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Beyond the Darkness (1979) - Blu-ray Review

4 beersHoly fucking meat cleavers, Iris!  This shit is bananas.  Want to see a body hacked to pieces and then shoved into a bathtub of acid?  Want to see a severely bloody disembowelment for true love?  Want to then see a person cram a sort of messy beef stew into her mouth afterward?  Then director Joe D'Amato (Antropophagus) has the fucked-up tale for you.

Raise those hands high, mofos!  This is your jam.  Beyond the Darkness, with its many blonde victims, is your ticket to ride high on the darker side of life.  It’s demented and devilishly coy with its intentions as one man, keeping the corpse of his fiancée (Cinzia Monreale from The Beyond) next to him as he beds blonde after blonde, develops a taste for raw flesh.  His heart!  Oh, how it aches… 

Ah, to be so young, rich, and … orphaned!  I’m not sure if it is the pulsating Goblin score or the appearance of the cold and dead hand from the back of the killer’s red truck that keeps me returning to Beyond the Darkness (aka Buried Alive).  I mean, it certainly couldn’t be the close-up on the tit as a woman is flame broiled in a large oven... 

Whatever it is, though, is made all the better thanks to Severin Film’s release of the film on blu-ray.  Uncensored and uncut, the release of Beyond the Darkness is the ultimate edition to own and, trust me; it is truly a stomach-churning chef-d'oeuvre of mood and misbehavior.  No matter how strong your stomach is, the film remains a disturbing ode to true love as one heartbroken fiancée, unable to live without his bride to be, decides to have her stuffed on the occasion of her unexpected death.

Using a combination of authentic surgical footage alongside scenes where a grieving man, Frank (Kieran Canter) actually EATS his dead fiancée’s still heart, director Joe D’Amato gives horror hounds his best stab at the truly macabre with this love letter to all things undead.  Beyond the Darkness is not lacking in pacing.  It’s brilliantly composed, with scenes flowing into the next without the usual Italian hiccup or styling.  

Complete with a bizarre relationship between Frank and Iris (Franka Stoppi from The Other Hell), the housekeeper, who breastfeeds this wavy-haired taxidermist for her own pleasures, but remains super jealous of his fiancée, even after her voodoo-caused death.  Beyond the Darkness is a difficult horror film to shake off.  For starters, there are quite a few female bodies tossed about in this cult film as both Iris and Frank work together to dismember his accidental deaths.  The blood it flows oh so easy in this one, all while he coos to his fiancée and receives all sorts of sex acts from Iris. 

With the release of Beyond the Darkness, you too will know just how well handjobs and glass eyes go together.  Be still my beating heart.

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Beyond the Darkness (1979) - Blu-ray Review

MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime:
94 mins
Director
: Joe D'Amato
Writer:
Ottavio Fabbri
Cast:
Kieran Canter, Cinzia Monreale, Franca Stoppi
Genre
: Horror
Tagline:
Afate worse than death.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Where did you hide her?"
Theatrical Distributor:
Aquarius Releasing
Official Site:
Release Date:
June 1, 1984
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
July 25, 2017
Synopsis: 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.

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Beyond the Darkness (1979) - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Severin Films
Available on Blu-ray
- July 25, 2017
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles
: English SDH
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0; Italian: Dolby Digital 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Severin Films boldly goes where few dare with their 1080p release of this bloody good movie.  Beyond the Darkness, while a bit fuzzy in areas, looks terrific in HD.  If there’s a limitation to the upgrade, it’s due to the budgetary restrictions and the mishandling of the movie throughout its lifespan.  Colors are saturated and warm.  Presented in a 1.67:1 aspect ratio and sporting a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtrack, the film might have been issued before, but it looks its greatest with this release.  The wardrobe items on the actors are crisp.  Shadows are defined.  The house in the story is also more vibrant than remembered.  Another win from Severin Films.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

Severin’s blu-ray release is pretty special indeed.  It includes an interview with director Joe D’Amato, an interview with actress Franca Stoppi, another interview with Cinzia Monreale.  There’s also a performance of the soundtrack from Goblin recorded live in 2016.  Another featurette looks at the locations used in the movie.  This is a double disc release: one contains the blu-ray and another contains Goblin’s soundtrack.  It should also be noted that the exclusive limited edition CD Soundtrack from Goblin is only available with the first 2500 copies of Severin’s Blu-ray release.

  • Joe D’Amato: The Horror Experience
  • The Omega Woman
  • Sick Love
  • Goblin Reborn Perform Buio Omega Live 2016
  • Locations Revisited
  • Theatrical Trailer

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Beyond the Darkness (1979) - Blu-ray Review

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