Beyond Darkness (1990)

Beyond Darkness Aka “Horror House II” is an Italian horror film directed by Claudio Fragasso and produced by the legendary Joe D’Amato. Beyond Darkness is also a sequel to the Italian gem “Ghosthouse”. In this film Father Peter (Gene Lebrock) is given a satanic bible from a crazed woman on death row. The crazed woman claimed she is a witch and was imprisoned for eating children for their souls.  The crazed woman placed a death curse on him before dying in the electric chair. Father Peter, his wife and two children move into an old house, with no knowledge that it was built at a location where a coven of witches were burned at the stake. Shortly after, strange and paranormal things start to happen as peter begins peaking in tongues and rants on with strange incantations which seem to disrupt and awaken the evil further within the house. Suddenly, upon moving into the home, the film becomes very similar to Evil Dead as inanimate objects begin to take a life of their own. Now fully aware of their haunted house, Peter attempts to compel the evil spirits to leave. When he brings up the strange occurrences taking place at the home to his superior, who appears to be aware of what happened at that location decades before he insists that Peters faith will send it away. Once again the superior suggests that Peter can subdue the evil with the strength of his faith. Quickly things progress and his son Martin (Michael Stephenson) become trapped in another dimension behind the wall and with his help from a good friend Father George (David Brandon) Beyond Darkness has its moments of being very similar to “Poltergeist” and “The Exorcist”, as well this time to travel to the realm Beyond, Darkness. When a simple haunting turns into full bodied burned witches, Beyond Darkness is an excellent film that refreshes the haunted house subgenre in a whole new way. Newly released on BluRay as a double feature by Scream! Factory, Beyond Darkness is not a film to pass up on especially if you loved the first film to this sequel “Ghosthouse” It can be purchased on Amazon or directly from Scream! Factory packaged as a double feature with a sci-fi horror, “Metamorphosis”. Italian director Joe D’Amato’s work on this film is spectacular as with the hundreds of other excellent horror films he released in the past.

Killer Party (1986)

Killer Party is a classic retro 80’s horror film directed by William Fruet. The story begins with three best friends, Vivia (Sherry Willis-Burch), Jennifer (Joanna Johnson), and Phoebe (Elaine Wilkes) as they pledge to a sorority. Vivia previously played a prank on the sorority and she finds out that is why the three were accepted. Now it is April fool’s Day and the sorority throws a party for a fraternity to be held at an old abandon house where Alan, a fraternity pledge, was killed twenty-two years before during a hazing prank. At the party someone or something does not want them in the house and the haunting begins with an unseen figure. Is it the ghost of Allen? Or is it something more demonic? Joining the girls at the fraternity party are Blake (Martin Hewitt) and Martin (Ralph Seymour) when eventually things take a turn for the worse and Jennifer ends up possessed by a demon and hunts down Vivia and Phoebe with a trident. The chase pursues as the film takes a thrilling turn when the demon attempts to possess each of the girls and tries to kill everyone. Killer Party reminds me of the classic Night of the Demons which will definitely be reviewed soon as this too is one not to miss out on. Killer Party is available on DVD and Streaming on Amazon Prime.

The Nesting (1981)

The Nesting directed by Armand Weston stars Robin Groves, John Carradine, and Gloria Grahame in her final role. The Nesting stars Lauren Cochran (Robin Groves), a woman working on a Gothic novel and not only suffering from writer’s block but agoraphobia as well and seeks the assistance of a psychiatrist. She decides to leave the city for an old Victorian era house in the country in an attempt to cure her writers block. Lauren and her friend Mark (Christopher Loomis) drive out to the country and the car breaks down mid-way. Lauren decides to walk a bit to stretch her legs and follows a trail that leads her directly to an abandon Victorian era mansion. She has a strange feeling of déjà vu that she has seen or been in the house before while working on her book. She sees someone in the window but no one comes to the door. Lauren and Mark go into the house when strange occurrences start happening. She hesitantly decides to leave the house and inquires as to the owners of the house. She meets the owner and his grandson, Daniel and inquires about renting the old mansion. But before she leaves, the owner, the elderly grandfather, suffers a stroke after he first looks at Lauren. Mark returns to the city leaving Lauren to finish moving in to the old mansion. Lauren begins to have vivid nightmares. She also starts to believe the mansion is haunted. Her doctor advises her to leave and go back to the city but she refuses. She finds an antique typewriter in a closet, which gives her writers block a fresh start. At night, Lauren hears music playing up in the attic. Inside the old record player she finds clothing and jewelry she was wearing during her first vivid nightmare. Ghostly apparitions start to fly by as she chases after them room by room discovering mysterious passages and pathways throughout the house slowly unraveling the dark and shockingly violent history of the mansion. Soon after the ghost start to physically haunt various characters in the movie intent in harming Lauren, she is awakened in the middle of that night to sounds in the hall. She follows the sounds which appear to be vivid ghosts from the past haunting and reaches out for her to show her what happened to them. The house is clearly haunted and Lauren begins to slowly loose her mind even further. She asks around town about the house and hears a story about the mansion operating as a brothel in the 50’s and a gruesome bloody massacre that occurred there. The Nesting is a lost gem, now newly transferred to Blu-Ray from the original camera negative by Blue Underground, is also known as Massacre Mansion and Phobia as this haunted mansion film is sure to be a classic and haunt also available in its original format in DVD, VHS, and Streaming on Amazon Prime.