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00:00 Good day horror fans!
00:08 I am Torstein from Cinema Terror and today I have another Italian horror film to talk
00:12 about which is none other than the 1990 Claudio Frecciasso's mix-up of the Amityville horror,
00:18 The Exorcist and Poltergeist called Beyond Darkness.
00:31 Well Beyond Darkness is one of the multiple titles that the movie has gotten over the
00:35 years.
00:36 This is one of those Italian films that have been slapped with franchise titles that it
00:39 has no place being in.
00:41 It has been called both Evil Dead 5 and House 5, while the film obviously has nothing to
00:45 do with any of those films.
00:47 The film starts in prison where the priest George, played by David Brandon, is visiting
00:52 a woman on death row before she is getting executed for murdering several children.
00:57 She does not want to confess her sin or show any sign of remorse.
01:01 Instead, she talks highly of her satanic beliefs and promises George that he will in time also
01:06 feel the darkness that has now consumed her soul.
01:26 Time goes by and another priest named Peter, played by Jean Lebroc, is bringing his family
01:31 of four to a new house that they have gotten their permission to live in from the local
01:34 church.
01:36 It turns out that there is ulterior motives by the church though, as this house was in
01:40 fact built on land where in the past witches used to be burned to death.
01:44 Not long after the family has moved in, weird stuff starts to happen and it becomes apparent
01:49 that there is evil forces at play, on a mission to get the family and bring them over to the
01:54 other side.
01:55 Peter's only hope is to find father George, get him back into shape from his alcoholic
01:59 state and together with the power of God, fight back.
02:16 So Beyond Darkness was made a few months before Claudio Fragasso made the infamous Troll 2,
02:21 a film that would in a way unfairly overlook all of his other efforts.
02:26 Since Beyond Darkness was done around the same time, it has the same type of feel to
02:29 it, but it is not destroyed by the cultural differences between the cast and crew like
02:33 Troll 2 did.
02:35 That being said, it is absolutely possible to laugh at this as a so bad it's good type
02:39 of film, but there is more to enjoy in this film than just that.
02:43 Beyond Darkness is basically a mix up of the best haunted house movies with a little bit
02:47 of the exorcist thrown into the mix.
02:49 Horror fans might make a comparison to Amityville 2, which is a fair comparison, and a film
02:54 I think is awesome by the way, but Beyond Darkness is a bit more cheesy and illogical.
03:00 The plot is hard to buy into, but thankfully things happen so fast in the film that it
03:03 never lets you sit and think things through.
03:06 There's all kinds of weird over the top shit happening in this house and that keeps the
03:10 movie from ever becoming boring, even if you are never fully engaged.
03:13 There are some moments of nice atmosphere, with lots of fog and some nice costumes and
03:31 practical effects.
03:33 If you were to cut this film down to a one or two minute long trailer, then you should
03:36 have enough material to work with to create a great one.
03:40 It's these parts that are the best parts of the film, where shit is just happening and
03:43 it goes by so quick that you don't question it, but don't expect anything to be effective
03:47 in providing scares or give you chills or anything like that.
03:51 While you never care that much for the characters, I must say that I did enjoy the duo priest.
03:55 Both LeBrock and Brandon clearly gave an attempt of giving good performances and it does show.
04:00 A fun fact is that they tried to get legendary actress Linda Blair for this film, but sadly
04:05 failed.
04:06 Fans of Troll 2 should be either excited or worried that the kid actor Michael Stevenson
04:11 is in this and while I hate to talk negatively about child actors, I can't honestly say anything
04:16 else than he is as bad in this one as he was in Troll 2.
04:19 Thankfully he does not get the same amount of screen time for scenes where he has to
04:23 act here.
04:24 Oh, and if you for some reason has not seen the documentary he did nearly ten years ago
04:44 now called Best Worst Movie about his experience on Troll 2 and its fandom, then you really
04:49 should.
04:50 It is a must see documentary for any fans of horror and cult movies in general.
04:55 Beyond Darkness is a Claudio Fragasso haunted house movie.
04:59 That is the selling point right there.
05:01 If that description makes you interested in this film, then you are the target audience
05:04 for this.
05:05 I know this is not a well crafted film with an interesting and unique story or anything
05:10 like that, but I still had fun with Beyond Darkness, so if you have an heart for silly
05:15 and cheesy haunted house movies, then this might be worth checking out.
05:19 I am giving Beyond Darkness the good score of 3 out of 5.
05:25 Have you seen Beyond Darkness?
05:27 What did you think of it and how would you rank it amongst Fragasso's other films?
05:31 And if you enjoy European horror films then check out my review for the great new Spanish
05:35 giallo inspired film The Glasgow Film.
05:37 Hope you enjoyed the review and please do come back again here in the future for more
05:41 reviews of European horror films here on Cinema Terror.
05:44 ♪ ♪ ♪