Beyond the Darkness

Beyond the Darkness is a 1979 Italian exploitation horror film directed by Joe D'Amato. It follows Francesco Koch (Kieran Canter), an orphaned taxidermist who inherits a house in the woods where he lives with his housekeeper Iris (Franca Stoppi), who is determined to become the new owner. After Iris kills his girlfriend Anna (Cinzia Monreale) 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 (Sam Modesto) investigates and meets Teodora (also Monreale), Anna's twin sister. Filmed in two weeks in South Tyrol, Beyond the Darkness is a remake of the 1966 film The Third Eye. It was released in Italy to what Italian film historian Roberto Curti described as relatively poor box office, and was re-released in Italy in 1987 as In quella casa Buio omega to associate it with the La casa film series. Plot Since his parents died in a car accident nine years ago, Francesco Koch, an affluent and good-looking 25-year-old (English version: 22-year-old), has been living alone with his wet nurse and housekeeper Iris in a villa at the outskirts of a South Tyrolian town. His fiancé, 21-year-old Anna Völkl, suffers from an illness and lies at the local hospital. Iris, who wants to marry Francesco and become the new lady of the house, hires a local witch who curses Anna by sticking needles into a voodoo doll. When Anna's condition subsequently deteriorates and Francesco learns of it, he hurries to the hospital. There Anna tells him she wants to make love with him at least once before she dies. As he kisses her on the hospital bed, her heart ceases to beat and she dies. Later that day back at the villa, Francesco mourns his loss by looking at the picture of his mother. Iris enters and breastfeeds Francesco, calling him her "little baby boy". At the morgue, Francesco injects Anna's body with preservative so that he can dig her body up and be with her forever. Unbeknownst to Francesco, the mortician sees him making the injection. The funeral is attended only by Francesco, Anna's parents and her sister Teodora, who studies at a school in the region.