6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
When Anna, the fiance of taxidermist Frank Wyler, dies of a mysterious illness, Frank digs up her body and preserves it per his profession so that he can be with his lover forever.
Starring: Kieran Canter, Cinzia Monreale, Franca Stoppi, Sam Modesto, Anna CardiniHorror | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
Italian: Dolby Digital 2.0
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 CD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Beyond the Darkness features perhaps the weirdest assortment of pull quotes I’ve ever personally seen adorning a Blu-ray cover. A small sampling includes such gems as “one of the most sickening movies ever made”, “revolting”, “stomach churning”, “shower prompting”, as well as a quote of perhaps dubious provenance by one Alfred Hitchcock mentioning how “just thinking about this movie gives me the chills”. More verbiage on the back cover of this release further alerts potential consumers to the fact that Beyond the Darkness features such exciting plot points as “torture, cannibalism, necrophilia, unrequited love and other perversions”, in what might be thought of as a kind of slap in the face for unrequited lovers everywhere. If you can get past some intentionally gruesome sights like disembowelings of various corpses, Beyond the Darkness is actually kind of campily enjoyable, featuring a completely over the top performance by Franca Stoppi as Iris, a very devoted housekeeper who makes Mrs. Danvers’ devotion to Maxim de Winter in a film actually directed by Hitchcock, 1940’s Rebecca, look like child’s play.
Beyond the Darkness is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. Unfortunately, neither the Shriek Show Blu-ray release of several years ago nor the more recent 88 Films version were reviewed here, and so I can't provide similar screenshots, and my only personal home video relationship with this film was the pretty shoddy looking Media Blasters DVD release, also from years ago. My hunch is those with some experience with this title on previous releases will be more easily pleased with the look of this transfer than those coming to the film for the first time courtesy of this Severin release. The film was shot on Super 16, and so its somewhat roughhewn and gritty texture is to be expected. While grain resolves a bit chunkily at times, as can be seen in some of the screenshots accompanying this review, the palette looks largely splendid, with good saturation and some especially convincing reds. While much of the film is fairly soft looking, detail levels are typically very good, at least when taking the smaller format into account, and in close-ups fine detail is similarly very good.
Beyond the Darkness features its English dub in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono, and the Italian language version in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono. There's considerably more low end energy in the English version, something that gives the score by Goblin more energy throughout the presentation. It's obvious that this was a multilingual affair on the shoot, and so no matter which language you choose, various performers' lip movements will come nowhere near to matching what's being spoken. Fidelity is fine on the English track, though the Italian track tends to sound a little anemic, at least when compared to the English language track.
I'm sure there are genre fans thinking my 2.5 score for this film is absurdly low, but this is a lo-fi effort from any number of standpoints, and its sometimes questionable content will probably provoke shock if not outrage in some not prepared for some of the film's more outré elements. Stoppi is an amazing presence of Iris, to the point that Canter's Frank seems almost like an afterthought, when he really should be the primary focus. With an understanding of the source elements, the transfer here is largely commendable, and as usual Severin has assembled some nice supplements. Genre aficionados will probably find this a very appealing package, while those unschooled in the ways of Joe D'Amato may want to skip this one.
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