Dir: Joe D'Amato
1979
Beyond The Darkness is a psychological thriller caught up in a horror movies trappings. This is something that is true of a lot of these Italian horror flicks, but it is especially true with Beyond The Darkness.
The flick starts out with a woman lying ill on a hospital bed, and it soon becomes clear what is wrong with her. She is being killed by voodoo. And there really is no reason for anyone to dislike her, it is just jealousy. Iris is in love with Frank and the love of his life is the only thing that stands between her and him. She is clearly obsessed with him, and when his lover dies, she consoles him in a very unique, however effective manner.
However it takes more than the proffered breast to get him to forget about his love. And he soon begins a scheme to bring her back to life. It soon becomes clear that just as Iris is obsessed with Frank, so also Frank is obsessed with Anna. And Frank will kill anyone that gets in the way of bringing his dead love back to life. And Iris will do anything to garner Franks approval, and so is complicit with the murder and dismemberment of any innocents that get tangled into his web.
Despite going through all of this to garner Franks approval, he still resists the notion of her being anything more to him besides the house help. Could it be her dick shrivelling stare that turns him off?
Or maybe it's her charming table manners?
Whatever the case may be, Frank would rather have a menage a trois with one third of the party being a corpse, than have anything to do with poor neglected Iris.
At any rate, Frank refuses to accept the fact that Anna is dead, and will stay dead. And while he continues with his escapades, and the bodies add up, Iris also, refuses to let her dream of having Frank, body and soul, die.
And so it goes with 1979's Beyond The Darkness. This is part of the Shriek-Show "Psycho Killers" box. I will take a look at the remaining two flicks "Delirium", and "House On The Edge Of The Park" soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment