Italian Gothic Horror Films (1980-1989)

by Roberto Curti

  saw a man walking ahead of me whose legs were reflected

  vanni Masini; EP: Renato Jaboni (in the U.S.:

  on the floor. I had the impression that he could have sunk,

  Robert Warner); UM: Gianfranco Coduti; PSe:

  like in a pool. That he could move and swim. So, I

  Franco Galizi; PSeA: Alfredo Fornacini. Coun-

  imagined strange pools with men immersed in that sort

  of water parquet, who moved and played and sometimes

  try: Italy. Filmed on location in Savannah

  even stopped to converse with other men who were outside

  (Georgia), New York City and at De Paolis

  of the pavement pool.” The representation of enigmatic

  In.Ci.R. Studios (Rome). Running time: 93 min-

  characters immersed in water is a theme that was dear to

  utes (m. 2497). Visa n. 7480 (8.7.980); Rating:

  the Surrealist artist and one that he would come back to

  repeatedly during his career.

  V.M.8. Release dates: 8..980 (Italy), 9..980

  8. Mark [Thompson] Ashworth, “Ombre,” Delirium

  (West Germany), 2.0.980 (France), .2.980

  #3, 99, p. 37.

  (Spain), .7.982 (UK), 4.8.983 (USA). Distri-

  9. Lou Castel, interviewed by Pierpaolo De Sanctis.

  bution: Medusa Distribuzione. Domestic gross:

  De Sanctis is the author of an excellent documentary on

  98,238,798 lire. Also known as: Frayeurs

  the actor, A pugni chiusi (206).

  10. L.A. [Leonardo Autera], “Mansarda popolata di

  (France), Miedo en la ciudad de los muertos

  ombre,” Corriere della Sera, June 29, 980.

  vivientes (Spain), Ein Zombie hing am Glock-

  1980: Paura

  43

  enseil; Ein Toter hing am Glockenseil; Eine

  Leiche hing am Glockenseil (West Germany).

  In the small town of Dunwich, Reverend

  William Thomas commits suicide by hanging

  himself from a tree in the local cemetery. Mean-

  while, during a séance in New York, a psychic

  named Mary Woodhouse has a vision of Thomas’s

  suicide and of its terrifying consequences. Then

  Mary falls apparently dead, and the police au-

  thorize the burial. But the woman is still alive,

  and it is only for the providential intervention of

  a journalist, Peter Bell, who heard her scream in

  the coffin, that she escapes a horrible end. In Dun-

  wich the dead come out of their graves and kill

  the inhabitants. Mary realizes that her vision pre-

  dicts the events described in the book of Enoch,

  and the suicide of Father Thomas marks the be-

  ginning of the invasion of the Earth by the dead.

  The prophecy will come true on the night of Hal-

  lowmas. She and Peter leave for Dunwich, where

  they meet a young psychoanalyst, Gerry. Together,

  they set out to find Father Thomas’s grave and de-

  stroy it, which is the only way to stop the dead.

  They penetrate the cemetery crypt, but find them-

  selves in a dungeon populated with living corpses…

  The commercial success of his first horror

  film, Zombi 2—a project he had been entrusted

  with after Enzo G. Castellari had backed out,

  which grossed over a billion and a half lire at the

  Italian box- office—revived Lucio Fulci’s career

  and injected him with much- needed enthusiasm

  Italian locandina for Paura nella città dei morti

  after the difficult phase of the late 970s, char-

  viventi (1980), Lucio Fulci’s first Gothic film of

  acterized by professional and personal issues.

  the 1980s.

  The director was determined to seize the mo-

  ment, sticking to the horror genre, and soon he

  cept the risk. Horror had never been (and would

  started working on a new script with Dardano

  never be) a genre much loved by Italian produc-

  Sacchetti. “After Zombi 2 turned out a big box-

  ers. Eventually Fulci managed to convince his

  office hit, Fulci called me and said, ‘A Sacché,

  friend Renato Jaboni of Medusa Distribuzione,

  you’ll see, they’ll stand in line at our door… !’

  who accepted rather reluctantly and got on

  But for six months nothing happened, and

  board Luciano Martino and Mino Loy’s com-

  we had our story ready in the drawer,” the

  pany Dania and National Cinematografica (with

  scriptwriter recalled. If Zombi 2, a script Fulci

  a 40 percent and 2 percent quote, respectively).

  hadn’t anything to do with, tried to insert some

  The project was greenlit while Fulci was

  elements of the Gothic tradition into the story—

  still shooting his grim action movie Luca il con-

  most notably, the ghost ship entering New York

  trabbandiere (980), and he went to work on the

  city à la Nosferatu, and the character of the mad

  film—tentatively titled La paura—right away,

  doctor played by Richard Johnson—the new

  leaving his a.d. Roberto Giandalia in Naples to

  story would delve deep into the genre.

  put the finishing touches to Luca il contrab-

  Involving a producer was not an easy task.

  bandiere.2 The tentative cast—which featured

  Fulci didn’t want to work with Zombi 2’s Fabrizio

  Tisa Farrow as Mary, Fiamma Maglione as San-

  De Angelis, whom he called “The Cobra” (in the

  dra, Monica Scattini as Rose, Aldo Barberito as

  meantime, De Angelis was busy concocting an-

  Father Thomas and Robert Kerman as Ross—

  other zombie movie, Zombi Holocaust, directed

  was mostly dropped in favor of more commer-

  by Marino Girolami), but nobody wanted to ac-

  cially palatable names, such as the American

  44 1980: Paura Christopher George and the French Janet Agren.

  The movie was eventually released in Au-

  George’s performance as the nosy cigar- chomping

  gust 980 as Paura nella città dei morti viventi

  reporter Peter Bell had the acid- tongued director

  to cash in on the zombie cycle. Yet, even though

  nickname him “the dog with the cigar” on set,3

  it dealt again with zombies, the story moved in

  and the relationship between the two was always

  quite a different direction from other films of

  turbulent during filming. Giovanni Lombardo

  the period, such as Zombi Holocaust and Bruno

  Radice was cast at the expense of Michele Soavi

  Mattei and Claudio Fragasso’s Virus. Girolami’s

  as Bob, a role he was initially supposed to play

  film—released in the States in 983 in a re- edited

  with a fake hump. Soavi, who hanged around on

  version as Doctor Butcher, M.D., with additional

  the set, in production designer Massimo An-

  footage from an unfinished anthology film titled

  tonello Geleng’s words, as “half-actor, half-

  Tales to Rip Your Heart Out—was a slapdash

  under assistant,”4 was finally cast as Tommy. The

  reread of Zombi 2, with added elements from

  female lead was a 26-year-old British actress,

 
the controversial cannibal subgenre, proving the

  Catriona MacColl, a former dancer who had had

  makers’ attempt to have it both ways. On its part,

  her first important role in Jacques Demy’s film

  Virus (known overseas as Hell of the Living

  version of Lady Oscar (979); she would become

  Dead) kept pedantically close to the Romero

  Fulci’s own version of Hitchcock’s trademark

  blueprint, to the point of featuring a quartet of

  “blonde in peril” character for this and two sub-

  gun- crazy SWAT members and recycling ex-

  sequent horror films, …E tu vivrai nel terrore!

  cerpts from Goblin’s score. While also bowing

  L’aldilà and Quella villa accanto al cimitero. The

  to the cannibal subgenre—via stock footage

  director himself appeared in one of his trade-

  from the Japanese documentary Zankoku hitokui

  mark cameos, as a coroner in one of the early

  tairiku, released in Italy in 974 as Nuova Guinea,

  scenes. Weird- looking character actor Luciano

  l’isola dei cannibali—Mattei and Fragasso even

  Rossi can be seen in the same scene, in one of

  squeezed in a clumsy political message between

  his last screen appearances, as a cop.

  a gory scene and the next: Fragasso’s story en-

  Shooting started in April 980 and went on

  visioned a secret operation to solve overpopu-

  for eight weeks, with six weeks of exteriors filmed

  lation in Third World countries by having

  on location in Savannah, Georgia, and two weeks

  people prey on each other via a lethal chemical

  in Rome at the De Paolis studios for the special

  (a nod to Romero’s The Crazies) which turns

  effects scenes. The choice of Savannah—a quiet,

  them into cannibal zombies. The plan goes hor-

  happy- looking and decidedly un–Gothic town—

  ribly wrong after a leak contaminates the staff

  was dictated by economic reasons (there would

  of workers in a secret chemical research facility,

  be no issues with unions regarding shooting with

  turning them into flesh- hungry living dead, and

  foreign cast and crew members). But Fulci and

  the plague quickly spreads throughout the world.

  d.o.p. Sergio Salvati turned the place into a ghost

  Both Zombi Holocaust and Virus are utterly

  town of sorts, with plenty of eerie lights and dry

  devoid of supernatural elements, and seemingly

  ice as well as many scenes shot at night. The De

  uninterested in exploring the zombie angle other

  Paolis shooting involved the infamous sequence

  than for its shock value. Fulci and Sacchetti, on

  in which the protagonists are attacked by a

  the other hand, aim at a visionary, apocalyptic

  swarm of maggots, filmed with two wind ma-

  fresco rooted in the Gothic tradition, which fo-

  chines and 0 kilograms of living fly larvae. The

  cuses on the theme of the “return of the past”

  scene caused a notorious incident on the set:

  and centers on the character of an evil revenant,

  someone from the crew, exasperated by the

  a Catholic priest called Father Thomas. The film

  smell, played a nasty joke on Fulci, putting a

  even includes references to the Gothic literary

  handful of maggots in his sack of pipe tobacco.

  and film tradition, including the work of Edgar

  Unaware of this, the director charged his pipe

  Allan Poe, reprising the theme of premature

  and only after several puffs did he realize what

  burial which was already at the core of Sette note

  he was smoking, which led to a tantrum on the

  in nero (977), and H.P. Lovecraft. Such is the

  set. In later years, Fulci even ironically hypoth-

  name of the town where the horrific events took

  esized that his subsequent illness might have

  place, Dunwich, a nod to Lovecraft’s celebrated

  been caused by this episode6: in late 98, he un-

  short story The Dunwich Horror. “Fulci had just

  derwent heart surgery after suffering a ventric-

  reread Lovecraft; he wanted to make a movie

  ular aneurysm, and contracted viral hepatitis

  with that very atmosphere. He was taking his

  which degenerated into cirrhosis of the liver.

  first steps in the horror genre and felt more se-

  1980: Paura 4

  cure within the comfortable walls of classic lit-

  several important differences from the finished

  erature,”7 Sacchetti pointed out.

  film, which hint at radical last- minute changes.

  However, the name Dunwich does not ap-

  For a film characterized by abundant blood

  pear in Sacchetti’s original 34-page story. La

  and graphic violence, Paura nella città dei morti

  paura8—incidentally, the same tentative title as

  viventi immediately strikes for its gloomy, oth-

  Mario Bava’s horror trilogy which eventually be-

  erworldly mood, another element which links

  came I tre volti della paura (a.k.a. Black Sabbath,

  it to the Gothic tradition. Fulci is at his best

  963)—is set in a village called Salem and is sen-

  when he suggests the atmosphere of dread and

  sibly different from the finished film. The first

  decay that pervades the damned city of Dun-

  part includes the suicide of Father Thomas, the

  wich—incidentally, despite claims in the film

  séance, Mary Woodhouse’s apparent death and

  that Dunwich is located in the East Coast, the

  premature burial, and Mary and reporter Peter

  vegetation looks typically Southern. The choice

  Bell teaming up; but the story features a different

  of the setting marks a neat departure from the

  ending set in a cemetery and then in a church

  standard look and mood of Italian Gothic, char-

  where Father Thomas hanged himself. La paura

  acterized by the use of Italian villas and manors

  features some different characters as well: Gerry

  such as Castle Piccolomini in Balsorano, which

  the psychoanalyst teams up with a writer named

  resulted in a recurring, familiar microcosm. In

  Mike, who is nowhere to be found in the film

  fact, Fulci’s Gothic films aim at an international

  (where it is basically replaced by Sandra, a new

  look without coming off as awkward; in the

  character absent in the story); a homeless man

  meantime, they redesign the coordinates of the

  named Woody turns up only to be devoured by

  genre’s imagery.

  cats and reappear later as a zombie. Moreover,

  This approach is immediately evident in

  Sacchetti’s early concept explores more convinc-

  the opening scene, which depicts Father Thomas’

  ingly the homicidal madness of the villagers: in

  (Fabrizio Jovine) blasphemous suicidal act with

  a scene, John- John’s parents kill each other with

  an uncommon visual force, as the camera

  a knife and an iron before their little son’s eyes,

  follows him wandering in the ceme
tery via a

  and later they will turn up as zombies. The orig-

  somewhat shaky, insecure long take which nev-

  inal story also introduces the recurring presence

  ertheless conveys a powerful sense of disorien-

  of swarms of flies as an embodiment of evil in

  tation and dread. Then Fulci cuts to the New

  the places where evil manifests itself, another

  York séance, depicted in elegant camera move-

  bow to the Gothic tradition which in the film is

  ments that wrap around the participants from

  substituted by the “maggot rain” scene, in a nod

  behind semi- transparent curtains. The juxtapo-

  to Suspiria.

  sition not only hints at a link between the two

  Some interesting ideas in La paura were ei-

  events, but immediately sabotages the notions

  ther dropped or just fleetingly mentioned in the

  of time and space by showing a deep and un-

  movie. Namely, the notion that Father Thomas

  fathomable connection between the living and

  was “the last descendant of one of the 9 women

  the dead.

  put on trial for witchcraft in 692 in Salem,” and

  A damned soul who returns to take his re-

  the suggestion that the village where the story

  venge on the living, staring at his soon- to-be

  takes place may have been founded on the ruins

  victims and thus “passing” the curse onto them

  of old Salem, and therefore shall be punished

  (Fulci’s fixation with close- ups of eyes is in evi-

  for its sins. Likewise, mention of a “Book of

  dence here), the undead Father Thomas is one

  Enoch” (a non- canonical Jewish religious work

  of many revenant figures in Italian Gothic, but

  going back to 4000 BC) is passingly made in the

  significantly one of the few male ones: think of

  film in the post- séance scene but then forgotten,

  Iavutich in La maschera del demonio, Dr. Hauff

  whereas Sacchetti’s story came full circle with a

  in 5 tombe per un medium (96, Massimo

  final surprise twist which mentioned Enoch.

  Pupillo), Uriah in Contronatura (969, Antonio

  These ideas appear to have already been dis-

  Margheriti). Moreover, he is a priest who hanged

  carded in the 223-page draft of the script de-

  himself: a nod to Judas Iscariot’s demise which

  posited at Rome’s Centro Sperimentale di Cin-

  introduces a subtle anti–Catholic element, thus

  ematografia (CSC) on February , 980, and at