Italian Gothic Horror Films (1980-1989)

by Roberto Curti

  third run theaters were being replaced by red

  lives in Rome with his wife Sonia and Bruno’s

  light cinemas, and was screened virtually only

  brother Tony resides in Istanbul. Upon reading

  in Soriano nel Cimino, the village near its main

  the will, Elisa, Bruno and Tony find out that they

  filming location, with a total gross of only

  have inherited the huge family villa located in the

  200,000 lire. It soon found its way to home

  hills, but on one condition: they must live together

  video, on the General Video label, but it was sold

  in the property and are not allowed to sell it. As

  in Spain as well, where it came out on VHS as

  soon as they move to their new home, a series of

  La fuerza del demonio.

  chilling events begin to overwhelm the family: the

  two brothers have arguments, Elisa receives warn-

  Notes

  ing messages from her dead mother, Sonia is killed

  1. Davide Comotti and Vittorio Salerno, Professione reg-

  in a car accident, and Bruno sets his eyes on Elisa.

  ista e scrittore (Salerno: Booksprint, 202), 8.

  Ressia’s secretary Martha, a student of black

  2. Ibid.

  magic, suspects that Casati might be involved in

  3. Ibid.

  the events. She alerts Ressia, but the man is mys-

  4. Ippoliti and Norcini, “Una favola chiamata cinema.

  Intervista a Martine Brochard,” 37.

  teriously killed. Eventually it turns out that the

  5. Comotti and Salerno, Professione regista e scrittore,

  sinister elderly caretaker is the key to the mys-

  62.

  tery…

  Born in Messina in 938, Carlo Ausino left

  La villa delle anime maledette—the

  Sicily in 960 and moved to Turin with a pro-

  Damned (House of the Damned, a.k.a.

  jectionist license in his pocket and the dream of

  Don’t Look in the Attic)

  making movies in his head. “Take the story of

  D: Carlo Ausino. S and SC: Carlo Ausino;

  Cinema Paradiso, set it in Turin and here’s the

  DOP: Carlo Ausino (Staco Film); M: Stelvio

  story of my life. For me, cinema was everything.

  Cipriani (Ed. CAM); E: Giuliano Mattioli;

  Even nowadays, if I don’t watch at least two films

  C: Giuseppe Lino; MU: Lucia La Porta; Hair:

  a week, I’m not well,” he explained. “As a kid I

  Giusy- Pietro Pennisi; SS: Vera Marchivi; W:

  used to sell the milk bottles which I’d stolen

  Claudia Amione; KG: Salvatore Schiavo: PM:

  from my mother to get the money to go to the

  Gregorio Cardone, Corrado Colecchia; ChEl:

  movies. I collected the frames that projectionists

  Lello Roppolo; SO: Claudio Chiossi; Mix: Ro-

  threw in the trash, turned them into slides and

  mano Checcacci. Cast: Beba Loncar [Desanka

  projected them to my five sisters, my very first

  Lončar] (Martha), Jean- Pierre Aumont (Ugo

  audience. According to what I had found I in-

  Ressia), Annarita Grapputo (Elisa Bruino/Elisa’s

  vented the story, of which I was of course the

  mother), Giorgio Ardisson (Casati), Paul The-

  main character.”

  isheid [Teitcheid] (Caretaker), Tony [Tonino]

  In Turin Ausino saw his dream come true.

  Campa (Tony Ferraro), Fausto Lombardi (Bruno

  He was an uncredited assistant on the set of

  Ferraro), Ileana Fraia (Sonia), Remo Vercellin,

  Mario Monicelli’s masterpiece I compagni (963)

  Benedetto Mocellin, Victor Bally, Mimmo Mor-

  and eventually he became a director himself. In

  leo, Attilio Cagnoni, Sandro Zambito, Mario De

  969 he made his feature film debut, the black-

  Gregorio, Michele Malla, Amelia Vercellino, En-

  and-white World War II drama L’ora della pietà,

  rico Slataper, Renzo Gobello, Enzo Zamunner.

  shot in 6mm and starring Emanuel Cannarsa,

  PROD: Michele Peyretti and Carlo Ausino for

  who would be one of his recurring actors. As

  Antonelliana Cinematografica (Turin); PM: Nun-

  with his following works, Ausino was the direc-

  zia Ausino. Country: Italy. Filmed on location in

  tor of photography as well. During that period,

  Turin and at Icet- De Paolis (Milan). Running time:

  he also worked as a cameraman for RAI’s news-

  84 minutes (m. 2243). Visa n. 77660 (4..982);

  reels and reportedly brought a more dynamic

  Rating: V.M.4. Release date: .4.982; Distribution:

  style to his reports.

  Cinevinci (regional). Domestic gross: n.a.

  Ausino’s body of work is an example of re-

  Turin, 1955. On a stormy night, in a hillside

  gional cinema, conceived and produced far from

  1982: La villa

  09

  Italy’s main production center, Rome: all his

  Paul Theicheid, was cast in the key role of the

  films were set and shot within the boundaries

  villa’s elderly caretaker.

  of the director’s adoptive city. After failing to

  Shooting started on June 9, 980, under

  complete Improvvisamente, un giorno, a love

  the working title La stirpe dei dannati (The

  story starring Vittorio De Sica and Marisa Soli-

  Damned)4 and went on for four weeks, widely

  nas and set “in the last days of humanity, before

  publicized in the Turin- based newspaper La

  an atomic conflagration … to underline the in-

  Stampa. The film had its premiere screening in

  dividuals’ solitude in a hostile society,”2 Ausino

  Turin only over one year later, on September 30,

  helmed the similarly- themed La città dell’ultima

  98, under the title La villa delle anime dannate

  paura, starring Cannarsa and Solinas, a sci- fi

  (in the meantime, another Ausino movie had

  drama about a speleologist who survives a nu-

  come out, the ambitious film noir Tony l’altra

  clear apocalypse that destroys human life in

  faccia della Torino violenta, released in Turin in

  Turin, inspired by the I Am Legend adapta-

  tion The Omega Man (97, Boris Sagal). The

  director claimed that the scenes in the de-

  serted city (shot early in the morning

  without permits, blocking traffic temporar-

  ily) exuded a genuine sense of dread, but we

  have to rely on his word: shot over the course

  of two years, La città dell’ultima paura won

  the second prize at the 97 Trieste Science

  Fiction Film Festival but was not distributed

  theatrically. The same fate occurred to the

  elusive Prima che il sole tramonti (976), an-

  other sci- fi themed work about an alien in-

  vader, again starring Cannarsa and Solinas,

  which was never even submitted to the

  rating board. The director’s following work,

  the crime flick Torino violenta (a.k.a. Double

  Game, 977)—shot with a low budget of 60

  million lire to cash in on the poliziottesco

  fever of the period and finally find a regular

&nbs
p; distribution—was an unexpected hit in Italy

  and was rumored to be head of Fiat Gianni

  Agnelli’s favorite film.

  Ausino’s first horror movie, La villa delle

  anime maledette, was born almost by chance,

  as he struck a deal with a French distributor,

  Felix Film, which would allow him to use

  some moderately famous actors for a limited

  period, in the early Summer of 980. The di-

  rector cranked out the script in a couple of

  weeks3 and the project took form: he could

  count on the French Jean- Pierre Aumont, the

  Yugoslav beauty Beba Loncar, and former Eu-

  rospy star Giorgio Ardisson. Despite being

  billed fourth in the credits, the true lead

  was ex- model Annarita Grapputo, who had

  debuted in Carlo Lizzani’s Storie di vita e

  malavita (a.k.a. The Teenage Prostitution

  Racket, 97) and had been the female lead

  in Torino violenta. For both Loncar and

  Grapputo, it would be the last movie role.

  Italian locandina for La villa delle anime maledette

  Another recurrent presence in Ausino’s films,

  (1982, Carlo Ausino).

  0 1982: La villa May 98). However, proper distribution was

  to be believed, with such exchanges as: “Why do

  postponed until May 982.

  you always have to turn up so silently?” “I kept

  Ausino’s script draws from the standard

  the light step of when I dedicated myself to hunt-

  Gothic tropes: the mysterious curse passed from

  ing.” The score, compiled from Cipriani’s back

  generation to generation, the séance, the doomed

  catalogue, reprises themes from Pier Carpi’s oc-

  family, the psychic heroine, plus the morbid el-

  cultist devil movie Un’ombra nell’ombra (979).

  ement of incest, with the insane attraction of

  Overall, the best thing about the film may well

  Bruno (Fausto Lombardi) for his cousin Elisa

  be Ausino’s photography, which retains an old-

  (Grapputo), as the man becomes convinced that

  style elegance and gives it a watchable look.

  she must give him a son to defeat the curse that

  Rather surprisingly, La villa delle anime

  plagues their dynasty. The theme of the double

  maledette got a V.M.4 rating “for the distressing

  is employed not only by having Grapputo play

  atmosphere that pervades the whole film and the

  a dual role (Elisa and her mother), but it also

  murders committed in a particularly gruesome

  has a vital part in the rather incoherent final

  way,” which makes one wonder whether the

  twist, when it turns out that one key character

  board members actually watched it, as graphic

  has the capacity of mutating his appearance at

  violence is virtually non- existent. Distribution in

  will. The ending is virtually lifted from The Sen-

  Italy was scarce, and reviews were predictably

  tinel, as the heroine secludes herself in the villa,

  scathing: the Corriere della Sera called the story

  and thus, by remaining the last of her bloodline,

  “extremely deranged, developing despite any

  she puts an end to the curse.

  logic,” and labeled script, direction and photog-

  Despite the impressive cast and the setting

  raphy as slapdash, giving moderate praise only to

  in a villa just outside Turin, La villa delle anime

  Grapputo’s performance, which in the reviewer’s

  maledette leaves a lot to be desired overall. The

  opinion made the result “a step forward from

  prologue tries hard to set an ominous tone, with

  Torino violenta, one of the most disgraceful prod-

  two men fighting to the death during a thunder-

  ucts in this spectator’s memory.”6

  storm, driven by a mysterious homicidal frenzy,

  After quickly disappearing into oblivion, the

  while a woman (also played by Grapputo) des-

  movie found a second life in the home video mar-

  perately tries to separate them. One of the men

  ket, both in Italy (released by the popular GVR

  stabs the other, and the woman in turn stabs him.

  label) and abroad, in its English language export

  She then runs away in the villa’s garden, which

  version House of the Damned (misspelled House

  conveniently hosts a private cemetery, only to be

  of the Danned in the titles). It surfaced overseas

  dragged underground by a hand protruding from

  on tape as Don’t Look in the Attic, and it even

  the ground. The use of lighting draws back to

  earned some perplexing good reviews in special-

  classical Gothic, with plenty of silhouettes and

  ized magazines and studies of the horror film. The

  light/shadow games, but one cannot help noticing

  illustrious Aurum Film Encyclopedia praised it as

  the performers’ poor acting, the cheap special ef-

  follows: “Ausino makes ample and effective use of

  fects (with the demonic entity portrayed via a

  dolly shots to create and sustain his parapsycho-

  pulsating red flashing light and a chair being

  logical spells, and at times manages to evoke the

  dragged forward by an invisible force) and the

  flamboyantly funereal romanticism of the Italian

  recycled Stelvio Cipriani score.

  master Mario Bava.”7 Again, one wonders whether

  Still, the pre- credit sequence is easily the

  the reviewer actually saw it, as there are less than

  film’s most exciting moment. The story drags

  a handful of dolly shots in the whole movie.

  along interminably, with no tension or detectable

  Overall, La villa delle anime maledette

  suspense, and looks more like a warped family

  stands as a testifier that re- proposing a by- now

  drama than a horror movie. Moreover, the low

  fallen archetype, the standard Gothic yarn, was

  budget shows at every turn: for instance, the Paris

  a lost cause. Even more so, it proves the impos-

  scenes are introduced via a cheap b&w still of the

  sibility of survival for that type of low- budget

  Eiffel Tower. Aumont and Loncar are wasted in

  genre cinema that could cut itself a small slice

  thankless secondary roles, and the special effects

  of market in the second and third- run circuit

  are poor throughout: in a scene, while Grapputo

  via regional distribution. In fact, Ausino’s fol-

  is taking a shower in the hotel, a supernatural en-

  lowing work was mostly destined to oblivion.

  tity appears in the form of some dry ice entering

  Senza scrupoli 2 (990) a sequel of sorts to

  the bathroom … and leaves a message written on

  Tonino Valerii’s Senza scrupoli (986), was his

  the mirror’s surface. The dialogue must be heard

  last film with a proper theatrical and home video

  1983: La bimba

  

  distribution, and the director himself asked for

  effettonotteonline.com/enol/archivi/articoli/interviste/2002

  it to be seized because of the ar
bitrary inclusion

  0/20020in00.htm).

  2. “Marisa farà perdere le testa a De Sica,” L’Unità, April

  of hardcore sequences on the part of the pro-

  27, 972.

  ducers. Nebuneff, an occultist horror set in

  3. a. per., “Horror sulla collina,” Stampa Sera, June 9,

  Turin, London and Cairo, shot over a period of

  980

  years between 988 and 99,8 remained unre-

  4. a. vald., “Ardisson ritorna al cinema e ruba confidenze

  leased due to legal issues. Ausino’s last film to

  a Brazzi,” Stampa Sera, June 9, 980.

  5. [not signed], “Ecco la villa delle anime dannate,”

  date is 2006’s Killer’s Playlist, a thriller starring

  Stampa Sera, September 30, 98.

  George Hilton, which was briefly screened in

  6. L.A. [Leonardo Autera], “Quella villa maledetta,”

  Turin and then disappeared from sight.

  Corriere della Sera, June 9, 982.

  7. Phil Hardy (ed.), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia. Hor-

  N

  ror (London: Aurum Press, 996), 390.

  otes

  8. Stefano Della Casa, “Torino set,” La Stampa, June 6,

  1. Fulvio Montano, “Carlo Ausino e l’esperienza di

  99.

  Torino violenta,” www. effettonotteonline. com (http://www.

  1983

  La bimba di Satana (Satan’s Baby Doll,

  whose body lies in the crypt, waiting to be em-

  a.k.a. A Girl for Satan)

  balmed. Despite the family doctor, Suarez, ruling

  D: Alan W. Cools [Mario Bianchi]. S:

  Maria’s death as a heart attack, her husband

  Gabriele Crisanti; SC: Piero Regnoli; DOP: un-

  Antonio had a hand in it. Maria was the lover

  credited [Franco Villa and Angelo Iannutti]

  of Antonio’s brother Ignazio, now bound to a

  (Telecolor); M: Nino Catanese (Ed. Overplay);

  wheelchair after a stroke, but she also seduced

  E: Cesare Bianchini; PD: Salvatore Siciliano; AD:

  Suarez, and was carrying on a lesbian affair with

  Spartaco Antonucci; C: Franco Campanile;

  Sol, the novice nun who takes care of Ignazio. The

  AC: Maurizio Fiorentini; SO: Silvio Spingi; SS:

  family butler, Isidro, evokes otherworldly forces,

  Paola Villa; CO: Itala Giardina; MU: Rosario

  and the Countess’ spirit possesses her teenage

  Prestopino; AE: Gabriella Marsetti. Cast: Jacque-

  daughter Miria, who becomes the instrument of

  line Doupré (Miria), Mariangela Giordano (Sol),

  her revenge. One by one, the members of the