Italian Gothic Horror Films (1980-1989)

by Roberto Curti

  writer—who as well took inspiration from

  an inexhaustible attempt to look (and know) be-

  events linked with the death of a pet animal, his

  yond which characterizes the director’s work in

  daughter’s cat Smucky—completed the first draft

  the Fantastic genre.

  in May 979.9 As for their literary antecedents,

  Avati’s doomed hero, again named Stefano

  both Avati and King likely drew from H.P. Love-

  like the unfortunate painter in La casa dalle

  craft’s Herbert West, Reanimator and especially

  finestre che ridono, is yet another artist who

  W.W. Jacobs’ celebrated short story The Monkey’s

  moves from the big city to the countryside and

  Paw, which inspired Bob Clark’s Dead of Night

  becomes the victim of his own abnormal sensi-

  (a.k.a. Deathdream, 974) and was adapted in

  tivity toward the macabre and the mysterious.

  977 by Dan Curtis for the made- for-TV Dead

  But his quest is first and foremost an introspec-

  of Night, in the episode Bobby. King most likely

  tive descent which goes far beyond the mere

  knew the two movies; the latter was broadcast

  mystery angle of the story, and which leads him

  in the U.S. in March 977. There is a chance that

  to an inescapable destiny. Like Prometheus, Ste-

  Avati too was aware of them, as Clark’s film was

  fano defies God (or the gods) by trying to learn

  released in Italy in 976 under the eerie title La

  things that shall remain unknown by mortals,

  morte dietro la porta (Death Behind the Door),

  and therefore he will be punished, as will all

  while Curtis’ film turned up on Italian private

  those who dare venture into the unknowable.

  television stations as early as 98, as Notte di

  It’s not the film’s sole reference to myth and

  morte (Death Night).

  to ancient culture. Avati portrays two lovers

  The story has also some vague (and most

  attempting an illusory escape from the horrors

  likely coincidental) similarities with Jacques

  that will swallow them, and in the story’s chilling

  Tourneur’s unfilmed screenplay, Whispering in

  coda he evokes the myth of Orpheus who brings

  Distant Chambers (dating back to 966), in

  back his wife Eurydice from the underworld.

  which a millionaire tries to prove scientifically

  The character of Alessandra conveys a natural,

  the existence of life beyond death by way of

  luminous sensuality (see the early scene where

  advanced recording technology. But Avati

  she awakes in bed) comparable to that of

  comes close to the French director’s cinema for

  Francesca Marciano in the 976 film, which once

  the method of building restlessness through

  again makes her a more vulnerable victim. But

  lighting, inscribing the characters within sparse

  the same sensuality becomes an element of hor-

  oases of light as opposed to areas of darkness

  ror in the ending, as the revenante displays the

  that “are likely to reshape the contours of a fa-

  same inviting smile as when she was alive, before

  miliar space or … thin down the usual bound-

  the final and supposedly lethal embrace with

  aries between an imaginary space and the sphere

  Stefano. She has become a carrier (and an in-

  of sensorial reception.”0 This similarity becomes

  carnation) of Death, like other female characters

  an explicit homage in the swimming pool scene,

  in Avati’s cinema, most notably Olimpia in Le

  which pays reference to a similar moment in Cat

  strelle nel fosso, causing the hero’s ultimate ruin.

  People (942). In interviews Avati mentioned as

  As in La casa dalle finestre che ridono, Avati

  1983: Zeder

  9

  turns the sunny and placid Emilia Romagna into

  (a bound bundle of wooden rods with an axe

  an unlikely yet effective setting for a horror

  with its blade emerging), the main symbol of the

  story. Except for the prologue set in 96, which

  Fascist regime, is featured prominently in the

  takes place in a typical haunted house with un-

  background wall behind Stefano during the

  seen presences lurking in the basement, Zeder

  film’s horrific climax, the resurrection of Don

  is characterized by a matter- of-fact, very lumi-

  Luigi Costa. There, the past literally comes alive

  nous photography. The hot summer Mediter-

  again.

  ranean sun pervades many scenes, characters

  It’s a felicitous choice for a film which re-

  sweat and pant, a blinding light accompanies

  volves around the act of displacement and re-

  Stefano’s quest in the Riviera, so much so that

  pression and its object par excellence in today’s

  Alessandra takes advantage of their trip to Ri-

  society—death. But the colony is also the rem-

  mini for a sunbathing session on the beach.

  nant of a previous illusory wealth, which now

  Even a cemetery—the Gothic milieu par excel-

  has dissolved and turned into a mediocre, re-

  lence—doesn’t look so menacing in an August

  signed routine, like that of the gas station owner

  morning. But such a warmth and serenity are

  who rents the rooms of his squalid motel on the

  utterly deceptive. It takes just a few moments—

  opposite side of the street, for the few tourists

  such as when Stefano remains briefly trapped in

  who still show up every now and then. The irony

  the crypt where Don Luigi Costa’s grave is lo-

  in the film is that, to protect their private exper-

  cated—for this mood to change completely and

  iments and justify the renewed activity around

  these places to reveal their sinister side.

  the colony, the Vatican researchers have spread

  In his previous horror film Avati had rein-

  the rumor that the place is going to be recon-

  vented the Gothic haunted mansion, splitting it

  verted into a luxury -star hotel, thus igniting

  into two in the process: the isolated house where

  the hope of a renewed well- being, an economic

  Stefano moves, which turns out to be the recip-

  revitalization which echoes the physical one

  ient of horrible secrets, and the titular “house

  they are pursuing.

  with the laughing windows,” a dilapidated hut

  As in La casa dalle finestre che ridono—and

  near the river where the mad Buono Legnani

  in L’arcano incantatore, another film centered on

  worked on his paintings. A key role in Zeder is

  someone’s quest about the mysteries of the af-

  played by the imposing ruins of the Provincia

  terlife—the most horrific figure in the film is

  Varese colony. Ruins have a central importance

  that of a priest. Those who have seen Zeder won’t

  in the Gothic, as remnants of a forgotten or re-

  forget the toothless l
aughter of the defrocked

  pressed past, and the choice of a Fascist building,

  priest Don Luigi Costa caught by the post-

  although moved mainly by aesthetic reasons (“I

  mortem camera, as he awakens from death in

  think I’ve never had a more beautiful location”

  the film’s most unnerving sequence. Once again,

  the director said) is an interesting one on

  Avati followed the example of Fellini and cast a

  Avati’s part, for it draws a red thread between

  non- professional actor for the role, a pork

  Italy’s past and the present.

  butcher from Bologna named Carlo Schincaglia.

  Children’s colonies were structures built in

  As Avati’s a.d. Cesare Bastelli recalled, “With

  maritime locations which provided free summer

  Pupi, for many years, it used to be like that: we

  holidays for kids, to preserve their health; the

  arrived in a village without warning anyone and

  first one was created in Lucca in 822, and their

  without going to the mayor’s office for the shoot-

  number grew steadily over the years. During

  ing permits. We just placed the camera in the

  the Fascist regime, children’s colonies became

  main square and waited. The first who ap-

  an instrument of propaganda, a place to indoc-

  proached us was regularly the fool of the village,

  trinate the younger generations on the values of

  and we cast him on the spot. We recruited many

  Fascism, and many new structures were built,

  that way… . Schincaglia was one of them.”2

  mostly on the Romagna coast, in the regime’s

  The defrocked revenant is only one of sev-

  typical Rationalist style. The huge, ghastly ce-

  eral clergymen—not counting the Vatican’s high

  ment building in Zeder becomes a sort of relic,

  hierarchies, represented by Bob Tonelli’s char-

  whose bare cement pylons stand out in the land-

  acter—whom the viewers meet in the film, the

  scape like the carcass of a monstrous “white

  others being an ambiguous young priest (Aldo

  whale” stranded near the beach, a gigantic and

  Sassi) who seems to know more than he claims

  looming memento of a wiped- out past. Note, for

  to, and a (fake) parish priest who wears a gym

  instance, how the image of the “fascio littorio”

  suit and has brisk manners—a striking charac-

  20 1983: Zeder scientists record the effects

  but not the presence. The

  world is a dark and mysteri-

  ous place, and nature itself

  turns out to be malevolent

  and menacing, like the earth-

  quake that accompanies the

  resurrection of a dead man in

  the film’s opening sequence.

  Despite centuries of enlight-

  enment and the progress of

  science, we are ultimately re-

  vealed to be at the mercy of

  forces that we will never be

  able to control, let alone un-

  derstand. All we can do is be-

  lieve.

  the dead rise from their grave and attack an unfortunate victim

  Avati ends the film on an

  (Genoese dialectal actor enrico Ardizzone) in a scary moment from

  ambiguous and chilling note,

  Zeder (courtesy Luca servini).

  the final embrace between

  two lovers who have finally

  terization (by Avati’s regular Ferdinando Or-

  found each other again, with Stefano’s expression

  landi) which perhaps hints at the director’s diffi-

  turning from tenderness to horrified awareness,

  dence toward heterodox clergymen.

  as the man lets out a final scream of horror (and

  Unlike the simple but coherent story be-

  perhaps pain? Again, we can only guess) which

  hind La casa dalle finestre che ridono, Zeder has

  lingers under the final image of the children’s col-

  an intricate plot which ultimately doesn’t add

  ony at night, before Riz Ortolani’s synth- driven,

  up. Its many unanswered questions and incon-

  dissonant score kicks off. The script included one

  sistencies turn up from the very first sequences.

  more scene which Avati wisely chose not to shoot,

  If the K- Zones preserve the dead from rotting,

  an epilogue set at the deserted gas station, at

  why is Paolo Zeder exhumed as a skeleton? How

  night. Children are skating in the area. “Their

  did he manage to return in the coffin after at-

  shadows, their laughter, their screams. Silence,”

  tacking Gabriella, whose shoe is found inside

  the script reads. On this final freeze- frame, a line

  Zeder’s coffin? How can Stefano see Don Luigi

  appears: “…and what if even your garden was a

  Costa wandering around in the colony when his

  K- Zone?” A tongue- in-cheek, laughable line wor-

  body is still locked in the zinc coffin? Is this

  thy of some cheap B- movie (think of Tonino

  a phenomenon of bilocation, a hallucination,

  Ricci’s Bakterion, 982) which would have done

  a vision of the future? Who kills the parish

  no justice to the story. It is one of the few

  priest Don Mario and old Benni? The viewer

  moments that differ from the finished film. Avati

  gropes in the dark just like the characters. But

  had also devised a slightly more elaborate version

  ultimately these loose ends enhance the overall

  of the scene where Anna (Laura in the script) is

  sense of dread that the film conveys.

  killed. The director wanted to set it originally in

  It is as if the director was contemplating

  the dancing room of the abandoned chalet near

  the very concept of “miracle,” that is, the unfath-

  the lake at the Giardini Margherita park in

  omable ways God works through nature with

  Bologna (in the film it takes place underneath the

  divine providence, or, in the words of St. Thomas

  wharf), and the murderer used a long Fascist

  Aquinas, “these works that are done by God out-

  stiletto (the weapon is hardly distinguishable in

  side the usual order assigned to things” and

  the film) with a silver eagle’s head on its handle—

  which leave us “astonished at a thing when we

  another symbol relating the story to the country’s

  see an effect without knowing the cause.” It is

  Fascist past, hinting that perhaps at first Avati

  as if Avati is telling us that there are things

  wanted to develop a discourse akin to that of the

  in heaven and earth that it is better not to

  Nazis’ fascination with the occult. Then, unlike

  know: as the non- human POV shot that travels

  in the film, Stefano finds himself face to face with

  through the K- Zone at night, and of which the

  Laura’s body, as the dead girl appears before him

  1985: Dèmoni

  2

  and falls headfirst against the broken glass win-

  decade. The director himself was never too fond

  dow, “pierced by hundr
eds of sharp glass splin-

  of it, pointing out its “technological limits” and

  ters.” Stefano tries to come to her aid, but it’s too

  claiming that the movie “didn’t give me great sat-

  late. When he hears the police siren approaching,

  isfaction, from any point of view,”3 possibly be-

  he flees.

  cause of its less than felicitous shoot. Over the fol-

  Initially slated for a February release, Zeder

  lowing years, Avati’s output consisted mostly of

  was delayed until August 983, and turned out

  bittersweet comedies (Noi tre, 984; Festa di laurea,

  a box- office disappointment despite favorable

  98, Storia di ragazzi e di ragazze, 989) or down-

  reviews. Moreover, in the meantime Avati had

  beat dramas (Regalo di Natale, 986; Ultimo min-

  completed another feature film, the bittersweet

  uto, 987; Fratelli e sorelle, 99). Only in the early

  period comedy Una gita scolastica (working title:

  990s he decided to revive his interest in horror

  La passeggiata), starring Delle Piane, which

  and the Fantastic, with the scripts for Maurizio

  moved to a totally different direction, and was

  Zaccaro’s Dove comincia la notte (99) and Fab-

  a critical and commercial success.

  rizio Laurenti’s La stanza accanto (994), in addi-

  Filmed in English with an eye toward

  tion to the TV mini- series Voci notturne, before

  foreign sales, Zeder was distributed theatrically

  directing L’arcano incantatore. His next work in

  in the U.S. by Motion Picture Marketing the fol-

  the genre would be sparse and limited to one hor-

  lowing year, in a heavily edited copy, as Revenge

  ror movie per decade, namely Il nascondiglio

  of the Dead. It was first broadcast in Italy on Rai

  (2007) and the upcoming Il signor Diavolo. The

  Due on August 8, 984. The TV version was a

  latter, based on Avati’s own novel published in

  couple of minutes longer and featured an ex-

  208, is a grim story set in 92, about a young

  tended version of the introductory “anniversary

  lawyer who is sent to Venice to follow a murder

  sequence” in which Stefano and Alessandra ex-

  trial (a teenage boy has killed another one) which

  change gifts. After putting on the bracelet Stefano

  turns out to have chilling implications.

  has given her, she joins him on the sofa. He ex-

  plains that he couldn’t buy her a gift with his own

  Notes