6. Samuele Zàccaro, “Intervista esclusiva a Rossella
generator, loses two fingers in the machine and
Drudi,” www. darkveins. com, 2 March 2009.
has his neck cut by his necklace was considerably
7. Palmerini and Mistretta, Spaghetti Nightmares, 07.
shortened in the TV edit. Lattanzi was credited
with his own name in the Italian prints, and as
Il nido del ragno (The Spider Labyrinth)
“Claude Milliken” in the foreign ones.
D: Gianfranco Giagni. S: Tonino Cervi; SC:
The question on who directed Killing Birds
Riccardo Aragno, Tonino Cervi, Cesare Frugoni,
is debated. Some sources state that Massaccesi
Gianfranco Manfredi; DOP: Nino Celeste
took care of the direction, uncredited, because
(Kodak Eastmancolor, LV- Luciano Vittori); M:
of Lattanzi’s incompetence. On the other hand,
Franco Piersanti (Ed. S.B.K.); E: Sergio Monta-
according to Rossella Drudi,
nari; PD, ArtD: Stefano Ortolani; CO: Nicoletta
Ercole; SVFX: Sergio Stivaletti; AsstSVFX: Bar-
Claudio Lattanzi was a front for the direction,
because Aristide could not be credited on too many
bara Morosetti; MU: Renato Francola; Hair:
films as producer and director, even though it was
Maria Angelini; C: Sandro Grossi; AC: Francesco
always him, a true underestimated genius… . I re-
Damiani; 2ndAC: Cristiano Celeste; AE: Mario
member that in the last years he [Lattanzi] was
D’Ambrosio, Giovanni Pallotto; AsstArtD: Jo
always around in Aristide’s office in viale delle
Chevalier; SO: Alberto Salvatori; Mix: Steve C.
Milizie, when even Michele Soavi left the factory to
Aaron; SOE: Roberto Arcangeli Studio Sound;
work with Dario Argento. Lattanzi was one of the
DubD: Gianni Bonagura; MA: Nazzareno Zam-
last entries in the factory, the son of a pharmacist,
perla; SP: Enrico Appetito; ACO: Carlotta Poli-
and thus rebaptized “the pharmacist” by Aristide. He
dori; W: Anna Inciocchi; ChEl: Agostino Gorga;
wanted to become a film director, but it seems he was
El: Antonio Gasbarrini, Antonio Labarbera; KG:
not cut out for it.6
Tarcisio Diamanti; G: Claudio Brizzolari, Roberto
Lattanzi, while acknowledging the weight
Brizzolari; Props: Piero Riccini, Nazzareno Sgo-
of Massaccesi’s presence on the set and describ-
lacchia; SS: Margherita Reginato. Cast: Roland
ing their work as “in symbiosis,” also due to the
Wybenga (Prof. Alan Whitmore), Paola Rinaldi
very low budget, claims the paternity of the
(Geneviève Weiss), Margareta von Krauss (Sylvia
movie, and vindicates the choice of many shots
Roth), Claudia Muzii (Marta), William Berger
and scenes. Massaccesi himself explained that
(Mysterious Man), Stéphane Audran (Mrs.
he personally took care of the sequences featur-
Kuhn), Valeriano Santinelli, Massimiliano Pavone,
ing special effects, allowing Lattanzi to sign the
Arnaldo Dell’Acqua (Polgár Móricz), László Sipos
film.7
(Inspector Blasco), Attila Lõte (Professor Roth),
Claudio Lattanzi never directed another
Bob Holton (Frank, Intextus Committee Mem-
movie. He worked (uncredited) on the story for
ber), Bill Bolender (Chancellor Hubbard), John
La casa 4, which he claims he was slated to
Morrison (Reverend Bradley). PROD: Tonino
direct; he re- edited the TV version of Sergio
Cervi for Splendida Film (Rome), Reteitalia; PM:
Martino’s Assassinio al cimitero etrusco (982)
Antonio Levesi- Cervi, Tamás Hámori; EP: Endre
into a 3-hour TV movie, with new music by
Flórián, Endre Sík; PSe: Carlo Gagliardi. Country:
Carlo Maria Cordio; and he developed a giallo
Italy. Filmed on location in Budapest and at
script, A un’ora dalla notte, which ended up in
Cinecittà (Rome). Running time: 86 minutes (m.
the drawer after Massaccesi’s death. In 2009,
2363). Visa n. 8372 (4.27.988); Rating: all audi-
Lattanzi attempted to put together a sequel,
ences. Release date: 8.2.988 (Italy), 0.3.988
Killing Birds Return, but the project never went
(West Germany—Home video), 4.22.989 (Japan);
beyond a -page synopsis written by Federico
Distribution: Medusa/Penta Film (Italy); Domes-
Monti.
tic gross: n.a. Also known as: Spider Labyrinth—
1988: Il nido
63
In den Fangen der Todestarantel (West Germany),
scriptwriter Gianfranco Manfredi and together
Noroi no meikyû: Rabirinsu in za dâku (Japan).
we tried to give it a more modern framing
Alan Whitmore, a young American professor
story.”3 Manfredi was an eclectic figure in Italian
of Eastern religions in Dallas, is sent to Budapest
popular culture, being a singer- songwriter,
to meet Professor Roth, who is collaborating with
writer, scriptwriter, actor and soon- to-be comic
him on the mysterious Intextus project. Upon ar-
book writer: in the 990s he created the Western
rival, the terrified Roth handles Alan a black
comic Magico Vento and wrote episodes for
booklet where, he says, his colleague will find the
Dylan Dog and Tex. Firstly, Giagni and Manfredi
key to the enigma. The booklet contains notes
changed the setting from Venice to Budapest,
about the discovery of a mysterious tablet. When
frequently visited by Italian cinema in those
Alan returns to Roth’s house that night, he finds
years (see also La chiesa, Etoile, and Carlo Ver-
out that the professor is dead, and that the woman
done’s 987 hit comedy Io e mia sorella): “It is a
who lived with him and claimed to be his wife has
city with many Gothic elements, with disquieting
disappeared. Alan does not give up, and continues
buildings in an apparently rational context …
his risky investigation, helped by Roth’s assistant,
cities like Budapest, Prague or Sarajevo suggest a
Geneviève. Meanwhile, other deaths follow: a
sense of anxiety: behind their ‘normality’ there
maid at the hotel where Alan is staying is brutally
lies in fact a hidden ‘abnormality.’”4
killed by a monstrous- looking woman, and the
Given the script and budget limits, the
second victim is an antique dealer, Polgár Móricz.
director also sought to balance the horrific
Alan finds out about the existence of a mysterious
and gruesome elements with more classic ones,
cult: its members—the Weavers—worship spider-
like deities whose names are written in the tablet
Roth had discovered. Alan recovers the tablet, but
despite the help of a mysterious man he is cap-
tured, tortured and subjected to a horrible initia-
tory rite…
Born in 92, Gianfranco Giagni had di-
vid
ed himself between radio and television since
the mid–970s, and worked sporadically in cin-
ema as well, as assistant to Mauro Bolognini
(L’eredità Ferramonti, 976) and Alberto Negrin.
Already an accomplished radio director, in 98
he created the pioneering music program Mister
Fantasy. Giagni directed some of Italy’s first
music videos for Vasco Rossi, Loredana Berté
and Matia Bazar, but he also worked with
foreign artists, such as Miguel Bosé and Mad-
ness. In May 986 Giagni’s short Giallo e nero
won the “Gabbiano d’Argento” prize at the “An-
teprima” Film Festival in Bellaria and was
broadcast on television a couple of months later.
Producer Tonino Cervi, who in turn had di-
rected an interesting Gothic film, Il delitto del
diavolo, liked Giallo e nero very much, and got
in touch with the director with an offer to make
his feature film debut with a horror movie. “I
accepted to direct it “for hire” in order to con-
front myself with the rules of genre filmmaking,
as the masters of the American B- movie of the
940s and 0s had done before.”2
The original script for Il nido del ragno, by
Cervi, Riccardo Aragno and Cesare Frugoni,
dated from a few years earlier. As Giagni ex-
Italian locandina for Gianfranco Giagni’s Il nido
plained, “It seemed a bit dated to me, so I called
del ragno (1988).
64 1988: Il nido with references to Hitchcock and Polanski. The
oped thoughtfully,” and adding that it “incorpo-
latter’s influence can be seen in the conspiracy
rates many ideas characteristic of HPL, from the
angle of the story (see for instance the suspicious-
shy, retiring scholar/hero to the forbidden his-
looking guests of the hotel where the protagonist
torical text and the cabal of radical followers
Alan Whitmore is staying), while the scene
dedicated [to] the Old Ones.”
where Alan looks almost hypnotized at the op-
It is likely that Cervi had in mind other
posite building, where the fascinating Geneviève
sources for his original story, but the theme of
takes off her clothes and then stares at him in
the lone scholar who arrives in a strange town
the nude behind her window, silently luring
and confronts a mystery, only to find himself the
him, nods to both Rear Window (94) and Le
designated victim to an obscure power, is truly
locataire.
Lovecraftian, as is the idea of monstrous ancient
But Giagni’s film has also several elements
gods lurking in a world which reveals itself as
in common with past Italian horrors and thriller.
nightmarish and absurd under a façade of ap-
The Eastern European setting brings to mind
parent normality. The script riffs on the theme
another classic conspiracy tale, Aldo Lado’s po-
of the spider’s web as a labyrinth with no way
litical thriller La corta notte delle bambole di
out, and Giagni depicts the transition between
vetro (97), while the idea of an evil cult spread
reality and nightmare in an eerie sequence
all over the city and possibly worldwide recalls
where Alan is driving around Budapest in search
Francesco Barilli’s Il profumo della signora in
of an antique shop, only to find the road blocked
nero, in turn a grim Polanski variation; the
by a weird- looking barricade which vaguely
bouncing black ball which erupts on the scene
recalls an oversized web. He soon gets lost in the
before each murder borrows from Operazione
labyrinthine streets of the old town, whose weird
paura, while the murder scenes have Argento’s
topography recalls those of Lovecraft villages.
name written all over them. In typical Argento
Later, Whitmore finds himself in another
fashion, the agents of evil employ very earthly
labyrinth, a surreal underworld filled with ca-
weapons such as butcher’s knives, and the killing
davers wrapped in web cocoons and car wrecks.
of the maid openly draws from Suspiria and In-
The film’s pièce de resistance is the climactic
ferno, with its eerie greens and the sheets around
appearance of the idol. Mitchell identifies the
the poor victim acting like a white screen ready
monster worshipped by the “weavers” in Atlach-
to be ripped open by knives or turning into
Nacha, conceived by Clark Ashton Smith in his
artistic canvas to be sprayed with arterial blood.
934 story The Seven Geases and described as “a
But Giagni maintained that the reference was
darksome form, big as a crouching man but with
subconscious: “I surely admire Argento very
long spider- like members… . There was a kind
much, and I love his cinematic universality as
of face on the squat ebon body, low down amid
well as the capacity of being essential at the same
the several- jointed legs.”7 Sergio Stivaletti’s elab-
time: everyone can identify themselves in his
orate special effects combine the expected trans-
movies, and while I shot Il nido del ragno I real-
formation with optical stop- motion. “I con-
ized how difficult it was!”
vinced the producer that I would do all the
Il nido del ragno exudes an interesting and
mechanical and optical effects in the film,” Sti-
unusual Lovecraftian mood, with its reference
valetti explained some time before its release. “I
to a submerged millennial cult that worships
was entrusted with the creative- technical part
monstrous beings akin to the Providence writer’s
as well as the optical animation effects… . I can
“Old Ones.” In The Complete H.P. Lovecraft Fil-
tell that there’s a monster in the film, that this
mography, one of the few English language books
monster is not how you see it in the end but it
that analyzed the movie thoroughly, author
turns like that through a transformation.”8 The
Charles P. Mitchell went so far as calling it “one
scene is blatantly inspired by a famous moment
of the finest of all films inspired by Lovecraft,”6
in The Thing, with a suitably grotesque baby spi-
which seems a bit too much, given the variety
der who undergoes a horrific metamorphosis,
of influences. Mitchell elaborates on the state-
and the optical stop- motion effects à la Ray Har-
ment, claiming that except for its predictable de-
ryhausen, albeit not impeccable, display Sti-
nouement, Giagni’s film “clearly demonstrates
valetti’s inventiveness and attempt to bring
that Lovecraftian concepts can be adapted to the
something new to Italian fantastique in terms of
screen in a fresh, dramatic and interesting way
visual inventions. Back then, it looked like the
30-year-old Stivaletti was ready for the big step
1988: Il nido
6
and make his directorial debut. However, not
Commercial expectations were high, and
least because of the declining state of Italian cin-
Reteitalia managed to obtain some press expo-
ema, it would take him nine years before finally
sure for the project. Giagni’s name was men-
making his first film as a director, M.D.C.—
tioned together with those of Michele Soavi and
Maschera di cera (a.k.a. Wax Mask, 997).
two more debutants, Fulvio Wetzl (Rorret) and
Compared with many other Italian horror
Andrea Marfori (Il bosco 1), and Il nido del ragno
movies of the decade, Giagni’s direction is truly
was compared to 940s film noirs and to Kafka’s
impressive, as it blends the visual elegance
Metamorphosis (an audacious but hazardous
typical of the Italian masters of the genre and a
term of comparison, actually) in an article which
polished style that is effectively international.
spitefully dismissed Lucio Fulci “and other
The deliberate pacing is never boring, and each
hacks” and welcomed the “new wave” of Italian
scene is carefully developed by way of camera
horror.9 But such expectations were doomed
angles and movements, lighting and frame com-
to be disappointed. Released with an “all audi-
position. A particularly effective moment in this
ences” rating despite its rather gory murder
respect is Alan’s dialogue with Mrs. Kuhn,
scenes and transformations, Il nido del ragno
played by Stéphane Audran: the woman is sitting
performed badly at the box- office and was barely
in her room, rocking an empty cradle on the
noticed by critics.0 On the other hand, the
right side of the frame, while on the left, atop a
Catholic “Segnalazioni Cinematografiche” were
piano, we see a big, weird doll highlighted by a
harsh to the point of insult, stating: “The movie
source of light that falls right on it. What in
doesn’t represent anything worth signaling, if
other hands would have been a rather dull pas-
not as a manic product, a mental test of a de-
sage, aimed at providing some slight character
ranged, ranting mind.”
development and a clue to the mystery, turns
When Il nido del ragno came out, Giagni was
into a strikingly effectively atmospheric scene.
Italian Gothic Horror Films (1980-1989) Page 50