Beyond the Darkness (Joe D'Amato, 1979)

From the first few minutes, with its thrilling footage of the main character driving a van and some other random things happening, my main thought about Beyond the Darkness was that if Mystery Theater 3000 had watched and mocked gory horror movies, this would have been one of the first they would have done. Frank's girlfriend dies within the first few minutes of the movie (because his creepy maid had a voodoo doll of her), and then he totally snaps. Or maybe he was crazy to begin with, we never really know. He digs up her corpse (after injecting her with...something that I really thought was going to bring her back to life), takes out the organs, and keeps her at his house. But that's not enough for him -- he starts inexplicably killing local girls as well, with, of course, the help of the creepy maid, who is now his fiancee (or thinks she is). But the movie isn't actually as bad as it might seem -- there are some moments of horror, and some really intense gore (the scene where Frank takes out his girlfriend's guts is brutal, even if it's obviously fake). And the movie doesn't make sense until afterward, when you really think about it. It's a fun, weird horror movie with some incredible WTF moments, but I just can't see why all my Netflix friends who have seen the movie have loved it. 6.5/10

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Marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979)

The first film in Fassbinder's BRD trilogy detailing women's lives in post-war Germany, Marriage of Maria Braun is the story of, obviously, Maria Braun, who marries a Hermann in the middle of a bombing (in the stunning first scene, where Maria has to chase down an official and lay down on the ground with him to get him to sign the lisense) and has her husband immediately leave for the front. Maria is left without a husband after only half a day and a night, and supports herself and her mother and grandfather by selling illegal goods and eventually working in a bar frequented by American soldiers. Maria is obsessed with finding Hermann alive, but when she is told by a fellow soldier that he is dead, she starts a relationship with an African-American soldier, Bill, and becomes pregnant by him. Hermann then shows up, and things get even more complicated by there, with Hermann going to jail for Maria, and then eventually leaving for Canada. In the meantime, Maria gets a job with Karl Oswald, a French industrialist, and becomes the epitome of a post-war independant woman. All of this, all the things that Maria does to make her life better, however, is all for Hermann, and when she finds out his secret in the final scene, it has devastating consequences, in one of my favorite endings in a long time. Hanna Schygulla as Maria is a wonder; one of Fassbinder's regular cast members (I love when directors do that), she portrays Maria as a seemingly strong, very sexy and resourceful, but ultimately lonely and vulnerable woman who does everything in her life for an ideal. The movie takes many twists and turns, but never seems manipulated. Instead, it is real, and these characters are all manifestations of ourselves. Maria's motivations may seem fantastical, but they make perfect sense in this crazy world that has changed so much after World War II. This is my second favorite Fassbinder (after Chinese Roulette), and a revelation of post-war Germany - compare this with Italian neo-realist post-war Italy, and you get two completely different worlds! 9/10 RIYL: Pasolini, but more lush and personal

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Love on the Run (Francois Truffaut, 1979)

I love Antoine Doinel. Really. I love him as if he was a real person, one that I know and have shared my life with. It's not as pathetic as it sounds, I hope, but watching Love on the Run was both a happy and sad experience on my part. It was another chapter in the Doinel saga, but it was the end. This movie is a strange ending to Doinel's story; it's part clip show of the series' greatest hits, part wrapup of Antoine's women troubles. The strangest thing about the movie is that, despite Truffaut's protestations to the contrary, it works. It's a fitting ending to one of the greatest series in film history. When the film begins, Antoine (Jean-Pierre Leaud, without whom the Doinel films would not have been even half as good as they were, he truly was made for the part, not only because Truffaut wrote the films after 400 Blows for him) and Christine (Claude Jade, who is not in this film nearly enough) are getting a divorce, something that I really hoped would not happen, that some magical thing would happen to get those two back together. But it doesn't. Antoine is with Sabine (played by French children's television host Dorothee), and, as always, he is on the verge of cheating and losing her. Along the way, he reconnects with Colette, who he was in love with at twenty, who is now a lawyer and having a moral crisis over whether or not to defend a man accused of killing his stepson. Sabine and Colette's boyfriend may or may not be married/divorced (one of my major problems of the film is the lack of resolution in this subplot), and Antoine is writing a new novel, one based on the adorable story of how he came to be with Sabine. There is no real plot, it is more of a character study of these three people (Antoine, Colette, and Sabine), and a realization of Antoine's women troubles throughout his life. The ending is artificially happy, and there's not nearly enough Christine in the film, but the experimental way in which Truffaut includes clips from all the previous Doinel films really works, even though Truffaut himself said it didn't. It's sort of like a clip show from your favorite series, but when it's something like Antoine Doinel's life adventures, you enjoy the trip back. A worthy entry in the series, although nothing like Stolen Kisses or Bed and Board. And it made me realize that I really need this, for both the films and the excellent Criterion special features (the best of any dvd set I've seen!). 8/10

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