Beyond the Darkness – Severin Films (Blu-ray/CD Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1979
Director: Joe D’Amato
Writers: Ottavio Fabbri, Giacomo Guerrini
Cast: Kieran Canter, Cinzia Monreale, Franca Stoppi, Sam Modesto, Anna Cardini, Lucia D’Elia, Mario Pezzin, Walter Tribus, Klaus Rainer, Edmondo Vallini, Simonetta Allodi

Release Date: July 25th, 2017
Approximate Running Time: 94 Minutes 18 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian, DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $34.98

"CinzIa Monreale (The Beyond) and Franca Stoppi (The Other Hell) star in this psycho-sexual sickie featuring torture, cannibalism, necrophilia, unrequited love and other perversions, totally uncensored and set to a pounding score by Goblin.." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "restored in HD for the first time ever."

Beyond the Darkness comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 42.3 GB

Feature: 25.5 GB

Over the years, Beyond the Darkness has had a troubled history with transfers from previous home video releases, leaving a lot of room for improvement. For this release, the transfer gives Beyond the Darkness its most accurate-looking colors, and flesh tones look natural. Image clarity is strong (there is an intended soft focus look to the visuals), there are no issues with compression, and the image retains an organic look, although the grain does look thicker in some moments. Also, it looks like this release uses the same 2K restoration that 88 Films used for their Blu-ray release.

Audio: 4.25/5 (DTS-HD Mono English), 3.25/5 (DTS-HD Mono Italian)

This release comes with two audio options, a Dolby Digital mono mix in Italian and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. Of these two tracks, the English language track is the stronger of the two; it sounds more robust than the Italian language track, which sounds flat. That said, dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and Goblin’s score is well represented. The only subtitles included are removable English subtitles for the English-language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 58 seconds, Dolby Digital mono with English text), a then and now locations featurette titled Locations Revisited (20 minutes 5 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo), Goblin Reborn Perform Buio Omega Live 2016 (4 minutes 17 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo), an interview with actress Cinzia Monreale titled Sick Love (8 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with actress Franca Stoppi titled The Omega Woman (15 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with non-removable English subtitles) and a documentary titled Joe D’Amato: The Horror Experience (68 minutes 21 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with non-removable English subtitles), a CD with Goblin’s score, and an Easter Egg with producer Terry Levine who released the film in the U.S. under the title Buried Alive (2 minutes, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles. It should be noted that the CD is only available with the first 2500 copies.

Summary:

Directed by Joe D’Amato (Emanuelle in America), a prolific filmmaker who has just under two hundred films that are accredited to him as a director. And besides his extensive filmography as a director, he also worked extensively as a cinematographer, most notable on films like The Antichrist and What Have You Done to Solange?.

The narrative revolves around a young man who is unable to let go of his recently deceased girlfriend, so he steals her corpse, and he uses his skills as a taxidermist to preserve her the way he remembered.

Throughout Joe D’Amato's career, he would primarily work within the horror and erotic genres. And he would shift away from soft-core erotica to hard-core sex films as his career progressed as a director.

And though there is a fair amount of sleaze on display throughout Beyond the Darkness, this film is a horror film, first and foremost. And when it comes to its depiction of carnage, Beyond the Darkness reaches a level of grotesqueness that has never been seen before or obtained since!

The premise for Beyond the Darkness can be traced back to Mino Guerrini’s Italian gothic horror film The Third Eye. The narrative does a superb job of setting the tone and maintaining a frantic pace that lets each moment of sadistic horror linger onscreen for maximum effect. That being said, the more melodramatic dialog, the more heavy moments are just a means to an end. And it is ultimately this film’s graphic, blood-soaked set pieces that drive the story at hand.

Performance-wise, the entire cast is good in their respective roles. The standout performance is Franca Stoppi (The Other Hell) in the role of an older spin-stress, Iris, whose obsession with the protagonist is what leads to her becoming his partner in crime. Another performance of note is Cinzia Monreale (The Beyond) in the dual roles of Anna and Elena Völk. She spends the majority of her screen time as a lifeless corpse, and the bulk of her dialog comes during the film’s finale. The most uneven performance in this film is by Kieran Canter in the role of the film’s protagonist. He spends the majority of the time with a blank expression on his face. Fortunately, all is not lost, and his performance shines brightest during his character's darkest moments.

Another strength is Goblin’s phenomenal score, which does a superb job reinforcing the mayhem that is unfolding. Visually, the film does not miss a beat, and nowhere is this more evident than when it comes to the aforementioned gory set pieces. Some of these shocking moments include a scene where the protagonist removes a hitchhiker's fingernails while she is alive, a scene where Iris helps dispose of a victim by hatching her limbs as she lay lifeless on the bathroom floor, and a scene where the protagonist makes love to a woman he has just met while the corpse of his dead girlfriend lays in a bed next to them. Ultimately, Beyond the Darkness is a perfect mix of horror and depravity, making it Joe D’Amato’s crowning achievement as a filmmaker.

Beyond the Darkness gets a solid release from Severin Films, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer