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Beyond the Darkness (1979) was the first Italian gore film that I saw, and quickly gained a garnered respect for Joe D’Amato. At the time, he seemed like he was going to a grittier alternative to Fulci and Argento.
D’Amato’s Anthropophagus did not meet my expectations given the reputation it had for itself. I later grew fond of D’amato’s soft-core Emanuelle films starring the exotic Laura Gemser. Eventually, I got my hands on Death Smiles on a Murderer / La Morte ha Sorriso all Assassins, which was the first horror film D’Amato directed by himself. On my first run, it did not resonate with me, but with time, I have come to appreciate it a lot more.
D`Amato held Death Smiles in such high regard that he decided to direct it under his real name. He was always credited as Aristide Massaccesi when working as a cinematographer, which was his main profession, and so to avoid ruining it by having his name attached to low-quality films, he always used a pseudonym. Ironically, Death Smiles would be the last movie he ever directed using his real name.
From what I know, Death Smiles is D’Amato’s only attempt at classical gothic horror and, like most entries in the subgenre, it is low budget but still manages to shine through due to its excellent cinematography done through Massaccesi’s lens, great setting, and an amazing score by the underrated Berto Pisano (Burial Ground, Interrobang). These brilliant elements combine to make one of the greatest pieces of gothic horror era cinema, and so considering how appealing it looks and sounds it certainly is the stuff of dreams and nightmares.
D’Amato’s films often include elements of voyeurism, cheap gore, sapphic love scenes, and nudity; some of which are present in this film. While these elements lean towards the extreme for some audiences, D’Amato skillfully weaves them into the storyline without dampening it. In fact, the story draws inspiration from classic literature such as Sheridan Le Fanu, Edgar Allan Poe, and even HP Lovecraft, which is masterfully blended.
While analyzing the many characters in the movie, it seems to be quite difficult to figure out who the main character is, or even if there is one in the first place. It could potentially be Walter (Sergio Doria), but I suspect that the main focus character is the captivating Greta von Holstein (Ewa Aulin). In the film’s prologue, it has already been established that she is dead, having undergone some sort of cruel fate that the audience is unfamiliar with. Sylvia’s incestuous hunchbacked brother, Franz (Luciano Rossi), mourns over her in a candle-dark shrine claiming the world and himself are to blame for her death, hinting at the movie’s theme of cosmic retribution. One superbly dreamlike series of flashback vignettes explores the deeply troubling past sexual relationship they shared and introduces a much older man (Giacomo Rossi Stuart) who came between them, deliberately leaving out how she died… for now.
After the prologue, the movie heads to yet another time period which, given the circumstances, viewers would likely assume to be of the past as during the time period depicted, Greta was still alive. But, I will only mention that the movie is quite clever in this aspect. If you didn’t get how all the pieces come together in the end, I encourage you to watch it again. The second watch is helpful because you know a lot more, and because the movie is a mystery, it tries to keep you in the dark the entire first time. Picking up on these details later is enjoyable. It probably goes without saying that the amount of incorrect synopses I have encountered is most likely indicative of its confusion.
When a fast-moving double horse carriage gets involved in an accident right in front of the von Ravensbruck mansion, it crashes down and brings to light a figure that remains mysterious and enchanting. The woman in focus, Greta, has a receding health and suffers from memory loss. The family is quick to take her in, and this rather captivating scene piques their interest similar to how Le Fanu’s Carmilla does. For the role of the doctor taking care of the bedridden Greta, Klaus Kinski is cast, and as expected, he delivers a very “Klaus Kinski” performance. The film crew had access to Klaus for only a short timeframe, and the consequences were clear. He is jolted out of the narrative by having his character murdered at the very beginning of the climax, when his character, Dr. Sturges, could’ve been truly interesting.
The film insinuates that Doctor Sturges knows that Greta is undead and that an Incan formula carved on her medallion is what allows her to reanimate the dead. This diverts the plot slightly into a different ‘mad scientist’ avenue for a brief period where, Kinski, with obsessive fervour, is working in his lab with a hint of madness. From the context, it seems as if he did spend his life trying to find out how to raise the dead, and now does have the solution and has the opportunity to put everything together thanks to the crucial information that he saw on Greta’s medallion. It is astonishing to see Kinski work as he arranges the glassware and writes incomprehensible math on the blackboard. Even the gestures he utilizes to speak to his mute assistant are interestingly modified, making Kinski’s sign language oddly impressive. Dr. Sturges, in a remarkable shot that made me think that Lovecraft’s Herbert West- Reanimator was in the background, does succeed in reanimating a fresh human cadaver.
Broadly speaking, the death of Dr. Sturges to the off-screen killer is the conclusion of his storyline, the true mad scientist ending. I find it quite entertaining to consider what would have happened if the re-animator production company had managed to keep Kinski for a longer duration of the movie. Regardless of that, I find great pleasure in the irony of the death scene. A scientific figure who is about to get garrotted by an assassin while he is attending to his lifework is shocking. He gets killed without ever being regarded for his groundbreaking endeavour. This does indeed strangle the credence of my theory that it will lay to rest forever or assumes that someone else will claim all of its credit. That newly reanimated corpse does have the potential to change my mind, but considering that he blankly and motionless watches all of this makes him one of the factors to blame. He could have at least grinned because that would have provided a more visual reference towards the title.
The plot twist at the mansion is juicier and more thrilling now that Greta is fine. She receives all the love from the people around her who want her to stay. She in turn begins to fall in love with Walter and his wife, Eva (Angela Bo), which leads to a rather boring love melodrama. Greta is so beautiful that she catches Walter’s attention, which in turn makes Eva jealous. She later attempts to drown Greta in the bathtub but does not go through with it. Both of them have smiles on their faces as if they were playing around, which sets the stage for a love scene. At another point in the episode, Eva gets angry when she sees Greta and her husband together, which is a heartbreak for in the end, she loves them both. This ends up being too much for her to handle, and she attempts to murder Greta due to her jealousy, which reminds me of The Black Cat in how intense that walled-up scene is. The pleas she makes for her life are immune to me.
Following a rather extravagant presentation during a masquerade event, which I like to imagine is a subtle nod to Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death, Aulin Ewa’s character transforms into a sort of death angel. For the more impatient segment of the audience, the film will undoubtedly appear to be improving from this point on.
With its gothic beauty aside, the film’s portrayal of humanity feels just a bit uneasy. It is lacking when it comes to interactions between people. A lot of the characters, most distinctively Greta, Franz, and Dr Sturges, are interesting and memorable, but there are no good or moral characters other than the apparently simple Inspector Dannick (Attilio Dottesio). There is a strange feeling of cosmic redemption after Greta’s claims of amoral victims, all of them wronged her in some way or the other in their lives or some afterlife.
Aulin plays Greta with an outwardly sweet, innocent, girl-next-door-type look before and even after her transformation to a deadly figure and it works big time. Her visuals of stalking about in dungeons and graveyards slowly pursuing and claiming her victims remind me marvellously of Jason Voorhees, and make for stunning imagery that sticks in the mind long after the film has ended. The quick-edit close-up spook shots of Greta in surplus uninspired zombie make-up give the quick shots just the right measure of added grotesque monster movie flair.
A scene that really resonated with me was the very first ‘shot’ which displays Rossi travelling through the forest while his arms were swaying in a very unconventional manner. I also am entranced when the maid Gertrude (Carla Mancini) is running away from the incredibly hairy Franz, whose existence is questionable at this point in the film, across a long and surreal forest, only to encounter her horrific end by being blasted clean with a double barrel shotgun to the face!? Also, nearly all the homicides that are depicted in this film are brutally unpleasant, including, but not limited to, what I believe to be the most horrifying and extended deadly cat attack ever; a person with a fear of eyes will have a hard time coping with it.
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