“Lucio had just returned from the Philippines,
In the same interview, Bianchi claimed that “I
he was not well, and had a huge belly,” he re-
wouldn’t say I shot half the film, but almost,” and
called. The inflated belly was a consequence of
complained that Fulci never even thanked him.
the liver disease which plagued him during the
However, Michele De Angelis pointed out that
shooting of Zombi 3.
Bianchi was on the set for only a couple of days,7
The producers accepted Tessicini’s sugges-
which would obviously reduce greatly his con-
tion, even though initially Fulci was to act
tribution to the film.
merely as supervisor, but he submitted an idea
In a French interview, Fulci described the
6 Appendix 1
film as follows: “It’s as if a bomb exploded in
the director pointed out: “Have you ever thought
Pasolini’s film Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma,”
why there are so many useless shots in Quando
but the most obvious connection is with the
Alice ruppe lo specchio or Sodoma’s Ghost…? So
Nazisploitation thread of the mid–70s. The
as to get to the minimum running time of one
script borrows ideas from other sources as
hour and 22 minutes … there were not enough
well: the scene where the protagonists vainly
money to shoot more scenes (and anyway, it was
try to escape from the villa but always find
a bet with myself)!”20
themselves back in front of its castle is lifted
But the budget constraints were once again
from The Legacy. That said, the result is less than
overwhelming. The story takes place in an un-
mediocre. Fulci belabors one of his favorite
likely, depopulated America which looks very
themes, that of time, albeit in a much less suc-
much like Italian suburbia, and according to
cessful way than in his subsequent made- for-
Michele De Angelis many extraordinary ideas
TV film, La casa nel tempo, and he throws away
in the script didn’t come out well on screen or
the most interesting idea, about the curse having
were simply discarded for lack of time and
to be broken only by means of an old film reel
money. Fulci eventually got fed up, and during
(a concept reprised also in Lamberto Bava’s A
shooting he had many arguments with the pro-
cena col vampiro). The dialogue is awful, espe-
ducers, who on the other hand were unhappy
cially the phony lingo spoken by the young pro-
with the director being constantly behind
tagonists (who are headed to Paris but have surf
schedule (and not helped in this regard by his
boards atop their jeep!), the actors are atrocious,
d.o.p. Silvano Tessicini, who was good but quite
and the low budget is painfully evident in the
slow).
ridiculous special effects.
As with other films in the late phase of
In accordance with one of Italian Gothic’s
Fulci’s career, Quando Alice ruppe lo specchio has
main topics, Fulci’s ghosts are an embodiment
a literary, philosophical core to it. Despite the
of the main characters’ hidden desires and ob-
over- the-top gory scenes (with the most grue-
sessions, but this results in bargain- basement
some one placed near the beginning, as if to fool
erotic scenes, filmed like a cheap soft porn flick.
the audience into thinking they are watching a
The most bizarre bit has a Nazi officer playing
brain- dead splatterfest), it is an original medi-
pool while a girl is lying with her legs spread on
tation on the theme of the double and identity.
the billiard table and preparing to shoot a cue
The director’s open dislike toward psychoanaly-
ball right into her crotch. It’s unlikely Fulci knew
sis notwithstanding, the idea of a man suffering
Alberto Cavallone’s 77 surrealist drama Spell—
a split personality and becoming dissociated
Dolce mattatoio, which features a similar scene,
with his own shadow seemingly draws from
but Cavallone’s version is much more powerful
Otto Rank’s study The Double, who had dis-
than his cheap attempt at transgression. The
cussed the way “primitive man considers his
director had some problems with an actress,
shadow as something real, as a being attached
Teresa Razzaudi, who at first refused to perform
to him, and he is confirmed in his view of it as
nude scenes, much to Fulci’s displeasure. After
a soul by the fact that the dead person … simply
many discussions, the scene of her being
no longer casts a shadow,”2 and to Jung’s concept
seduced by a Nazi ghost was partially shot with
of the shadow as the hostile double, “that hidden,
a body double.
repressed, for the most part inferior and guilt-
Filming for Quando Alice ruppe lo spec-
laden personality”22 which stands in opposition
chio—with the working title Licia ha rotto lo
to the rationally- governed ego. Aenigma featured
specchio (Licia Has Broken the Mirror)—started
a scene in which a narcissistic gym teacher is at-
just three days after finishing Sodoma’s Ghost
tacked and strangled by his own mirror image,
and went on for four weeks, starting on June 22,
a moment which vaguely recalls Giacomo Rossi
, around Rome and at Vides studios. To
Stuart’s encounter with his evil double in Oper-
save on the budget, some interiors were shot in
azione paura. Here, Lester Parsons—a modern-
Nannerini’s own villa. This time Fulci ap-
day Bluebeard who seduces, kills, robs of their
proached the project with much more care, even
wealth and sometimes eats rich women—is
though the resort to long takes (such as the
framed by his own shadow, who leaves vital clues
opening scene, which amusingly references to
for the police to identify him.
Citizen Kane) must not be seen as a stylistic
The main problem is that the concept
choice but rather as a cost- cutting gimmick, as
doesn’t stand up for the entirety of a feature
Direct-to-Video Releases
7
film, hence the many stretched out sequences
closer to Alien 2—Sulla Terra (0, Ciro Ip-
of Lester seducing his horrid victims (who all
polito) than to La chiesa, with a final twist bor-
have physical defects, a nod to Siodmak’s The
rowed from Rats—Notte di terrore, before Lenzi
Spiral Staircase, 46) and dispatching their ca-
reprises the “it-was-all-a-dream” circular ending
davers, which are filled with a grotesque humor
of his own Incubo sulla città contaminata.
not unlike Buñuel’s Ensayo de un crimen, well-
Unbeknownst to Alfieri
, Fulci, in accor-
served by Brett Halsey’s spot- on, self- ironic per-
dance with Nannerini and Lucidi, made another
formance. If anything, the film shows Fulci’s
film, Il gatto nel cervello, assembling most of
growing interest toward the abstract and the
the gory footage from the other titles in the
metaphysical, which clashes jarringly with his
“I maestri del thriller” series and adding new
habit of indulging in hyperviolent scenes: it is
scenes in which he played himself, a horror film
not particularly good, but it’s undoubtedly per-
director who suffers from nightmares and goes
sonal.
to a psychiatrist, unaware that the latter is a
Umberto Lenzi’s Le porte dell’inferno was
serial killer. It was some sort of revenge against
the last to be made. As the Tuscan director re-
Alfieri, who had given him an advance to make
called,
two more low- budget movies. The producer
sued him and won the trial, but Fulci was
Fulci was contacted by Dania to direct two films of
already dead by then.
the series “Le case maledette,” and after shooting Il
The eight films were released to home
fantasma di Sodoma and Quando Alice ruppe lo spec-
video as “Lucio Fulci presenta” (Lucio Fulci
chio he gave up and left the project. Then the execu-
Presents) on the label Formula Home Video.
tive producer, Alfieri, called me and offered me to
Alfieri sued the company too, since he owned
make the two films that Lucio would have to shoot.
the rights to the home video market. Formula
I accepted out of friendship, but I suggested a story
went bankrupt and Avo Film purchased the
of mine. I was to direct two films for them. The first
was Le porte dell’inferno, while the second was Paura
rights and rereleased them to VHS and DVD.
nel buio which eventually I made with Massaccesi.23
Since none of them had been submitted to the
rating board, any theatrical release was out of
Lenzi also realized immediately that the budget
the question.
was too scant, in his words “not enough even
for a one- hour TV movie.” However, there is
NOTES
little to salvage in the story about a group of
speleologists (including Barbara Cupisti and Gi-
1. Albiero and Cacciatore, Il terrorista dei generi, 362.
acomo Rossi- Stuart, the latter in his last movie
2. The chronology is confirmed by Michele De Angelis,
role) who descend into a cave to help their
who points out that after Massacre the crew did minor
reshoots (two or three days) for Bloody Psycho, and that
wounded colleague (Gaetano Russo) and find
after Luna di sangue a whole week was spent shooting ad-
out that the place is haunted by the spirits of
ditional scenes for Hansel e Gretel under Fulci’s supervision.
seven monks burnt at the stake 700 years before,
Michele De Angelis, email interview with the author, May
who swore to take their revenge. Lenzi’s script
20.
3. Romagnoli, L’occhio del testimone, 35.
(credited to his wife Olga Pehar) does little to
4. Albiero and Cacciatore, Il terrorista dei generi, 365.
establish a convincing Gothic mood, and stum-
5. De Angelis, email interview with the author.
bles upon laughable ideas, such as a copy of Um-
6. Albiero and Cacciatore, Il terrorista dei generi, 365.
berto Eco’s best- selling mystery Il nome della
7. Leandro Lucchetti, email interview with the author,
rosa showing up in a couple of scenes to provide
November 207. All the quotes from Lucchetti come from
this interview.
a cultural basis for the plot’s references to here-
8. Even though Alfieri claimed that Bloody Psycho was
sies. Ditto for the resort to numerology to spice
submitted to the rating board to obtain a regular certificate
up the medieval prophecy which provides the
for theatrical distribution, there is no record of this in min-
excuse for the graphic deaths that follow. The
isterial papers.
9. Stefano Ippoliti and Matteo Norcini, “Mario Bianchi.
story proceeds with the expected gory body
‘Il mio cinema pizza e fichi,’” Cine70 e dintorni #5, Summer
count, as the speleologists are offed one by one
2004, 2.
while wandering around the labyrinthine caves
10. Albiero and Cacciatore, Il terrorista dei generi, 362.
and tunnels: one scene featuring poisonous spi-
11. Ibid., 366.
12. Romagnoli, L’occhio del testimone, 35.
ders even pays reference to Fulci’s L’aldilà (and
13. Marcello Garofalo, “Uno, nessuno, centofulci,” Seg-
Lenzi would reprise a similar moment in La casa
nocinema #65, January/February 4.
delle anime erranti). However, the result comes
14. Albiero and Cacciatore, Il terrorista dei generi, 366.
Appendix 1
15. Ippoliti and Norcini, “Mario Bianchi. ‘Il mio cinema
20. Romagnoli, L’occhio del testimone, 35.
pizza e fichi,’” 2.
21. Otto Rank, The Double. A Psychoanalytic Study
16. Ibid.
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, [4]
17. De Angelis, email interview with the author.
202), 3.
18. Maccaron and Nadjar, “Lucio Fulci: ‘Je suis un mon-
22. Carl Gustav Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections
stre,’” 55.
(New York: Pantheon Books, 63), 47.
19. Albiero and Cacciatore, Il terrorista dei generi, 36.
23. Gomarasca, Umberto Lenzi, 260.
Appendix 2
Made-for-TV Films
“Brivido giallo”
AC: Enzo Frattari, Giancarlo Battaglia; ChEl:
(Giallo Thrill)
Domenico Cauli, Franco Rachin, Stefano Mari-
D: Lamberto Bava. DOP: Gianlorenzo
noi; KG: Franco Micheli, Luigi Orso; SP:
Battaglia, Gianfranco Transunto; M: Simon
Roberto Nicosia Vinci, Francesco Narducci; W:
Boswell, Mario Tagliaferri; E: Mauro Bonanni,
Mirella Pedetti, Anna Cirilli; AE: Carlo Bar-
Daniele Alabiso; PD, ArtD: Antonello Geleng;
tolucci, Rossana Cingolani, Mario Cinotti, Sil-
CO: Valentina Di Palma; AD: Fabrizio Bava,
vana Di Legge; SS: Paola Bonelli.
Franco Fantasia; MU: Fabrizio Sforza, Luigi
PROD: Dania Film (Rome), Reteitalia
Ciminelli, Barbara Morosetti; SPFX: Fabrizio
(Milan). EP: Massimo Manasse, Marco Grillo
Sforza, Rosario Prestopino; Hair: Giancarlo
Spina; PS: Francesco Fantacci, Renato Fié; PSe:
Marin; PrM: Roberto Ricci, Romano Renzi; SO:
Alberto Brusco; ADM: Anna de Pedys; DubD:
Giuliano Piermarioli; Mix: Alberto Doni, Ro-
Gianni Giuliano.
mano Checcacci; SE: Angelo Mattei, Paolo Ricci;
Episodes from “Brivido giallo” are arranged in chronological order
accord
ing to their original air dates
Una notte al cimitero (Graveyard Disturbance)
Running time: 3 minutes. Aired on August
S: Dardano Sacchetti; SC: Dardano Sac-
5, .
chetti, Lamberto Bava. Cast: Gregory Lech
Thaddeus (Robin), Lea Martino (Tina), Beatrice
La casa dell’orco (Demons III: The Ogre)
Ring (Micky), Gianmarco Tognazzi (Gianni),
S: Dardano Sacchetti; SC: Dardano Sac-
Karl Zinny (David), Lino Salemme (Tavern
chetti, Lamberto Bava. Cast: Virginia Bryant
Keeper), Gianpaolo Saccarola (Man at Tavern),
(Cheryl), Paolo Malco (Tom), Sabrina Ferilli
Fabrizio Bava (Shop Assistant), Mirella Pedetti
(Anna), Patrizio Vinci (Bobby), Stefania Mon-
(Shop Assistant); uncredited: Lamberto Bava
torsi (Maria), Alice Di Giuseppe (Young Cheryl),
(Shop Keeper).
David Flosi (The Ogre), Alex Serra (Dario, the
Running time: 3 minutes. Aired on August
Artist); uncredited: Lamberto Bava (Man in Bar),
, . Also known as: Zombies des Grauens
Roberto Dell’Acqua (Man in Bar).
(West Germany)
Running time: 6 minutes. Aired on August
22, . Also known as: The Ogre (International
Per sempre (a.k.a. Fino alla morte) (Until Death)
English language title); Demons 3; The Ogre
S: Elisa Briganti, Dardano Sacchetti; SC:
(UK); Ghost House II (Germany); El ogro (Spain);
Dardano Sacchetti, Lamberto Bava. Cast: Gioia
Una extraña casa macabra (Argentina).
Scola [Gioia Maria Tibiletti] (Linda), David
Brandon (Carlo), Giuseppe [Stefano] De Sando
A cena col vampiro (Dinner with the Vampire)
(Carabinieri Marshall), Roberto Pedicini (Luca),
S: Luciano Martino; SC: Dardano Sacchetti,
Marco Vivio (Alex), Urbano Barberini (Marco).
Lamberto Bava; SVFX: Sergio Stivaletti. Cast:
200 Appendix 2
George Hilton (Jurek), Patrizia Pellegrino (Rita),
pre, La casa dell’orco, and A cena col vampiro—
Riccardo Rossi (Gianni), Isabel Russinova, Va-
dealt with characters and themes typical of the
leria Milillo (Sasha), Yvonne Sciò (Monica),
Gothic genre: the vampire (A cena col vampiro),
Daniele Aldrovandi (Gilles), Igor Zalewsky
the haunted house (La casa dell’orco), the ghost
(Gilles), Roberto Pedicini, Letizia Ziaco (Nadia),
story in different forms (Per sempre, Una notte
Stefano Sabelli (Matteo).
al cimitero), all revised through the parameters
Italian Gothic Horror Films (1980-1989) Page 60