and makes nice use of the local color). The viewer quickly discerns that all is not quite right with Frank, however, when we see him suckling at Iris' teat whenever he is troubled, but especially since his hobby, like that of Norman Bates before him, happens to be taxidermy; a definite red flag! And Frank does indeed carry on in Norman's footsteps after the death of his girlfriend, Anna (Cinzia Monreale). "Death has no power to separate us," he tells the dying woman in her hospital bed, and true to his words, he later disinters her, abducts her body from its coffin, brings her home and, with Iris' help, uses all his great skills to preserve Anna forever. Unfortunately for Frank, though, a nosy morgue attendant, the amorous advances of Iris, and some untimely homicidal impulses on his own part keep interfering with any private time he might want to enjoy with his beautiful corpse doll....

Imaginatively directed by Aristide Massaccesi (in this film listed as Joe D'Amato)--whose filmography of over 200 pictures (!) is largely composed of both soft- and hard-core porn--and featuring still another wonderfully creepy score from Goblin, which band had achieved international renown by dint of its scores for Dario Argento's "Deep Red" and "Suspiria" several years before, "Beyond the Darkness" is, as mentioned, a LOT more sophisticated, productionwise, than one might expect. Finely acted by one and all, gripping and suspenseful, the film is most assuredly deserving of its cult status today. As for those sickening visuals, most of which the film front-loads into its first half, we have close-ups of hypodermics entering flesh; Frank's eviscerating taxidermy operation on Anna, from its opening incision to its offal-tossing close (viewers who are able to watch this sequence without getting queasy might consider themselves future candidates for the surgical profession!); Frank pulling off the fingernails of a stoned female hitchhiker who has stumbled into his lab; Iris hacking up that hitchhiker with a butcher's cleaver before dumping the limbs into an acid bath; Frank barfing into the camera; Frank biting out the throat of another young woman and, strangely, eating the ripped-out chunk; the burning of a female victim in the villa's handy crematory-style incinerator (no psycho's home should be without one!); various knifings and an eye gouging. But even these exploitative shock elements pale in comparison with the film's constant barrage of weird situations and bizarre sequences: Frank suckling on Iris and receiving a handj...I mean, manual pleasure from her; Frank's nighttime grave robbing; Frank picking up that hitchhiker while Anna's corpse lays just inches away; Frank, for some odd reason, eating Anna's heart raw during the evisceration; the lovemaking scene in which Frank gets it on with a beautiful jogger, whilst gazing at Anna's corpse in the neighboring bed; Frank and Iris' engagement dinner party; Frank, soon after, giving Iris two tremendous punches to the face; the scene in which Frank kisses the Anna corpse squarely on the mouth; and the scene in which Iris tries to scare Anna's twin sister to death...using Anna's body! Yes, the film grows more and more amazing as it proceeds, and its final five seconds constitute a WTF moment guaranteed to mystify...AND startle the crap out of you! An extreme instance of graphic and twisted Euro horror, to be sure, but also, somehow, quite sweet. I mean, the depth of Frank's love for Anna is touching, and the lengths he is willing to go to keep her with him quite romantic...in a psycho sort of way, natch! Further good news regarding "Beyond the Darkness: It is currently available on a great-looking Media Blasters/Shriek Show DVD, replete with many fine extras. In one, the modern-day Cinzia Monreale shares her memories of making the film around 30 years earlier. Amazingly, Cinzia looks even better today than she did as a young cadaver three decades ago. Even Frank might have been stunned to see her so well preserved!

Admirably sleazy Italian "classic"

[fertilecelluloid · 31 December 2003]

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?

Sick, Twisted and Kinky

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 20 January 2009]

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

Splatter Fest

[laurieanngermann · 6/10 · 21 December 2021]

Beyond the Darkness (or Buio Omega) might be low on plot and complex characters, but the gore quotient is off the charts and some of the effects will churn the stomachs of even the most hardcore horror fans. If they were passing out medals for that, it would win hands down. While the script isn't the best, there's an engrossing "car crash" quality to the film that keeps you invested.

Wholesome Family Entertainment Part 4: The Love Story

[Tromafreak · 7/10 · 7 October 2008]

After a career of tackling subjects, such as pornography, nunsploitation, and gore-porn, 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

Laugh riot!

[Maciste_Brother · 2/10 · 21 May 2008]

BUIO OMEGA is often considered as one of the sickest films ever made. Its reputation amongst horror fans is almost legendary. So when I decided to watch this Joe D'Amato flick, I was all excited and was prepared to be grossed out. Instead of being shocked senseless, I found myself laughing or giggling non-stop. I'm aware these films rarely live up to their reputations but I wasn't scared or grossed out for a second, which sorta dismayed the gorehound in me. It WAS entertaining but entertaining for all the wrong reasons.

First, the gore. The blood was pink. PINK!?!? In order for the dismemberment or gore to be believable the free flowing blood has to be red, not pink.

Second, the body count is very low: aside from the end, there are only two victims. The way they are killed is not scary, gross or exciting.

Third, the story, or lack thereof, is too silly and filled with real groaners. The film starts with the housekeeper, Iris, hiring an old gypsy woman who puts a curse on a doll, which represents Frank's girlfriend who's in the hospital. After prickling the doll with needles, the girlfriend's condition worsen and eventually she dies. Iris wants the girlfriend out of Frank's life and this is how she goes about it!?!? It worked, the girlfriend dies, right after asking Frank "I want to make love to you before I die." So they start making out on the hospital bed and then she croaks. ROTFLMAO!!!

The script is really bad. I'm sure they wrote it as it went along. The whole film is filled with totally illogical moments that strain credulity, even for a Eurocult horror film. I really wonder how they came up with the ideas for the script and not think the audience was dumb enough not to notice. The entire scene with the hitchhiker is stupid & contrived, certainly when Frank leaves the hitchhiker sleeping in his van at his house. I mean, come on! He should have kicked her to the curb before parking the van in the garage.

Fourth, the film is filled with unrealistic details which makes it impossible to take it seriously. For instance, when a body is buried, the corpse is already embalmed. So when Frank brings the girlfriend's body home after digging her out of the ground and starts doing an embalming process on it, pulling out all the internal guts and such, well, I had to laugh out loud. Also, a corpse becomes stiff as a board. The corpse of the girlfriend was pretty flexible even after being dead for days.

And fifth and lastly, the actors. The cast is very small. There's Frank, Iris, the dead girlfriend, the fat hitchhiker, the three blond bimbos and the mysterious man who's identity is revealed in a stupid twist at the end. That's it! The actress who plays Iris is younger than she's made to be and this I always find this funny. And last but not least Kieran Canter, as Frank, the demented taxidermist. I have to say that he's sure is a pretty boy. And I thought Stephen Forsyth was ridiculously handsome for a killer in HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON. Kieran Canter's career apparently veered into the world of porno, which ain't too surprising.

I'm actually glad I finally saw BLUE HOLOCAUST. It was funny while it lasted! But it's certainly not one of the most shocking films ever. I mean, NORBIT is more shocking and less funny than this.

A perfect movie to vomit!

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 9/10 · 14 July 2003]

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.

Guilty Pleasure

[Tender-Flesh · 7/10 · 5 February 2009]

Yes, this is definitely a guilty pleasure. And the guilt comes from giving the movie a 7. It doesn't deserve that high of a rating. None of the film's alternate titles really seems to quite fit. And D'Amato's direction is run of the mill. A rousing soundtrack by Goblin is a highlight(I prefer this soundtrack to Suspiria's). The biggest complaints are the hand-held shots, which are slipshod, and the beautiful countryside setting is almost completely ignored. Also, the dubbing is atrocious, but you just have to expect that with old cheesy foreign movies. There are a few people speaking during the dinner scene who don't have moving lips.

And now, I shall gush. The reason why I watch this repeatedly is due to the presence of the severe, the exquisite, the succulent Franca Stoppi as house governess or whatever she is suppose to be. Her hair in a bun, her always-conservative dress hanging off her whisper of a body, well, I guess I'm probably in a minority, but she's nails. And her portrayal of Iris is delicious and devious. It's fortunate she was allowed so much screen time.

Frank and Iris and Anna have a rather unusual relationship. Anna is dead because Iris wants young Frank for herself. Iris employees a local gypsy to perform a bit of voodoo to drive Anna into the grave. But Frank's having none of that, so he steals her body from the boneyard(a woefully mismanaged scene that has the casket only about 1 foot below the soil). In a fantastic autopsy scene that would make Savini cry, all of her organs and her brain are removed so Frank, a taxidermist, can preserve her. He keeps her in his bed so he can kiss and fondle her corpse. Iris takes it in stride and helps dress the corpse and even paint the fingernails. She knows this is just a phase(and what a phase!) and in good time, Frank will be hers. A few girls fall afoul of Château Frank and are murdered, with the smirking Iris helping the process along by dismembering a body and helping give it an acid bath or tossing a corpse in the incinerator. Eventually, she grows tired of the game and demands Frank dispose of Anna's body once and for all so he will belong to Iris. But, Frank has grown quite attached. Two scenes to further highlight the strange relations between Frank and Iris show the young man suckling at the older governess's breast and then Iris giving him "a hand up" while he pines over Anna's body.

D'Amato gives a few solid scenes. My two favorites are when Frank loads the freshly disinterred Anna into the side of his van(a super creepy red, windowless jalopy that would make Ted Bundy jealous) and the interior shot looks like she's going back into a grave or coffin, and when Frank is on his way home with a hitchhiker and the back window of the van's cab opens slightly, and the deathly white hand of Anna slides out, bobbing along with the twists and turns in the road dangerously close to the hitchhiker's head. Very effective.

Towards the close of the movie, Iris has had enough of all this weirdness, and in her best Mrs. Bates, she stalks through the dark to kill Anna's twin sister. She must have a killer knee, because she kicks Frank in the crotch and he starts bleeding all over the place through his trousers(wince). It's a showdown between Frank and Iris that ends rather bad for both of them, but not before Frank can give a final twist to the plot. Highly recommended for fans of the sick.

Mixed Experience

[Tweetienator · 5/10 · 11 April 2022]

The strongest features of Beyond the Darkness are the oldschool kind of gore (means the use of leftovers right out from the local butcher's shop) and the soundtrack by Goblin (those fine musicians who made that epic soundtracks to Dario Argento's Suspiria and Romero's Dawn of the Dead). Acting and production is not too bad, but, and that's a great but, the story is not very interesting or suspenseful and misses momentum. Maybe good enough for the connoisseur and/or historian of the art of gore, but that's it. Exact rate: 4 for the movie and a bonus point for the gory scenes.

One of the nastiest highlights ever made!

[Coventry · 8/10 · 7 April 2004]

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!

A taxidermist Norman Bates aided by a deranged Caritas Romana.

[Fella_shibby · 7/10 · 14 October 2018]

Saw this fr the first in the late 80s on a vhs. Revisited it recently on a bluray. Most fellas here on IMDb considers this film to be the best work of Joe D'Amato but I don't agree. It is not a bad film but this film tends to b more on the psychology n perversion of human nature. The plot is a lil similar to Psycho. A rich orphan lives alone with his jealous caretaker who has killed his fiance thru some voodoo stuff. But our psycho is another level Norman Bates, he is an expert taxidermist who after digging his girlfriend's body, has preserved it in his bedroom. While his caretaker breastfeeds him to reduce his stress. She ain't no Caritas Romana but a deranged psychotic who butchers human bodies n gives handjobs to our Norman Bates while he keeps on watching his dead girlfriend's body. This is a D'Amato film n it cannot be complete without gore but the scene of fingernails is not for the squeamish.

some great effects but overall boring

[mrlovecraft31 · 2/10 · 11 June 2002]

I bought this film over two other films i was considering buying and with my limited budget its important for me to check reviews of flicks before i buy them. I cant rent most of the movies i see because i dont have a credit card(for online renting) and they dont carry the films i like at most video stores. I must say that most of the reviews of this film while correct about the effects fail to mention how dull it is. It stars with the main character's wife dying in the hospital and continues from there. I am not giving anything away thats not on the outside box. There are very few murders in this film and they are done with an extreme lack of style. I know that its not a Dario film and i should not expect that but come on. It's not a bad movie though all in all. I mean for this kind of film there are much worse out there. Rent one of Todd Sheets movies for an example of how to make a very bad horror flick. I was just hoping from a little more from the guy who gave us The Grim Reaper, which is not great but its way more than this film.

p.s. The commentary by the main actress though on the dvd is quite nice and almost worth the price of the dvd as well as the very funny commentary from one of the art directors.

Sickest movie ever....

[pazuzu-2 · 19 February 2002]

It takes a lot to get under my skin and this movie did it.

When this guy's girlfriend dies, we watch as he preserves her. We watch as he slices her open and removes her organs and drops them into a metal bucket. we see her being embalmed, we see the whole deal.

But that was nothing compared to the murder of a female drifter. Before he kills her he tears off her fingernails one by one for good measure.

After she's dead, both him and his housekeeper (she is just as deranged as him) makes an acid bath. The housekeeper strips the girl and take a hatchet and dismembers her and drops the severed legs, arms, etc into the acid bath. Toward the end of the segment the head resurfaces from the acid bath, half eaten away.

But still, it's not over. The housekeeper is rounding up the leftover flesh scraps and blood on the floor with a(I think) dust pan and makes a stew out of it.

We get a nice close up of the housekeeper sloppily eating away at the stew, causing the man (and us) to retch.

And that's not even half the movie!!

This movie is good as an endurance test, can you take it?

D'Amato did make one intelligent movie...

[MrOrange1980 · 7/10 · 13 March 2004]

Buio Omega, Well what can you say. 94 minutes of perverse terror, intense shock and incredible suspense.... Well, in truth, hardened exploitation horror fans will find this movie no more shocking than many of the other Italian made entries into the genre.

The premise of Joe D'amatos 1979 movie is intruiging in the sense that it is much more complex than many of its contemporarys... Personally, I found it to be the most indepth study of necrophilliac-psychotic behaviour since Hitchcocks materpiece 'Psycho'.

Frank (as known in the English dubbed version) loses his beloved wife, her dying request is to make love to him. Shortly after the burial he digs her up and proceeds to embalm her in perhaps the most graphic and disturbing scene of the movie. Aided by his deranged house-maid, Frank proceeds to murder and dispose of any further hapless person that should cross his path and endanger his ever-lasting relationship with his deceased wife.

This is basically the thread of the linear storyline, interspersed with some amateur sleuthing from the local mortician... However, the genius of this movie comes with D'amatos teasing camerawork (always making you feel like something horrific is around the corner) and an impressive performance from lead actor Keiran Canter, always on the right side of psychosis and never going over the edge as so many actors have in the role of the psychotic during the spell of late seventies/early eighties exploitation movies (David Hess in the potentially classic Hitch-Hike being a prime example).....

For the hardened fan of exploitation cinema, this will be a walk in the park... However, for the first timer an empty stomach could be advisable!!

Look out for a great shock ending, the only real out of your seat moment in the whole movie...

Rating 7/10

A film that doesn't live up to the hype

[DVD_Connoisseur · 6/10 · 31 December 2006]

I sat down to watch D'Amato's "Buio Omega" (aka "Beyond the Darkness", aka "Buried Alive", aka "Blue Holocaust", etc, etc.) after months of anticipation. Sadly, this film failed to leave a very positive impression - while I tend to wax lyrical about most horror movies, this one didn't quite live up to the hype.

Joe D'Amato's no Argento or Fulci...a fact I was aware of when I ordered this title. I expected, however, something a bit special after all the hype and positive comments I'd read. This created an expectation that the film just couldn't live up to. Still, I digress! Gorehounds may love this film as it does contain some very bloody scenes which are well done considering the age of the movie and its budget. For me, however, the film failed to shock and that is where it fails. D'Amato pulls out the stops to revolt the viewer but my reaction was pretty much one of indifference.

Handled by a more skillful director, this could have been a Gothic masterpiece...all dark chambers holding appalling secrets. Instead, the film creaks along and the last 20 minutes dragged badly.

One positive element of the film is the soundtrack. Performed by Goblin, this is sure to please many viewers.

Some readers will love this movie, others will hate it. It's definitely a film to see and make your own mind up about..but I suggest renting the film rather than taking the plunge and purchasing it.

I may look back and think I've treated this film unfairly but, right now, my feeling is one of disappointment.

A lowly 6 out of 10.

A grisly, perverse love story

[drownsoda90 · 7/10 · 26 December 2021]

"Beyond the Darkness" focuses on a young, wealthy heir whose beloved fiancé dies. In response, he steals her corpse from the graveyard, and puts his taxidermy skills to use to preserve her body and keep it in his home. Assisting him is his live-in maid, who has her own perverse kind of relationship with him.

One of schlock master Joe D'Amato's most well-known films, "Beyond the Darkness" is a nasty love story that, though it doesn't quite work as a character study, manages to keep its audience engaged by way of gore and a number of shocking moments. This film is downright nasty, with various slashings, stabbings, and disembowelments, all of which look unexpectedly realistic (the special effects team apparently used animal carcasses and flesh to shoot the close-ups, which perhaps explains why they appear so realistic).

While the violent set pieces are the main draw for most people, "Beyond the Darkness" is not simply a violent exploitation film--while it is over-the-top in the gore department, there is a downbeat, dark poetry built into the screenplay, and there are a number of parallels to other films in the same vein, particularly "Psycho" (1960) and "Deranged" (1974), both of which feature characters clinging to corpses as they mourn loved ones. Kieran Canter makes for a solid antihero here, while Cinzia Monreale spends most of the film lying in a bed in white makeup; Franca Stoppi is particularly effective as the duplicitous maid who is in love (rather sickly) with Canter's character.

Overall, "Beyond the Darkness" is a well-made horror film that has a bit more substance than your typical gore flick. It is well-shot, well-acted, and its violent content is at times jarringly realistic--it also serves as a minor meditation on loss and loneliness, though it's often hard to see through all the blood and viscera. 7/10.

Gore or Trash?

[pcsarkar · 2/10 · 23 February 2012]

An expressionless protagonist, a seemingly villainous housekeeper, loads of corpses, a pointless story and a jerky screenplay all but sum up, this gore-fest, sorry, trash-fest. I often wonder why do people invest their finances and energy in such films? Is it for an audience who wants to see girls sliced up.. or is it for the director / producer's own voyeuristic leanings, a sort of self-aggrandizement, a secret desire for BDSM, necrophilia and other associated deviant fantasies? This film is not even a gore-fest. Its nothing, absolutely, other than a series of scenes depicting pointless gratuitous violence. Corpses dug up and revived is old hat. Here, a mentally disturbed lead character digs up his dead girl friend, rips her open and chews up her heart!! LOL. Although not a zombie film, the hero resembles a Romero zombie, because of his lack of expression and silly, but fatal antics. He prefers to be nude, while talking to his female housekeeper. He kidnaps a buxom girl and rips her nails out. What the hell for? Good God.. one of the most boring, pointless, trashy horror films I have seen in my life..

STAY AWAY, would be my advice.

A true masterpiece of the macabre.

[coldwaterpdh · 9/10 · 23 December 2007]

Say what you will about the acting, the music, the script, or even the plot of this potent and disturbing flick...it hits you like a ton of bricks and leaves you with a dropped jaw, hungry for more.

It's ashame that D'Amato didn't make more films like this. His repertoire includes a few cannibal flicks and lots of porn. This, along with "Anthropophagus," stands out as his most effective work. With "Beyond the Darkness," it's like he set out to make the most horrific and disgusting slasher flick he could fathom, and he pretty much hits the nail right on the head. There is something deeply disturbing about several scenes in this film. The bathtub scene, along with the housemaid eating the stew scene are among some of the most disturbing scenes I have seen in a film ever. And I've seen my share.

All this being said, "Beyond the Darkness" is a film that can be watched over and over. D'Amato somehow still keeps it fun. Unlike other extreme horror films of the era, it remains watchable. To think that he made a film like this with what was, no doubt, a tiny budget, and it came out so beautifully unflinching and nihilistic, is nothing short of genius. "Beyond the Darkness" is one of the coolest movies I've ever seen. And like a fine wine, (made from blood and guts and acid,) it just keeps getting better with age. Watch it with your mom.

A solid 9 out of 10, kids.

Till death do us not part ...........

[merklekranz · 6/10 · 26 August 2010]

One of the better films dealing with necrophilia, "Blue Omega" delivers the horror goods. Kieran Caster as Frank, takes his taxidermy hobby to new levels, with the fillet and stuffing of his dead girlfriend played by Cinzia Monreale. An overly protective surrogate mother, Frances Stoppi as Iris, helps out by giving the next female victim a manicure with a set of pliers, after which she practices her meat cleaver butchering techniques on the girl. Throw in some attempted love making in the same bed with the stuffed girlfriend, and a human barbecue in the basement. The only flaw is an abrupt and unsatisfying ending. Recommended of it's type. - MERK

Buried Alive was so bad I almost died of laughter.

[mikez-11 · 2/10 · 5 November 2005]

One day me and two of my friends decided that we wanted to watch a terrible "B" horror movie. We went to Blockbuster and saw a movie cover that told us that this movie is considered to be one of the goriest and frightening films of all time, and we said, "Bring it on." We went home and put it in and immediately we thought someone replaced the real video with a homemade one. Sadly this was not the case. When he was stuffing his deceased girlfriend we could see how each effect was done. Ex: When her eyes were supposed to be out we saw through the black dye. Also in a scene where they dissolved a body in acid, how come bone was dissolved but one eye wasn't. It was so confusing and terribly made I almost died of laughter. See the movie its a great comedy.

The Sick twisted world of Joe D'Amato.

[mrphantasm · 10/10 · 12 June 2005]

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.

Strong stomachs only

[zuccozoid · 7/10 · 4 December 2008]

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.

A fail...

[markovd111 · 4/10 · 10 February 2022]

"Beyond the Darkness" is a movie that was probably made when D'Amato was shooting a porn and had some extra time with the actors unspent, so he decided to make a horror movie. The result is a painfully boring movie with a lot of gore and nudity. It does resemble a movie, but there is almost no meaningful plot (young man Francesco is living in a big house with his old female servant Iris with which he has an unhealthy sexual relationship. His girlfriend dies, so he digs her corpse out and makes a doll out of her which he keeps in the house. He then proceeds to flirt with women and call them to his house where he kills them and disposes of their bodies. He is investigated by an unknown man. He decides to marry his servant, but they worsen their relationship. Then his girlfriends sister arrives and servant wants to kill her, but he kills her instead because she reminds him of her sister and then he dies from the wounds which are result of the conflict with the servant. That man who investigated him for his personal reasons finds the sister alive, but thinks she is dead and then he returns her to the priest. She opens the coffin screaming and that marks the end of the movie). And that lasts for an hour and a half! Yes, I am aware that the movie is a remake, but it's still badly made. Not even nudity and gore help with this kind of training in boredom. There is no character development and nothing interesting in the movie, except maybe some music that was made by the famous Goblin. Other than that, "Beyond the Darkness" is a flawed movie which is boring beyond redemption and has nothing in it to make it worth watching, unless you are a hardcore D'Amato fan. 4.5/10 from me. Not recommended!