Running time: 2 minutes. Aired on August
of contemporary taste. The music scores were
2, .
written by Simon Boswell. It took a couple of
years before they were eventually aired during
When discussing his move from the big to
prime time in August , on Italia .
the small screen, Lamberto Bava explained:
Una notte al cimitero—Bava’s original title
People in the movie industry, up to a certain point,
was Dentro il cimitero (Inside the Cemetery)—
thought of television as an adversary. Whereas I
was the first to be aired, and it came as a shock
made some assessment… . Looking at the TV ratings,
for those who had in mind the savage bloodshed
back then, you could see that those products that did
of the Dèmoni films. The story, about five
badly were seen by at least two million viewers. Far
teenagers (including Beatrice Ring, Karl Zinny,
more people could see your work on television, and
and Gianmarco Tognazzi), who steal goods
so a genre which has always been very important to
from a store and then make a bet to stay a night
me, the Fantastic—I’m not just speaking about
in a cemetery inside a cursed crypt, to collect a
horror, but Fantastic, which is a wider genre—could
treasure, relied heavily on humor. Bava defended
reach a much wider audience.
this choice, explaining that first and foremost
Silvio Berlusconi’s company Reteitalia was
the products “had to avoid being too “heavy,”
willing to invest in horror after the huge com-
and should not be exceedingly gory; at the same
mercial success of Dèmoni and Dèmoni 2, not
time, they had to have a somewhat relaxed ap-
to mention the many foreign films released the-
proach, with some tongue- in-cheek moments.
atrically in Italy. The home video market as well
I’m not saying “comic,” but something that
showed that the genre was among the most pop-
would release tension—which, however, you
ular among consumers, and several companies
never get to find on television… .”3
had a large part of their catalog devoted to
The film had received its baptism of fire a
horror and the fantastique. Berlusconi’s TV net-
couple of years earlier, in October 7, at the
work was quick to follow the trend, and horror
Sitges Film Festival in Spain. It was introduced
movies became a staple of its schedule, especially
by the director himself, who warned the audi-
on the channel “Italia ,” aimed specifically at
ence that what they were going to see was not
younger audiences.
supposed to be a picture for theatrical release.
News that Reteitalia would be financing
It didn’t help much, as Una notte al cimitero was
“Brivido giallo,” a series of five made- for-TV
heavily booed, with a pale- faced Bava sitting in
films directed by Lamberto Bava, came in July
the audience. The Catalonian newspaper La
6. “These will be low- budget products, signed
Vanguardia commented the memorable screen-
by young authors who should be able to rejuve-
ing as follows:
nate the movie business,” Reteitalia’s executive
for Italian productions Massimiliano Fasoli
Rarely we have seen the audience scream for a film’s
commented when announcing the new films
heroes’ death, but this is what happened. During the
and telefilms to be produced by the company.2
screening of Graveyard Disturbance by Lamberto
In addition to “Brivido giallo,” another significant
Bava, a sector bawled, another was outraged and the
investment was the TV comedy series I ragazzi
other threw down the simultaneous translation
della 3°C (The Boys in Class 3C), set in a high
equipments. The five oh- so-very-cute young Italian
school and directed by Dino Risi’s son Claudio—
fashion models spent over one hour inside a crypt lit
like a carnival, repeating the same dialogue over and
a clear sign of the target audience these products
over, getting lost without moving from the site and
would be aimed at.
not believing at all (thank goodness) their misadven-
The series, which eventually comprised
ture. The dead (whose faces are the only—badly—
four (instead of five) films co- written by Dardano
made-up part) run away from them, and every now
Sacchetti and produced by Luciano Martino’s
and then a silly joke comes up, pretending (?) to be
Dania Film, was shot between 7 and . The
parody. Luckily, the detestable protagonists end up
four TV movies—Una notte al cimitero, Per sem-
arrested by the “carabinieri,” an experience that many
Made-for-TV Films
20
wished for the director, invited by the festival
project, asked me if it was still available. I said yes
together with one of the “actors,” Ugo Tognazzi’s son.4
and gave it to him. Fulci, who was jealous about Lam-
berto (whom he didn’t hold in any esteem) making
The second episode, Per sempre was an-
a film he cared a lot about, came out saying that the
other old script by Sacchetti, about a pregnant
project was his… . Fact is, in that moment he was ill,
woman, Linda (Gioia Scola), who kills her hus-
in disgrace, with money problems, and back from
band with the help of her lover, Carlo (David
very bad experiences such as Zombi 3.6
Brandon). Eight years later an unknown drifter
named Marco (Urbano Barberini) stops at Linda
Next was La casa dell’orco, starring Virginia
and Carlo’s inn by the lake and asks for a job.
Bryant (seen in Dèmoni 2, and Fulci’s original
But he seems to know far too many things about
choice for the leading role in Aenigma), Paolo
Linda’s dead husband. As Bava noted, script-
Malco, Sabrina Montorsi and Sabrina Ferilli
wise, it had the most cinematic strength and im-
(the latter soon to become one of Italy’s top ac-
pact of the four. It starred Gioia Scola, Urbano
tresses). The story bore more than passing sim-
Barberini and David Brandon.
ilarities to Quella villa accanto al cimitero, which
The episode caused some controversy, for
Bava Jr. at a certain point was slated to direct.
Lucio Fulci claimed the original idea was his
In fact, as the director himself explained, the
own:
script for La casa dell’orco was based on Sac-
chetti’s original one for Quella villa accanto al
One day I told (Dardano) the story of Evil Comes
cimitero, which had been liberally altered by
Back, a sequel on a fantastic note to The Postman Al-
Fulci. But Sacchetti had a different version:
ways Rings Twice, and he wro
te it up and proposed
it several times over to producers with my name on
Quella villa accanto al cimitero and La casa dell’orco
it as director, and then, one day, he registered it with
are not the same story, but they are part of my poetics
his name on it! (laughs) I later found out that he’d
regarding home and children: a recurring theme
sold it to a friend of mine—[Luciano] Martino—but
which I have explored several times with different
in view of our past friendship I decided not to sue
shades, but also with assonances. These are stories
him. I just broke off all relations with him.5
that came from my own life in this great country
Sacchetti’s version of the story goes as follows:
house that had a strange fame and was inhabited by
a disturbing presence. So, let’s say that the feeling be-
It is one of the most painful moments in my relation-
hind these movies is the same … the house had a first
ship with Fulci. We hadn’t been speaking to each
cellar, from which a staircase leading to a second cel-
other for some years. Then one day he called me. He
lar came down for more than fifteen meters, dug into
and Roberto Gianviti were trying to put together a
rock. After the electrical system was interrupted, that
story about sex and ghosts … they were both very
staircase and that second cellar remained in darkness
confused, because they didn’t know whether to em-
for eternity. No one knew what was below. Only my
phasize the sex or the ghosts. I attended meetings
grandmother dared go down those stairs. I stayed on
with them for about a week. I told them I didn’t like
the first steps handing a lit candle and saw her dis-
their story, and Fulci asked me what I was working
appear in the dark. I only heard noises. So the films
on. I told him I had written a sort of sequel to The
are different, but behind them there is the same emo-
Postman Always Rings Twice. Fulci read it and liked
tion I experienced at different moments and with
it very much. He found a producer who bought the
different moods.7
story and commissioned me and Elisa Briganti to
write the script… . After I delivered the screenplay,
The last in the series, A cena col vampiro,
the producer didn’t pay me and said he was not able
was openly parodistic, and packed full of movie
to make the film… . Fulci brought the script to an-
references, starring George Hilton as the suave
other producer, who … went around for some time
director- cum-vampire Jurek, who stays young
trying to make it into a film, but to no avail. The
like Dorian Gray while his ageing self is trapped
magic moment of Italian horror film had waned, and
in an old black- and-white film. It was also the
so had Fulci’s, after the financial catastrophe of Con-
only one shot in a typical Gothic location, the
quest and other mistakes. Fulci kept on carrying the
Moorish- style Castle Sammezzano near Flo-
script around, which was beautiful. I was against this
rence.
… unbeknownst to me, he had an English translation
done by Brett Halsey, promising him the leading role.
The very title itself, “Brivido giallo” (Giallo
I got angry and finally broke off my relationship
Thrill), which presents the four films as gialli,
with Lucio. A couple of years later, working on the
not as Gothics, is significant. By targeting the
“Brivido giallo” series, we needed one more script to
four films as sticking to the giallo tradition, the
complete the series. Lamberto, who knew about the
producers showed no trust in the Gothic as a
202 Appendix 2
marketing factor, which is understandable. But
a dusty inventory, which can and must be
even the promised thrills were few and far be-
laughed at. Moreover, the gags are littered with
tween.
references to the small screen: for instance, the
From a narrative point of view, pastiche
hunchbacked and idiotic servant in A cena col
and in- jokes aimed at film buffs are the norm.
vampiro is not so much a reworking of Marty
In La casa dell’orco Bava and Sacchetti reprise
Feldman’s Igor in Young Frankenstein, as of Isaia,
almost to the letter the scene of the underwater
a recurring character in the TV sketches starring
room in Inferno, while Una notte al cimitero and
the comic duo Zuzzurro & Gaspare (Andrea
especially A cena col vampiro feature a plethora
Brambilla and Nino Formicola), one of the most
of references and self- references that range from
popular acts in the TV show Drive In,0 also
Mario Bava to Murnau’s Nosferatu and The Fear-
broadcast on Italia . In fact, the actor playing
less Vampire Killers—not forgetting the director’s
both characters is the same.
own Dèmoni, with the idea of the film- within-
In short, the Gothic emerges from these
a-film.
films as a heritage of the past, serviceable as a
Predictably, the most disturbing elements,
background and little more. “We’re at the end of
such as the visionary and violent excesses and
the 20th century, the age of electronics. The
the themes related to transgression (especially
world is full of stuff to be afraid of: pollution,
sexual) were absolutely precluded. For instance,
atomic warfare, AIDS … but not this! It’s all
as Bava explained, La casa dell’orco suffered a lot
papier- maché,” the vampire’s assistant explains
from self- censorship. “An issue in the script was
to a girl who was frightened by the sight of sev-
when the ogre showed up. What could we do
ered limbs, skulls and assorted body parts in A
with it? Had it been a movie … the ogre would
cena col vampiro. Later, the vampire himself says:
eat children, but on TV you couldn’t do that. So
“Nowadays vampires hold a controlling interest
we settled for a “symbolism” of the ogre, with
in large corporations, they fly the Concorde, as
people disappearing.” The odd gory scene, such
evolution has been good to us we have the world
as a heart ripped from a chest by invisible hands
at our feet… .” Despite the appearances, this is
in A cena col vampiro, could be acceptable if in-
not a discourse similar as that of Freda’s I vampiri
serted in an openly humorous context: “I had
or Corrado Farina’s …hanno cambiato faccia.
the alibi of comedy,” the director commented.
The updating of the times has a metafilmic angle
Visually, the results display the serial ap-
(the vampire is a famous horror movie director),
proach to the product. A case in point is the
but this is not a trick to reflect on the present,
recycling of Antonel
lo Geleng’s set- pieces to
and not even to renovate the genre’s archetypes
save on budget: the crypt seen in Una notte al
in an effective way. It is simply a joke, a step be-
cimitero was turned into the ogre’s subterranean
hind, a way for the makers to distance them-
lair in La casa dell’orco. On the other hand, the
selves from what is being told. When Hilton’s
films show a quick disinterest in reimagining
character complains, “You can’t imagine how
and portraying the Gothic genre beyond the
boring a vampire’s life can be,” the nod to the
mere playful and postmodernist rereading of
eternal sadness of the bloodsucker as portrayed
clichés.
in Herzog’s version of Nosferatu is immediately
This is primarily a sign of the new way au-
turned into a joke, as he concludes: “Always in
diences dealt with the genre. Young viewers de-
bed before sunrise, never getting up before sun-
veloped a film buff mentality, and welcomed
set, always sleeping in the same old coffin… . ”
cinephile homages, a recurring element in the
His would- be-victims are not much impressed
highly popular Dylan Dog comics. Horror and
either. “Don’t you have a vampires’ union?” the
the Fantastic were now being perceived as a uni-
skeptical Gianni (Riccardo Rossi) asks.
verse formed by bits and pieces of old and new
The Gothic is presented in its playful and
movies, some sort of a representation which re-
more superficial aspects. Despite the odd literary
combined the same elements in different varia-
reference (such as The Picture of Dorian Gray,
tions. But such a choice shows also a two- faced
which provides the key to the solution in A
relationship with the genre’s archetypes. On the
cena col vampiro) the real blueprints are Hal-
one hand it is parasitic, because TV audiences
loween parties and amusement parks. Signifi-
need stereotyped and easily recognizable refer-
cantly, Antonello Geleng’s impressive set- pieces
ences; on the other, it is detached if not openly
in Una notte al cimitero look less like horror
mocking. The Gothic tradition is represented as
movie material than funhouse paraphernalia.
Made-for-TV Films
203
A compulsory choice, given the average target
own Macabro. Moreover, with Per sempre Lam-
audience: “Up to the 0s moviegoers were
Italian Gothic Horror Films (1980-1989) Page 61