Review: 'Beyond Darkness' Still Egregious & Fun on Blu-ray

The "La Casa" series – a quintet of Italian horror films that were mostly unrelated and designed to benefit off the financial success of the Italian release of Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" series – may be among some of the most egregious, slapdash, and profoundly silly horror film ever made.

That's not a full-on endorsement, of course, but even trash like "Beyond Darkness" – released in Italy as "La Casa 5" – benefits from filmmaker Claudio Fragasso's penchant for horror exaggeration. Once again, not an endorsement, but rather an important note about what kind of film you're about to watch if "Beyond Darkness" finds its way into your collection.

Severin Films brings "Beyond Darkness" to Blu-ray with an edition that offers a slight upgrade in video quality over the previous Shout! Factory Blu-ray release of the film, and has a rather extensive set of special features. This includes a nearly 40-minute interview with Fragasso himself, as well as a 20-minute interview with co-writer Rossella Druidi. Rounding out this edition is the soundtrack CD. Italian horror may never be as clear in its inauthenticity as it is in "Beyond Darkness," yet it still provides some harebrained thrills that are quite entertaining.

George (David Brandon), a young reverend, and his family move into a new house that happens to be a portal to hell. Right before the family moved in, a convicted child killer was executed and imbued the house with her evil. But that's not the only tortured soul haunting the halls of the house. George's faith is about to be tested.

Since the house in question is haunted by the souls of witches burned at the stake and a myriad of other nasties, Fragasso takes the opportunity to litter every scene with references and ephemera. If anything, this is closer to a straight-up haunted house movie than some of the other films in the "La Casa" series, and it benefits from the throw-everything-at-a-wall approach

The interview with Fragasso is one of the main reasons to pick up this edition. He makes no concessions about the films he has made and the legacy it has left him. It's clear that he's the kind of filmmaker that feeds off of visual inspiration. His penchant for exaggeration matches that trait relatively well. While "Beyond Darkness" may be far from an original horror film, there's something rather fun about its cheap and playful nature.

Other special features include:

� "The Devil in Mrs. Drudi" Interview with co-writer Rossella Drudi
� "Sign of the Cross" – Interview with actor David Brandon
� Trailer
� Bonus: CD Soundtrack

"Beyond Darkness" is now available on Blu-ray from Severin Films.