Beyond the Darkness (1979)

Interesting facts

Beyond the Darkness is a 1979 Italian exploitation horror film directed by Joe D'Amato. It follows Francesco Koch, an orphaned taxidermist who inherits a house in the woods where he lives with his housekeeper Iris, who is determined to become the new owner. After Iris kills his girlfriend Anna with a voodoo curse, Francesco steals her corpse from the local cemetery. He then commits murders connected to his enduring passion for her. A local undertaker investigates and meets Teodora, Anna's twin sister.

Production

Beyond the Darkness was a remake of the 1966 film The Third Eye, which had Franco Nero as its protagonist. Its director Mino Guerrini was friends with D'Amato, and they had devised a number of unfilmed stories together. For the new screenplay, Ottavio Fabbri is credited.

The film was shot in two weeks in South Tyrol province, in the towns of Brixen and Sand in Taufers, in late June and early July 1979. On working with D'Amato, actress Franca Stoppi recalled him saying on set that "We're making a movie to make people throw up.

The special effects for the gore scenes in the film were made by using animal intestines, pig skin and a sheep's heart which were provided by an abattoir. D'Amato said "In all four (of my) horror films....we created the splatter effects by using butcher's scraps. There was no real special effects expert....At that time, censorship was fairly mild".

The film's score was by Goblin, who were hired by producer Marco Rossetti, and included music that would later be re-used in The Other Hell and Hell of the Living Dead.

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