8. Beyond The Darkness/Buio Omega (1979)
No list of Italian horror films would be replete without including a Joe D'Amato title. I could have 'entertained' you with the grotty Erotic Nights of the Living Dead, but that is a hard core porn movie opportunistically exploiting the Zombie film format to dreadful effect. Instead, Italian horror fans like myself will be more used to Buio Omega - a film which is mostly free of the worst excesses of D'Amato sleaze (although it is still pretty damn sleazy) and works well as a straight horror movie. Okay, I will concede that there are necrophiliac overtones to the movie but it doesn't portray straight out necrophilia - this is not Lucker or NEKRomantik. The film follows the sad tale of rich taxidermist Frank whose great love Anna died as a result of voodoo doll shenanigans from Frank's maniacally obsessed and possessive house keeper. Frank digs up Anna's body and embalms it in a thoroughly nasty gore sequence which is definitely not for the squeamish. The embalmed Anna takes up residence in Frank's bedroom. He picks up a whole bunch of girls and in separate incidents manages to kill them. We are treated to Frank choking a girl to death, snipping off another girl's finger nails and biting a girl in the neck. All of the bodies are incinerated in Frank's basement or dissolved in acid. The house keeper has helped Frank to cover up his crimes and due to her loyalty she believes Frank should agree to marry her. When Frank shows himself to be opposed to this idea, the house keeper comes at him with a bloody great big knife... First off, if you are a serious gorehound you absolutely have to have this movie. Secondly, if you are a fan of Italian horror movies or if you have an interest in becoming a fan, you must check this movie out if you haven't already seen it. It is just filled with so much of the good stuff that makes Italian horror so great - sexual perversions, a certain degree of sleaze, awesome gore, a warped storyline. It is not for casual horror fans who will find it grotesque and disturbing. It's for unrepentant perverts like me who enjoy watching highly transgressive pieces of cinema. Long may we wallow in filth!