00:00You know every once in a while a movie comes along that really gets under your skin and makes you
00:03want to take a shower afterwards?
00:05Beyond the Darkness is that movie.
00:07The great cinematic auteurs of the world gift us with visual poetry.
00:13Joe D'Amato gave us a taxidermist who apparently failed grief counseling.
00:18Welcome to Beyond the Darkness, a title that suggests a gentle psychological thriller, not a film where someone dissolves in
00:26a bathtub.
00:27The protagonist, Frank Weiler, the sensitive artist.
00:32Frank is the film's star, and frankly, he's a shitty person.
00:36He's a wealthy orphan taxidermist, which is Italian horror code for...
00:39He has a large, secluded house and boundary issues.
00:43When his fiancée, Anna, dies, thanks to a voodoo curse, the most efficient breakup method of 1979...
00:51Of course, being an Italian horror, Frank responds by doing what any rational, well-adjusted individual would.
00:57He digs the poor bitch up.
00:59Frank Weiler is essentially a reverse Dr. Frankenstein, proving that man's control over life is not in lightning and laboratories,
01:08but an embalming fluid in really unsettling commitment issues.
01:12His true talent isn't preservation.
01:14It's making monumentally bad choices and then having his housekeeper deal with the logistics.
01:20The true villain, Iris, the motherly enabler.
01:24The film is often cited as a spiritual and far more repulsive remake of Psycho.
01:30But forget Norman Bates.
01:32Meet Iris, Frank's housekeeper.
01:34She's the real hero of the story, or at least the logistics coordinator for his escalating homicidal spree.
01:41She's the ultimate toxic maternal figure.
01:45She breastfed him as an adult and then literally helped him dispose a parade of bodies.
01:50Her life appears to be a thankless cycle of Frank brings home a new corpse,
01:55Iris sighs, gets the acid and cleans up the mess,
01:59Frank gives her a pat on the head, rinse and repeat.
02:02She's the unsung labor force that keeps the necrophilic status quo humming smoothly.
02:07Her only true tragedy is that the only man she loves prefers her women pre-stuffed.
02:14While the cinematography often suggests he was operating the camera with his foot,
02:18the film achieves accidental brilliance through its soundtrack by Goblin.
02:22Their moody, psychedelic, progressive rock score is too good for this movie.
02:27It's like putting a Michelin star dining experience in a dumpster.
02:30It elevates the surrounding trash into something oddly compelling.
02:34The music tells a story of sophisticated dread and gothic romance,
02:39while the visuals are telling a story about the messy practicalities of dissolving human remains.
02:45The score is the film's conscience.
02:47The visuals are the reason it needed one.
02:50The signature scene, the acid bath.
02:53In a genre defined by shocking moments,
02:56Beyond the Darkness delivers it with its notorious acid bath sequence.
03:00It's an unforgettable showcase of mid-level special effects and excellent sound design.
03:06This scene is the film's philosophical core.
03:09It proves that the most horrifying aspect of murder isn't the killing itself,
03:14but the tedious post-mortem administrative work,
03:17the dismemberment, the disposal, the cleanup.
03:20It's a grisly masterpiece of efficiency,
03:23demonstrating that Frank is a terrible person,
03:25but Iris is a surprisingly effective environmental waste manager.
03:31Beyond the Darkness is less a horror film,
03:33and more a darkly comedic cautionary tale about codependent domesticity,
03:38and the importance of having a reliable disposal method.
03:41It's a four-garbage classic that's still as hectic as it was in 1979.
03:48Pure trash.
03:50This is a glorious, sticky, sleazy mess,
03:54proving that sometimes the best cinema is also the worst cinema.
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