Perrotti (Gasparri), Giovanni Bilancia, Matteo
Pistagnesi and broadcast in November 986 on
Gazzolo (Mike), Laurentina Guidotti (Maria),
Rai Tre. The show included excerpts from
Erna Schurer [Emma Costantino] (Catacomb
horror films and interviews with filmmakers, in-
Guide), Giovanni Tamberi (Gino). PROD: Mau-
cluding Avallone’s old mentor Riccardo Freda.
rizio Tedesco for Reteitalia S.p.A. (Milan), Trio
In the meantime, Avallone’s project was taking
Cinema e Televisione S.r.l. (Rome); GM: Eliseo
shape thanks to the help of Maurizio Tedesco,
Boschi; PM: Marco Donati; UM: Filippo Campus,
brother of actress Paola Tedesco, a former editor
Giovanni Ligato; ADM: Gabriella Nardi. Country:
and assistant director, and an aspiring producer;
Italy. Filmed at R.P.A. Elios Studios (Rome). Run-
ten years younger than Avallone, he shared the
ning time: 92 minutes (m. 223). Visa n. 82289
same vision as the director and was willing to
(2.2.987); Rating: V.M. 4; Release dates: .7.987
take risks with a genre picture aimed at foreign
(Italy), 0.7.989 (USA); Distribution: D.M.V.; Do-
markets. Avallone wrote the script with journal-
mestic gross: n.a. Also known as: Espectros (Spain),
ist Andrea Purgatori, a young reporter of the
Spectre (France), Specters—Mächte des Bösen
Corriere della Sera newspaper and the author of
(West Germany), Catacomb (Sweden).
important reports on such themes as the Lebanon
1987: Spettri
47
war and the Ustica plane crash (the latter became
three friends who had big motorbikes and went on
the subject of the 99 movie Il muro di gomma,
trips together every Sunday. They had written the
directed by Marco Risi). Luckily for Avallone and
script together and believed in it a lot. Mediaset [Au-
Tedesco, they joined forces with an important
thor’s note: actually Reteitalia], who financed the en-
partner, Silvio Berlusconi’s Reteitalia, which by
terprise, believed less in it, and Mediaset imposed
me as film doctor … the script didn’t work well, but
then had entered steadily in the film production
it had a fascinating idea: the mysterious subterranean
business.
Rome, the mithrea, the dovecotes, the sewers, the
Spettri was shot in nine weeks, directly in
underground of the Colosseum, etc. We discussed,
English. The male lead, John Randolph Pepper,
even in a spirited way, for more than a week, than
the son of the noted Newsweek reporter Curtis
one day they told me: “This is our film, we believe
Bill Pepper,3 was an American in Rome: at just
in it, and we want to make it this way.” … They said:
he had played Caesarion in Mankiewicz’s
“We’re paying you all your fee but leave us our
Cleopatra (963), and he became a painter and
movie.”4
a photographer. Over the years he had worked
as assistant director on such works as The World
Avallone’s idea was to make a horror film
According to Garp (982, George Roy Hill), the
deeply tied with Italy’s ancient history. “I had
TV mini- series The Winds of War (983) and
two cities in mind to shoot something like that:
Ghostbusters (984), and in 986 he directed the
Rome and Naples. Naples would have been per-
English version of Eduardo De Filippo’s stage
fect, because it has two faces. Above you have
play Le voci dentro (a.k.a. Inner Voices) at the
the serenades, pizza, the Vesuvio, and below
Spoleto Festival in Charleston.
there are strange and obscure realities. Rome
Obviously chosen more because of his
was perfect as well: above there are the churches,
fluent English than his acting skills in what would
the alleys, but then there are also the subter-
be his one and only leading role, Pepper was
raneans, the long underground tunnels. There
paired with the 2-year-old Katrine Michelsen,
is the shadow of an ancient Rome which does
formerly Miss Denmark 984; the Danish actress
not exist anymore, terrible and bloody.” The
had become a starlet of Italian erotic cinema after
concept was not new: Rome’s past as the subject
Salvatore Samperi’s La bonne (986), where she
for a Gothic story had been the core of the im-
played alongside Florence Guérin and amply dis-
mensely successful TV mini- series Il segno del
played her stunning body, something she also
comando (97), among others.
does in Avallone’s film. Spettri did not bring good
In interviews of the period, the director
fortune to the beautiful Michelsen. Around the
was nitpicking when labeling his project,
same time, she starred in Sergio Bergonzelli’s
perhaps as a way to win the critics’ bias toward
erotic thriller Tentazione (987) and played a role
the genre: “Spettri is not a horror film. I’d rather
in Lamberto Bava’s sexy giallo Le foto di Gioia
define it a movie about fear, and the borderline,
(987) but her career would soon wane: one of
populated with shadows, between Good and
the last roles in her scarce filmography would be
Evil.”6 But, as the title suggests, Avallone & Co.
in Lars von Trier’s Idioten (998). She died of
looked at the success of the Dèmoni diptych, and
bone cancer in 2009, at only 42.
tried to repeat the same mélange of old- style
Donald Pleasence, a recurring presence in
Gothic and new trends. In fact, the look of the
Italian horror movies of the period, was the re-
film is heavily influenced by Lamberto Bava’s
quired “name” actor for export sales; as prof.
work—notice the shots of people walking
Lasky (a tongue- in-cheek nod to the founder of
toward the camera lighted in silhouettes.
Paramount Pictures?) he does very little besides
Moreover, Avallone liberally spiced the tale
looking worried and delivering insipid dialogue.
with references to classic and contemporary
Avallone even cast Erna Schurer, the star of his
horror cinema. An elaborately deceptive se-
weird Gothic yarn Un gioco per Eveline (97),
quence featuring Michelsen—wearing a stun-
in a small part. It would be the actress’ last movie
ning long red dress—falling prey to a monster
role.
emerging from a lake, which looks just like the
Despite his name being featured in the
Gillman in The Creature from the Black Lagoon
credits, Dardano Sacchetti’s participation to the
(94, Jack Arnold), turns out to be a horror-
screenplay was little more than nominal, as the
themed music video. Later on, Michelsen’s char-
screenwriter himself explained. In Sacch
etti’s
acter is menaced by an eerie- looking shadow
words, Tedesco, Avallone and Purgatori were
whose features—pointed ears, long spiky finger-
48 1987: Spettri nails—recall Max Schreck’s vampire in Murnau’s
little blood and gore. The first one, the demise
Nosferatu (922). The hero’s descent in the cat-
of the night club owner who ends up with his
acombs followed by his colleagues via a com-
throat slashed by a glass door with a tiger drawn
puter monitor, to an unexplored tomb whose
on it, borrows from the ending of Cornell Wool-
walls look almost like organic, bone- like mat-
rich’s novel Night Has a Thousand Eyes, while
ter, recalls Ridley Scott’s Alien rather than L’etr-
the murder of the gay antiquarian under the
usco uccide ancora (972). Finally, the bit with
notes of Umberto Giordano’s opera Andrea Che-
Michelsen’s character hallucinating and seeing
nier has a certain Argento- like quality to it, and
a snake instead of a microphone seems lifted
features the film’s goriest moment, but the other
out of the A Nightmare on Elm Street series—
deaths are disappointingly lame, with elaborate
ditto for the scene where she is swallowed in her
build- ups to little ensuing effect. Sacchetti re-
bed by the demon.
called Avallone’s refusal to push the pedal on
Avallone claimed he wanted to focus on
graphic violence: “He was in love with the scene
“this mysterious city protected by darkness
where the specter embraces the girl and deli-
which lives beneath our feet and which maybe
cately pulls her underground, with no blood, no
feels in its restless soul the echo of the urban
nothing. He liked it that way and would shoot
degradation and of our malaise.”7 Indeed, the
it that way.”8 The prosthetic F/X created by
opening shots—the Colosseum, the Imperial
Sergio Stivaletti are reduced to very little: a
Forum, a fountain with a monstrous stone head,
rubber- looking claw which rips apart a face, a
menacingly lit by the water reflections—capture
head smashed and the long- awaited demon
effectively the idea of an arcane, centuries- old
which finally manifests in the last ten minutes
Rome. The script ties it effectively with the
and rips somebody’s heart out—too little, too
scenes of men at work in the Rome under-
late.
ground—a nod, perhaps involuntary, to Fellini’s
Given the decent budget (of one billion and
Roma (972)—and to archaeologists who study
a half lire)9 and the use of such stunning natural
an ancient Roman burial site and find a portal
locations as the Roman catacombs, a number of
with the ominous sign “Hic vocatum atque non
scenes have an atmospheric quality, heightened
advocatum malum aderit” (“Here, either sum-
by the use of the Steadicam, and Avallone’s direc-
moned or not, evil will manifest itself ”). “It is
tion is a step above the cheap Italian B- pictures of
full of mystery, it’s magic … and it never stops
the period. Still, he does little to enhance the story.
fascinating me,” says a character about the Eter-
He makes ample use of close- ups and quick cuts,
nal City.
American- style, sometimes with goofy results:
But after such a promising beginning,
take the scene where the archaeologists prepare
things rapidly go downhill. Despite the many
for an expedition, patterned over many similar
cinephile references, there is little tension in the
moments in American cinema (Rambo: First
movie. An early manifestation of evil, as a young
Blood Part II, Aliens, etc.) with details of hands
couple are trapped in the catacombs amid rats
tying shoes, wearing jackets, closing belts or wear-
and skeletons, is accompanied by naive lighting
ing earphones, which feels almost comically bom-
and wind effects that ape those seen in U.S. hor-
bastic. Likewise, Silvano Ippoliti’s photography
ror films of the period, but on the cheap. Not
sports a passably international look, but at the
only is the plot so bare- bones that very little hap-
same time it feels banal and déjà-vu. In this sense,
pens throughout, but the characters too are
Spettri is indicative of the growing loss of person-
stereotyped if not laughable ciphers, such as
ality of Italian cinema during the course of the
the blind guy who, of all things, works as a guide
decade.
in the catacombs (“One does not need eyes to
The director was moderately happy with
find the way in these places dominated by dark-
the film, albeit critical of himself: “When I see
ness”). Blindness, in typical horror movie tra-
some scenes I feel ashamed, and if I were to
dition (see Manhattan Baby) is the punishment
reshoot them now I’d make them completely dif-
for those, like professor Lasky, who dare look
ferent, but this is normal. I find it absolutely de-
into the abyss.
cent and pleasant… . The special effects stand
When the evil forces finally manifest after
up well, considering that by then everything was
a half- hour buildup, Spettri becomes a super-
done live on camera.”0
natural body count movie, in the vein of the cur-
Spettri was released on May 7, 987, with a
rent trends, although the creative deaths feature
V.M.4 rating. Despite being heavily publicized
1988: Blood
49
in the media, it did mediocre business in Italy
(played by the Australian Pete Phelps) as bland
and was panned by the critics. The Corriere della
as the one in Spettri. Maya turned out a box-
Sera reviewer blamed the “scarce internal logic”
office flop upon its release in 989.
of the plot, “engulfed with unresolved ideas,” and
added: “All this could have had a sense, were it
Notes
playfully treated. But Marcello Avallone’s direc-
1. Originally titled Noi siamo le vergini dai candidi
tion—undecided on which tone to adopt, uncer-
manti… (We Are the Virgins with the Candid Mantles… ),
tain between real or laughable scares, distressing
it was rejected by the rating board as obscene. It was re-
edited and resubmitted under the new title Arrivan le
in its attempt to dilate tensions that don’t go off—
vergini dai candidi manti (Here Come the Virgins with the
has made a great mess of it.”2 Foreign sales were
Candid Mantles) and approved with a V.M.8 rating. How-
satisfying, though, and the film circulated world-
ever, the distributor refused to release it and the producer
wide in home video. A script for a sequel was de-
was forced to change the
title yet again.
posited at Italy’s SIAE on May 27, penned by Sac-
2. Eugenio Ercolani, “Tra cinema e cavalli: Intervista
a Marcello Avallone,” PaperBlog, January 7, 204 (http://
chetti, Purgatori, Tedesco and Avallone and
it. paperblog. com/ tra- cinema- e- cavalli- intervista- a-
bearing several titles: Spettri 2, Il ritorno degli
marcello- avallone- 244496/).
spettri, La vendetta degli spettri, and Spettri parte
3. Lino Lombardi, “All’Olimpo la tribù delle tenebre,”
seconda. But it never materialized.
Corriere della Sera, October 4, 986.
4. Dardano Sacchetti interviewed, in www. davinotti.
On the same day, Purgatori, Tedesco and
com (http://www.davinotti.com/index.php?option= com_
Avallone deposited the script for Maya, which
content&task=view&id=64&Itemid=79).
would be Avallone’s next film, again produced
5. Ercolani, “Tra cinema e cavalli: Intervista a Marcello
by Reteitalia. It was an even more ambitious
Avallone..”
project, a story set in Mexico which blended ex-
6. Giovanna Grassi, “Paura nella Roma sotterranea,”
Corriere della Sera, November 8, 986.
otic adventure and the esoteric, with an opening
7. Ibid.
quote by Carlos Castaneda and sparse Gothic el-
8. Dardano Sacchetti interviewed, in www. davinotti.
ements (namely, references to the threshold be-
com.
tween this world and the beyond, as in L’aldilà)
9. r.s., “L’incubo è “underground,”” Corriere della Sera,
April , 987.
to fortify a narrative structure very similar to
10. Ercolani, “Tra cinema e cavalli: Intervista a Marcello
Spettri. But the script was just as confused, with
Avallone.”
some “creative deaths” (a guy crashed by a car as
11. It was subsequently re- examined by the board on
in Christine; a woman having a bath who knocks
April 9, 992, in light of the Mammì law, and a new visa
her head against the faucets and the bathtub’s
(n. 8690) was emitted, with the movie judged suitable for
all audiences.
edge; another ravaged by fish hooks, as in Hell-
12. L.A. [Leonardo Autera], “Terrore tra le rovine della
raiser) and unlikely characters, including a hero
Città eterna,” Corriere della Sera, May 9, 987.
1988
Blood Delirium (Delirio di sangue)
Lucia Prato (Yvonne), Ezio Prosperi (Gallery
(Blood Delirium)
Italian Gothic Horror Films (1980-1989) Page 45