Joe D'Amato
Buio Omega

The pornophile Aristide Massaccesi, also known as Joe D’Amato (R.I.P.), before that ridiculous trashy film "Antropophagus", crafted this splendid little gem filled with morbid romanticism (with all the flaws and naiveties of a 1970s Italian production).

Supported by a decent electronic soundtrack by Goblin, good sets, and rather convincing performances, "Buio Omega" can be considered a valid representative of the Italian shock cinema now dead and buried (even though Dario Argento, who is currently finishing the production of "La Terza Madre," might encourage a small revival in this sense... let's cross our entrails).

The story tells of Francesco, an embalmer heir to a large fortune, who decides to keep the body of his beloved (and deceased) Anna in his home, amidst his increasingly precarious mental health (which leads him to commit various murders) and the complicity of the ambiguous housekeeper Iris. It is precisely the latter who will be the main cause of the tragic conclusion of the events.

The true sense of discomfort and perversion does not transpire from the dialogues, which are actually few, but from the images captured by the camera masterfully directed by the filmmaker (some shots, like the wide one in the living room, or the close-ups on gruesome details, are an example of great skill); often you can glimpse through the windows (in the room where Anna is hospitalized) or in the outdoor scenes, the relaxing and lush landscapes of the place where the story is set, sharply contrasting with what happens inside the villa. A bit like the Franzoni family's house in Cogne, just to clarify.

The film is full of bloody scenes, excellently executed and in my opinion not out of place compared to recent American grand guignol productions (Hostel), like torn nails, extracted eyeballs, dismemberments, and eviscerations of all kinds. A delightful spectacle indeed, that makes us miss those golden years devoid of films about family crises and young people hungry for spectacle (God, how right you are Quentin!). But blood is not everything, and only the necrophilic relationship between the protagonist and the corpse (the girls lured are brought to the bed next to where the embalmed Anna lies, so Francesco can make love with them while simultaneously observing the corpse), and between the former and the slimy governess (it is she who improvises herself as a skilled butcher when disposing of the bodies of the victims), turn out to be ultimately more disturbing than the gore moments. In particular, the scene where Iris eats a sort of slop animalistically, dirtying her mouth and slurping the food until causing the "poor" disgusted Francesco to vomit, clearly aims to represent the rottenness of this character's soul.

The soundtrack is, as mentioned before, by a historic group, yet although the compositions, taken individually, are not bad at all, when inserted into the film sometimes, according to my modest personal opinion, they do not quite fit the displayed scene. This is a judgment made with the eyes (and ears) of someone who was not yet born in the 70s, and therefore may have a very different concept of "tension music" from that in "Buio Omega."

Before concluding, I must emphasize further the ridiculous situation of Italian cinema and distribution: an edition, even a lousy one, of this film in DVD format is impossible to find here in the Bel Paese. Sure, it is possible to purchase the American import, or better yet, the French one (with Italian track), but I wonder if all this is normal. Meanwhile, at the newsstand under the house, they sell "Troppo Belli" for 9 euros... no comment.

This "Buio Omega" is a small masterpiece, a shining example of the skill of our genre directors and a film that truly conveys a sense of unease, of genuine disgust, yet at the same time manages to wrap it all in an aura, albeit distorted, of romanticism. It's a pity for the honestly avoidable ending (I leave you the pleasure of discovering it for yourselves).

“Not even death will separate us”