On the set of Beyond the Darkness, an actor recalls director Joe D’Amato (Aristide Massaccesi) exclaiming, “We’re making a movie to make people throw up. We must make ‘em vomit!”
This is one of the three films D’Amato made from 1979 to 1981 that make up his most extreme, stomach-churning, terror trifecta- Anthropophagous, Absurd and Beyond the Darkness, now each given a stunning 4k UHD restoration on Blu-ray from Severin.
Italian director Joe D’Amato began as a cinematographer and then went on to produce and direct a staggering group of films- from comedy, horror, erotic thrillers, porn and post-apocalyptic action films. He made several of the notorious Black Emanuelle films with gorgeous Laura Gemser. But for me, Anthropophagous, Absurd and Beyond the Darkness take the cake, so to speak.
Anthropophagous (1980) is a great shocker about a group of tourists aboard a sailboat who unfortunately stop at an uncharted island, seemingly uninhabited, only to be stalked by a mutant cannibal killer. Starring Tisa Farrow (Mia’s attractive sister) as one of the unlucky travelers, and D’Amato’s frequent star and collaborator George Eastman (Luigi Montefiori) as the beast-man. It has some truly shocking sequences- including a heavily censored forced birth scene and a finale that is jaw-dropping. The film begins in Greece, with a group of friends sailing on a boat and hopping the islands. They meet with an American (Tisa Farrow) who asks to come along with them if they drop her off on a remote island where she is working as the companion to a couple’s blind daughter. But when they arrive on shore, the island seems deserted. That’s when things go from bad to worse. If you elect to watch the “extended Italian version” on the 4K and Blu-ray disc you will see a never before seen segment involving the ship passangers discovering a dismembered foot. (The third disc in this set is the bowdlerized American release as The Grim Reaper which is heavily cut- especially at the end). The extras include a vintage interview with director Joe D’Amato and another segment with actor/screenwriter George Eastman (Luigi Montefiori), who has a great story of what happened after they shot in an actual catacomb. There is also a video essay on cannibalism in Italian Cinema of the 70s and 80s.
Absurd. Joe D’Amato’s 1981 (sort-of sequel) to Anthropophagous, with George Eastman returning as the unstoppable, cannibalistic killer, who escapes from a hospital and is stalked by a strange priest (Edmund Purdom). The only connection to the first film is that both men are Greek. And that the killer has incredible, almost supernatural restorative powers. He wanders about slaughtering everyone he sees. A man in an abattoir meets an untimely end with a heavy-duty electric saw. The fiend ends up making a home invasion at the house where a paralyzed girl lies helpless in a bedroom. (He follows the car of the liquor-swilling father who knocked him down in a hit-and-run). Director Michele Soavi (Cemetery Man) plays a biker who has an unfortunate run-in with the relentless killer when his motorcycle breaks down on the road. “He is creature of evil!” the priest exclaims. I really laughed when the parents of the bedridden girl go over to the neighbors to watch a football game and they all eat spaghetti- another way to identify this film is made by Italians. This gorgeous 2-disc 4K UHD and Blu-ray (scanned from the original negative) includes two versions- the Italian version and the English one- which is 6 minutes longer! Extras include an interview with Luigi Montefiori (George Eastman) called “The Return of the Grim Reaper.” An archival interview with Joe D’Amato. And an interview with Michele Soavi “A Biker (Uncredited).” Gory, outrageous and gloriously “absurd.”
Beyond the Darkness (aka Buio Omega) (1979). Joe D’Amato’s sick puppy of a film is about taxidermist Frank Wyler (Kieran Canter), who can’t get over the untimely death of his beautiful wife (Cinzia Monreale). So, he digs her body up, takes her home to his remote country home, guts and stuffs her, curling up next to the body from time to time. Frank lives with his creepily devoted sister Iris (the unforgettable Franca Stoppi) and when people unexpectedly show up and threaten her brother she has no problem killing them, hacking up their bodies, and dissolving them in a bathtub full of hydrochloric acid. There’s something of a gothic, dark, Grimm’s fairy tale atmosphere to the film, only mixed in with startling autopsy-like footage to unsettle you. Kieran Canter is actually perfect as the lovesick psychopath- he has a pretty-boy sweet appearance at first glance but later the mask drops (like when he is pulling the fingernails from an unlucky hippie hitchhiker or taking a bite out of the actual heart of his dissected lover). Canter’s film career is unfortunately a short one. Aside from appearing in the hilariously trashy The Lonely Lady starring Pia Zadora, he ended up in a series of soft-core erotic films like The Devil in Mr. Holmes and The Loves of Lady Chatterley. I tracked down some of these and, he is still handsome and appealing, but, unfortunately, after multiple viewings of Beyond the Darkness I kept expecting him to tear the guts of his sexy partner while rolling around in bed. This impressive 4K UHD & Blu-ray set includes several audio commentaries and vintage interviews with Joe D’Amato. There is a welcome interview with actress Franca Stoppi, plus an interview with the still beautiful Cinzia Monreale, who played the stuffed bride. There are extras showing locations of the film in Brixen, and video essays like “Necrophilia, the Charnel House of Love by author Madeleine LeDespencer.
I have to admit a great fondness for Joe D’Amato and many of his films. And witnessing the loving care Severin took with restoring the luster to these twisted treats warms me right to the bottom of my black little heart.
