Beyond the Darkness: Buio Omega

Rating:
Summary: D'Amato's gore opus
Review: Roughly twelve years ago I found myself morosely ambling through the aisles of a local video store, grumbling about the generally poor selection of the types of films I love to watch. Which films are those, you ask? Just your average, everyday gory unrated and uncut pukers. Well, you won't find many of these, films like "Cannibal Holocaust," the unrated version of "Dead Alive," or a number of other highly memorable gore movies at any mainstream video outlet. And finding them a decade ago? Forget about it. Before DVD you considered yourself lucky to find anything more than the standard "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween" style slasher films on the shelf. Sometimes the good old days weren't that great. Anyway, my eyes fell on a cheesy looking VHS box for a film called "Buried Alive." I had walked by this movie a dozen times before without giving it much thought; the lackluster cover art wasn't exactly a big selling point. This time, however, I decided to give it a shot. I was glad I did! It turned out that "Buried Alive" was none other than an uncut and unedited version of goremeister Joe D'Amato's epic "Beyond the Darkness" aka "Buio Omega."

Frank (Kieran Canter) is a taxidermist living off the wealth of his deceased parents whose world falls to pieces when his beautiful young girlfriend Anna (Cinzia Monreale) expires in the hospital after an extended illness. Frank falls to pieces soon after as well, evidenced by his return to the graveyard after the burial services in order to exhume the body of his beloved. Our hero returns home with Anna and immediately sets to work in a scene that has since gained well-deserved notoriety with gorehounds the world over. Frank carefully removes the pertinent pieces of the late Anna, revealed to us in grisly close up, and successfully turns her into his latest objet d'art. Instead of sitting his gal on a shelf alongside the various animals he works on, however, Frank installs her in a bed on the upper level of his spacious home. Throughout the film our taxidermist will occasionally pay her a visit in order to profess his undying love. Charming. In the meantime, he must deal with his evil housekeeper Iris (Franca Stoppi), a woman suffering under the burden of her own various depravities. As Frank's mental condition continues to deteriorate, Iris will help her employer clean up various gory messes as well as provide him much needed alibis. She also makes a mean porridge/stew dish that would turn even the most cast iron of stomachs.

Frank's problems emerge soon after he absconds with Anna's cadaver. But don't they always? One big difficulty arises in the form of an addled female hitchhiker who insists on forcing the deranged taxidermist to give her a ride. Much to her everlasting regret she falls asleep, and discovers what Frank is up to upon waking. Big mistake. Our man savagely attacks her, and in the process gives the term "manicure" a whole new meaning. Iris and Frank dispose of the hitchhiker with the help of some sharp tools and a bathtub full of acid. You would think at this point that these two might begin to question their motivations. Instead, Frank continues to strike up relations with lovely ladies and Iris helps clean up the aftermath. The disappearance of a female jogger soon brings the local constabulary to the doorstep, a close call indeed considering one of the gal's shoes sits within view of the officers, but a deft move by Iris saves the day for the moment. But others have taken notice of the odd goings on at this charnel house, and it won't be too long before a surprising visitor turns up at the front door, a visitor that finally sends Frank over the precipice. The movie concludes, literally, with a scream.

D'Amato's magnum opus isn't about great acting or expensive production values, neither of which this film possesses in any measurable way. What is important is that "Beyond the Darkness" ranks as one of the sickest films ever put to celluloid, a movie so reprehensible in its myriad depictions of taboo behaviors that I still can't believe I found an uncut copy at the video store. D'Amato and company present us with scene after scene of stomach churning gore, everything from throat tearing to fingernail ripping to other gooey stuff I won't mention here. A fan of horror films, upon hearing me make a reference to what Frank does to the hitchhiker, dryly remarked, "Yes, you can hear the Velcro tearing." Maybe so, but the heartless way in which the scene unfolds, along with its length (it goes on for what feels like forever), goes for the throat in terms of the cringe factor. So does the operation on Anna, a grueling sequence that fueled speculation concerning whether the filmmakers used a real body or not. If you haven't caught on by now, let me say it again: "Beyond the Darkness" is one of the sickest films ever put to film. D'Amato's film goes so far over the top that it's easy to forget that none other than Goblin--of Dario Argento fame--composed the musical score.

Joe D'Amato films usually merit a plethora of extras on their DVD version, and the disc for "Buio Omega" is no exception. A short commentary with crew member Donatella Donati, slides, an easter egg featuring many posters for D'Amato's adult films, trailers for "Whatever Happened to Solange," "Seven Blood-Stained Orchids," "Buio Omega," "House on the Edge of the Park", and a fun interview with a still gorgeous Cinzia Monreale provide plenty of extra punch for the buck. "Beyond the Darkness" is a must see for fans of extreme cinema, and it's great to see it finally out on DVD.





Rating:
Summary: NOT WIDESCREEN!
Review: The Box cover says Anamorphic Widescreen. Unfortunately this is not the case. It is Standard television ratio. The movie is still a classic. A must have for fans of sick and depraved cinema. But be warned of this deceit!

Rating:
Summary: Vile and Repulsive Gothic Horror Story...
Review: The mid-seventies to mid-eighties was a prolific period for italian horror directors like Lucio Fulci and Umberto Lenzi who constantly pushed the boundaries of bad taste with increasingly exploitative and gore soaked epics like Zombie, The Beyond, Cannibal Ferox and Eaten Alive.
One of the genre's most productive directors was Joe D'Amato, who was primarily a director of hardcore porno films, but who contributed some impressive entries to the Euro-horror genre with Anthropophagus, Emmanuelle and The Last Cannibals and Beyond The Darkness.
D'Amato never flinched at fusing soft-core pornographic content with over the top gore and extreme violence. While a film like Emmanuelle and the Last Cannibals is a successful attempt to meld softcore porn and gross out horror, Beyond The Darkness simply presents violence as pornography. The viewer is assaulted with just about every nausea inducing visual imaginable: eye gouging, dissection, dismemberment, cremation, cannibalism...its all here in vivid technicolor to disgust the audience resulting in a unique viewing experience.
I must say I had mixed feelings about this film at first, and there were times when I seriously considered hitting the eject button on the DVD player, thats when I realized what a triumph this film must be. As a jaded horror film enthusiast I have seen just about everything (Last House On The Left, I Spit On Your Grave, Fulci's catalogue of films), and this managed to disturb and shock the heck out of me.
The story is simple enough, a young man named Francesco and his maid Iris preside over a large estate secluded in the italian countryside. When Francesco's lover suffers an untimely demise, Francesco sinks into dementia and psychosis resulting in an orgy of murder and necrophillia. Aided by Iris, the pair torture and murder any passerby unfortunate enough to discover that Francesco has stolen his lifeless girlfriend's corpse and is preserving it within one of the bedrooms. This leaves ample time for Francesco and the much older Iris to indulge their bizarre sexual relationship as well(students of the Oedipal complex take note).
The DVD booklet lists a series of obscure influences that Beyond The Darkness draws from, I found it amusing that no mention of Robert Bloch's Psycho was made-it is evident that D'Amato borrowed liberally from Bloch's story and Hitchcock's classic film adaptation of the same name. The climax in particular with the discovery of the preserved corpse in the cellar is almost a direct steal from Hitchcock's far superior work.
Directors like Jacques Tourneur and Alfred Hitchcock showed us a long time ago that horrors that are not explicit and that are left to the imagination are far more effective. The power of suggestion goes a long way to creating mood and atmosphere, something that this film sorely lacks. Had D'Amato not so completely relied on excessive gore as a cheap gimmick, this film could have truly been a classic. As it stands the film is just not frightenning and creates no tension, except maybe in the final fifteen minutes. It is absolutely shocking for its unrelenting portrayal of gruesome scenes, but left me feeling that this film could have been much improved in the hands of a more capable director. As it stands I cannot imagine watching this disgusting spectacle again anytime soon and I would question the sanity of anyone who actually enjoys watching this repeatedly. A film this extreme is prime fodder for those conservative groups who argue that subversive films have a detrimental effect on society, and in this instance I cannot say I disagree totally. This should absolutely never be seen by children, people with weak stomachs or weak minds.
What we do have here is a feast for gorehounds and sleazy exploitation fans with a fair amount of nudity, hot european chicks and tons of very convincing gore effects. So convincing that a rumour persists that real corpses were used in parts of the film.
Finally, Shriek Show has done a great job on this DVD, the perks include: Reversible cover art for the DVD, a wonderful interview with actress Cinzia Monreale and a bunch of trailers for Shriek Show's other releases including the tedious House On The Edge Of The Park. The video looks pretty good for a low budget film this old, though I found the audio to be average at best. Also, there is a hidden bonus feature: go to scene access, just before chapter six you will see an icon of a naked woman, click on this and you will see a gallery of posters for Joe D'Amato's hardcore (...)titles.

Rating:
Summary: BEYOND THE DARKNESS NOT REALLY!!
Review: This flick is beyond insanity.I've had this movie on vhs for years under the title Buried Alive and just aquired a great copy
on DVD.Sicko young man's girl friend bites the dust only to be exumed to be preserved by him as his lover once more.Nosey people start snooping around and the killing begins but that's not a problem when you have a nanny who is more than willing to help discard of the bodies.Joe DAmato really out did himself here!This one has all the necromantic gore and horror that true sadistic horror buffs love! "A MUST SEE CHECK IT OUT"

Rating:
Summary: buio omega
Review: This has always been one of those few movies that always stayed with me. Saw as a kid and have been looking for it for yrs. It went by buried alive back then and I got it off of ebay under "beyond the darkness", I cant understand why they would change the name like that when most of us know it by "buried alive". the title itself has always perplexed me, it really has nothing to do with anyone being buried alive. This is an italian movie directed by joe d'mato who from what i have heard is more of a porn director. No big name actors or anything. the lead character 'frank" is a pretty boy type and is pretty convincing in this role. Im not big on giving a long drawn out plot detail but its basically about franks fiance who is dying. His love for her is so strong that when she does die he digs up her body and pretty much stuffs it!(by the way, he is a taxedermist) He keeps her around his mansion that he shares with some very creepy looking woman who i assume is the maid. He eventually, and not really on purpose ends up finding young female victims he kills in a pretty gruesome manner. His maid helps him in all of this. Some guy who we never really know who he is kind of suspects something is "up" with this guy and is snooping around his place. His love for his fiance is so strong that he brings some of his victims right on the bed where she is laying and looks at her while he is about to kill his victim. I'm not going to give anymore away but I'm tellin ya now that the ending is terrible. If the ending had been at least half way coherent it would be a 5 star film. the acting is pretty good but the dubbing is terrible! As bad as those old kung fu movies..lol. Very good gore but not as gory as others have bosted. The gore is very well done and really shocks for the most part. decent score and the location is beautiful! I would love to visit where this film was made. Lots of nudity and sexual situations. This movie has always stuck with me and is one of my top 5 of all time for sure. Love it or hate it...you wont forget this film thats for sure. One of the most shocking films ever made in my opinion. Up there with "I spit on your grave" but 2 different types of films. As i stated earlier, this film was once called buried alive but you will not be able to find it under that name anymore i dont believe. Look for "beyond the darkness" or the title listed here. You wont be disappointed thats for sure.

Rating:
Summary: Great "Stuff"
Review: This one's a wacky flick. It's gross-out Italian horror minus the zombies and cannibals. Directed by Joe D'Amato-who had a string of interesting horror flicks then did alot of porn-this follows a weirdo named Frank who can't deal with his lovers' death the old fashioned way and decides to exhume her, stuff her and keep her around as a conversation piece. He also likes to kill various women and mess around with his maid(?), who also helps him dispose of the bodies. This one hits a little harder than most films of the genre because it's something we can see(and have seen) happen for real. Sure, it suffers from the usual Italian horror film corniness, but it's not as easy to shake off, and because of it's more down-to-earth approach to horror, the gore comes off as a little more realistic than usual. Highly recommended for fans of the genre, anyone else should run the other way.

Rating:
Summary: Great "Stuff"
Review: This one's a wacky flick. It's gross-out Italian horror minus the zombies and cannibals. Directed by Joe D'Amato-who had a string of interesting horror flicks then did alot of porn-this follows a weirdo named Frank who can't deal with his lovers' death the old fashioned way and decides to exhume her, stuff her and keep her around as a conversation piece. He also likes to kill various women and mess around with his maid(?), who also helps him dispose of the bodies. This one hits a little harder than most films of the genre because it's something we can see(and have seen) happen for real. Sure, it suffers from the usual Italian horror film corniness, but it's not as easy to shake off, and because of it's more down-to-earth approach to horror, the gore comes off as a little more realistic than usual. Highly recommended for fans of the genre, anyone else should run the other way.