Italian Gothic Horror Films (1980-1989)

by Roberto Curti

  “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 207. 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.

  202), 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), 47.

  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