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One of my all time favorites.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Blistering performances.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

For the three hundredth Italian haunted house horror I've watched in a row, Claudio Fragrasso, director of Troll 2 and part time amok killer robot, brings us an Italian haunted house horror with a bit of the Exorcist thrown in, plus a bit of Poltergiest for good measure. Priest George (David Brandon from Stagefright) loses his faith after attending the execution of a devil worshipping child killer, so you've got your Father Damien there. Later, a family move into what I think was Priest George's house, the father of which is also a priest. This priest is played by the guy out of Metamorphisis and his kid is the kid out of Troll 2! Nice one.Things start going wrong right away, what with toys moving on their own and a door to nowhere attracting the kid's attention, and before you know it, one of the kids has been pulled into another dimension by some vengeful witches and that chick who got the chair at the beginning of the film. What bogged this film down for me and made my mind wander awfully was the amount of screen time devoted to all the priests talking about losing their faith and keeping their faith and so on. It kind of goes on endlessly as they all argue with each other. There's also an awful lot of wandering around the house and a certain scene where a wall melts almost had me nodding off. When the film did decide to do the haunted house bit things were fine, as was some of the make up jobs on the witches and those that get possessed. Some of the acting by the kids was worth a laugh too, but this film is more fog machine heavy than anything Fulci made. You can give this one a miss if you want.Is it just me or was there exactly one synth in Italy for composers to score soundtracks with? Every single soundtrack on these films sounds the same. Next: Cat in the Brain!

This is the last in the Casa franchise and it surely shows why. this is really a turkey but somehow you keep watching to see what happens next. It's even so worse that the last shot just before the end credits aren't correct, you know what should happen but don't worry, if you wait until the end credits are over your wish will come true. The acting is so over the top, really wooden and normally flicks with haunted children should be scary but here it's just laughable. Nevertheless, all imaginable effects are used. Mostly the very cheap ones, scary, sigh, lights and smoke, an annoying score, bad make-up. Really, a must see to believe but that's the problem, it hasn't had a proper release and is only available on VHS. It was made in 1990 so for the effects available then this is really a turkey. And each time you think, ahaa the end is coming something new happens. And still I'm glad that I have seen it...

Well, I'm not going to talk much about that movie, cause I agree in most point with the comment by Zantara, but I just had another thing concerning the Title. &The original title "La Casa 5" an the american subtitle just can't beat the german title "Horror House 2". I never saw a movie called "Horror House" in any video-tape library or on TV an no german homepage knows the first part. So if you think calling it House 5 is ridiculous, nope, german video producers beat that by far.

This review contains some minor SPOILERS, so do not read it if you do not wish to have some points revealed to you. If you came across this title on this site and were like me, you were probably left scratching your head as to how `Beyond Darkness' could be subtitles `House 5.' This movie was made in 1990 and `House IV' was made in 1992. Well, it seems like someone just slapped the `House' label on to try and hide the fact that nothing else about it is interesting. This is nothing like the other `House' movies (though none of them are alike in any way either) and should not be thought of as part of the series. Instead, think of it as just another boring horror movie that you need to avoid. It was, after all, made by the same writer/director that brought us the universally panned `Troll 2.' To be fair, I believe that this movie has positive intentions. But good intentions do not necessarily make a good movie. The movie begins with a priest hoping to hear a woman about to be executed give her soul to God. This woman, who murdered a bunch of children in a house, is either possessed or is simply crazy. It is hard to make that out. She tries to tempt the priest by telling him to repent his religion to learn more about her evil Satanic ideas. He almost does it, and is thus haunted throughout the rest of the film by this guilt. When the woman is put in the electric chair, the priest sets out for the house in question faster than you can say "The Horror Show." Apparently, the house is on the site of some ancient place where witches were once burned at the stake. While he is on his way there, a second priest is moving into the house with his family, and he was given the house by the local head priest, who knows of the evil and deliberately sends the priest and his family there to stop the evil. Huh? Well, they move in and are visited by evil spirits faster than you can say "Amityville Horror." After the first few spooky happenings, one of which would really freak you out if it happened to you (but doesn't freak you out here), you would think the family would take the hint and get out of there faster than you can say "Poltergeist." But no. Then your conflict, when the ghost of the executed woman and her laughable spirit helpers kidnap the priest's son, would not exist. When the first priest arrives, the two holy men join forces and set about to rid the house of evil faster than you can say "The Exorcist." Yada yada yada.There's plenty more other than a standard plot that makes `Beyond Darkness' a lousy movie. First, the special effects are bad. I tend not to stress this sort of thing, but when a script calls for something that a budget just can't handle, it's time to either change the script or not do the movie at all. Most of the effects here are done in smoke-filled rooms to mask their low quality. This, however, just gets really bothersome. And boring. Another annoyance is the abundance of stereotypes. The entire family is so pious that you see right through their one-dimensional characters. And their acting of these stereotypes is really bad. Rarely do filmmakers find good child actors, and here they scraped the bottom of the desperation barrel. The boy playing the son is so horrid that you really hope the witch goes through with the sacrifice. But the worst thing about the film is how slow it all moves. Not once does the pace ever pick up, especially when the priests are battling the evil. I kid you not, I watched the scenes where the priests are walking through the house in fast forward and they were still moving like snails. Thus the only things that this movie has to offer are good intentions. I can get those from watching `House II,' which, unlike this movie, is fun to watch and in no need of renovation. Zantara's score: 2 out of 10.