although very valuable, is not 00 percent reli-
were filmed abroad and financed with foreign
able, as sometimes the dates registered don’t
money but helmed by Italian directors. dami-
correspond to the actual ones (see, for instance,
ano damiani’s Amityville II: The Possession
the case of Argento’s Inferno). still, it is useful
(982) was produced by an Italian mogul,
to date a movie’s production properly.
2 A Note on the Entries unlike previous decades, box- office
lease. some of these titles fall flatly into the
grosses were sometimes problematic to find,
Gothic genre, while others feature minor or
due to the lack of proper sources (such as
sparse Gothic elements, so I have decided to
maurizio baroni’s invaluable Platea in piedi
discuss them in a comprehensive essay for the
volumes, which stop at 979) or sometimes
sake of explaining their common production
the unreliability of data. I have taken advan-
history and their main traits and themes, while
tage of various sources, including Roberto
giving much more room to those that have
Poppi’s Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film
proper Gothic qualities. the second appendix
dal 1980 al 1989 and, starting from 985, the
covers Gothic made- for-tv films, with two
issues of the monthly magazine Ciak si gira
series produced by Reteitalia during the
with the list of the year’s top 00 box- office
decade, namely “Brivido giallo” (consisting of
films, but for some of the more obscure titles
four films directed by lamberto bava) and “Le
the grosses were not available.
case maledette” (four films directed by lucio
the entries are listed under their original
Fulci and umberto lenzi). In both appendices,
Italian title, followed by the english title (re-
the entries are arranged in chronological order,
ferring to the u.s. theatrical or video release)
according to their shooting dates; for “Brivido
in brackets and italics. If there was no english
giallo,” they are arranged based upon their
language release, a literal translation is in-
original air date.
cluded, but not set in italics. Please keep in
the information bits provided through-
mind that the films are mentioned throughout
out the text are the result of thorough research
the text under their original Italian title, for
from a variety of sources such as academic
instance Quella villa accanto al cimitero, not
texts and essays and other assorted material
The House by the Cemetery.
(interviews with filmmakers, producers and
the book features two appendices. the
actors, old newspaper articles and reviews,
first covers direct- to-video releases, namely
ministerial papers and archives). Whenever
the eight films of the series “I maestri del
possible, I located and consulted the original
thriller” (a.k.a. “Lucio Fulci presenta”), which
scripts deposited at the luigi Chiarini library
were never submitted to the rating board and
of the Centro sperimentale di Cinematografia
didn’t receive any certificate for theatrical re-
(CsC) in Rome.
Abbreviations
The following abbreviations are used in the credits list for each entry
Crew
dresser; se: special effects; so: sound; soe:
special sound effects; sP: still photographer;
AC: Assistant camera; ACo: Costume as-
sPFX: special make-up effects; ss: script su-
sistant; ACon: Assistant continuity; Ad: As-
pervisor/script girl; stC: stunt Coordinator;
sistant director; Ae: Assistant editor; Amu:
svFX: special visual effects; W: Wardrobe/
Assistant makeup; APd: Production design as-
seamstress.
sistant; Artd: Art director; Asd: Assistant set
designer; b: boom man; bb: best boy; C: Cam-
era; Chel: Chief electrician; CHoR: Choreog-
Production
rapher; Co: Costumes; Con: Continuity; d:
directed by; diald: dialogue coach/dialogue
Adm: Administrator; AP: Associate pro-
director; doP: director of photography;
ducer; eP: executive producer; Gm: General
dubd: dubbing director; e: editor; el: elec-
manager; PA: Production assistant; PAcc: Pro-
trician; GA: Gaffer; Hair: Hairdresser; KG: Key
duction Accountant; PCo: Production Coor-
grip; lt: lighting technician; m: music; mA:
dinator; Pm: Production manager; PR: Pro-
master of arms; mix: sound mixer; mu:
duction runner; PRod: Produced by; PPs:
makeup; oe: optical effects; Pd: Production
Post-Production supervisor; Ps: Production
designer; PrA: Press attache; Prm: Property
supervisor; Pse: Production secretary; PseA:
master; s: story; 2ndAd: 2nd Assistant
Production secretary assistant; um: unit man-
director; sC: screenplay; sd: set decoration/set
ager; uP: unit publicist.
3
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Italian Gothic Horror Films,
980–989
The films are listed alphabetically within each year.
Notes are given at the end of each entry.
1980
Blow Job (Soffio erotico) (Blow Job—Erotic
Countess Angela, who helps Stefano pick a win-
Whiff)
ning horse. In return she asks them for a ride to
D: Alberto Cavallone. S and SC: Alberto
her villa in the countryside because she wants Ste-
Cavallone; DOP: Maurizio Centini; M: Ubaldo
fano to help her “pass the gate.” During the trip
Continiello; E: Alberto Cavallone; AD: Michelan-
they meet some surreal characters, including a
gelo Pepe; AC: Carlo Marotti; ChEl: Armando
biker whose head looks like a skull. At the villa,
Dramis; El: Costante Martinelli, Aldo Gentili; KG:
a sinister- looking butler named Alphonse awaits
Gaetano Barbera; G: Aldo Negretti; MU: Silvana
them. Strange things ensue: Angela puts a spell
Petri; SO: Pietro Spadoni; SS: Emilio Taliano.
on Diana, who becomes ill; Stefano goes looking
Cast: Danilo Micheli (Stefano Vicinelli), Anna
for a doctor and meets a young, beautiful woman
Massarelli (Diana), Anna Bruna Cazzato (An-
named Sibilla, who gives him a magic powder to
gela), Mirella Venturini (Sibilla), Valerio Isidori
cure Diana. The Countess and Diana leave Ste-
(Alphonse), Antonio Mea (Hotel Concierge);
fano alone in the villa and go to a ball; in the mid-
uncredited: Martial Boschero (Hotel Customer),
dle of the night, Sibilla comes out of a mirror and
Guya Lauri Filzi (Woman at Party), Hassen
takes Stefano to a cave where she hypnotizes him,
Jabar (Masked Party Guest), Pauline Teutscher
and they make love. Then Stefano finds hi
mself
(Suicidal Woman). PROD: Martial Boschero for
again in the villa, in the middle of an inexplicable
Anna Cinematografica [and Pietro Belpedio, un-
ritual which turns into an orgy: Diana, seemingly
credited, for Distribuzione Cinematografica 3];
in a hypnotic trance, dances with the guests in
PM: Martial Boschero; PSe: Maria Ludovica
turn, regardless of him. The mysterious biker
Bologna. Country: Italy. Filmed in Riolo Terme,
shows up and turns out to be a woman with a
Ravenna and Cesena, Italy. Running time: 80 min-
skull mask; she starts a primitive tribal dance,
utes (m. 290). Visa n. 74774 (.7.980); Rating:
and all those she passes by drop dead, until she
V.M.8. Release dates: .7.980 (Italy), 6.2.
and Diana are the only ones left in the room.
984 (Spain); Distribution: Distribuzione Cine-
Diana becomes mad at Stefano and falls out of a
matografica 3. Domestic gross: 42,37,000 lire.
window. Stefano is left alone with Angela: she and
Also known as: Blow Job—Dolce lingua (Italy, al-
Sibilla are one and the same, a powerful witch
ternate title); Blow Job (Trabajo de absorción)
who absorbs her lovers’ energy in order to rein-
(Spain).
carnate into a new body. Stefano confronts and
Stefano and Diana, two young and penniless
apparently destroys them by shattering the huge
actors, flee from a hotel without paying the bill,
mirror in the salon. Then he suddenly finds him-
taking advantage of a woman’s suicide. Later, at
self back at the hotel. The woman who has com-
a racetrack, they meet a scarred older woman,
mitted suicide is revealed to be Diana. Amidst the
6 1980 Blow crowd, Stefano glimpses Sibilla and Alphonse,
for free to the production but asked to be on set
staring at him…
when the explicit sex scenes were shot. The ex-
Always a controversial filmmaker, who had
treme poverty shows throughout the film, shot
managed to cut for himself a niche as a singular
on a shoestring and harmed by inadequate ac-
auteur whose works blended eroticism, politics
tors, especially the bovine- looking Dario
(especially Third World- related themes) and ex-
Micheli. Yet the result is strangely fascinating,
perimental film style, by the late 970s Alberto
and certainly doesn’t deserve the crass contempt
Cavallone had made the transition between
(and lack of critical depth) reserved to it by some
erotic cinema to hardcore porn. “It is a deliber-
biased historians of Italian porn.
ately pornographic film, but with a political con-
The director’s mystical and esoteric inter-
tent. A movie about violence as a means of com-
ests are well in evidence here. The story is spiced
munication and knowledge in a repressive
with literary references that vary from Carlos
society.” This is how he announced Blue Movie
Castaneda’s writings to Aldous Huxley’s 94
(978), labeling it as “Italy’s first hard- core
essay on drugs, The Doors of Perception. As the
film… . The characters discuss like in a progres-
director explained, “the whole film was focused
sive comic book, shoot, copulate and sodomize,
on the possibility of escaping from our own bod-
kill and ejaculate in a mixture where everything
ies, by modifying sensorial perceptions through
is dream. The only reality is sex, with its func-
the use of drugs or self- concentration.” Blue
tions pushed to the extreme.”2 But his choice was
Movie conveyed a stark, grim and matter- of-fact
also dictated by the rapidly shrinking market,
view on the contemporary world, in which con-
and the impossibility to mount the projects he
sumerism leads to alienation and madness; Blow
wanted to make (such as Dream, a violent rape-
Job, on the other hand, is a metaphysical and
and-revenge tale set entirely in a department
elusive, even escapist fantasy which nevertheless
store). Even though his films—most notably
exudes the same pessimistic feel. Significantly,
Spell—Dolce mattatoio, 977—were advertised
at one point Sibilla says: “The world is tired, its
as Italy’s answer to Walerian Borowczyk and
end is near, people have lost the will to live… . ”
Dušan Makavejev, there was little or no room
Dialogue was never Cavallone’s biggest
for him as an independent director who worked
asset, and such lines as, “I don’t know what got
outside Rome.
me today, I feel like a bitch in heat” are definitely
Following Blue Movie, Cavallone split his
not Shakespeare. But the protagonists’ words
activity as a filmmaker into two. On the one
convey the director’s disconsolate vision of the
hand, he worked on television, returning to his
present and link the film to his previous works.
origins as a documentarist with the reportage
Whereas Blue Movie was about a world smoth-
Dentro e fuori la classe, broadcast in three parts
ered by commodities such as Coca- Cola and
(respectively titled Io sono … capisci?, Boh! and
Marlboro cigarettes, the characters in Blow
Job cannot see beyond the merely phenomenal
27 to December 2, 979, to very positive
vision that today’s consumerist society has in-
reviews.3 Parallel to that, he was now fully dab-
stilled in them, and discuss even death in down-
bling in hardcore porn.
to-earth, materialistic terms. In the early scenes,
Shot during the Summer of 9794 with the
set in a cheap hotel, we meet the protagonists,
working title La strega nuda (The Naked
two young, penniless actors, Stefano (Micheli)
Witch), Blow Job was an extremely rushed pro-
and Diana (Anna Massarelli), who see a woman
duction, officially financed by Martial Boschero’s
throw herself out of a window from the room
company Anna Cinematografica but in fact pro-
above. Their reaction is telling: “We are made
duced by Pietro Belpedio, one of the pioneers of
of guts, of dampish matter,” Stefano comments,
Italian porn with his company Distribuzione
cynically comparing the dead woman on the
Cinematografica 3. Boschero—the brother of
floor to “an overturned bowl of spaghetti with
actress Dominique Boschero and one of Caval-
lots of sauce.” Thus, when the witch talks about
lone’s closer collaborators—had a cameo as a
a “key” to “open a gate,” referring to a threshold
customer at the hotel in one of the early scenes.
to another dimension, Stefano and Diana can
Filming took place almost entirely in a villa near
only interpret her words literally, unaware of
Riolo Terme, in North- East Italy, near the city
their real significance, because, as Sibilla tells
of Faenza. Belpedio recalled that the villa be-
Stefano: “You, like all the others, refuse to see
longed to a dirty old man, who gave it almost
beyond the images of your eyes… . ” They are
1980: Blow
7
empty, desperately void inside: it’s no surprise
hippie woman who exudes an earthier, sunny
that Stefano confesses: “I have many air bubbles
sexuality, yet equally mystical and mysterious.
in my head… . Many white air bubbles.” But
The result at times recalls Jean Rollin’s
Blow Job’s ordinary, squalid everyday world
films—take the sequence where Sibilla emerges
proves permeable to forces and presences be-
from the bathroom mirror and leads Stefano
yond our comprehension. Magic is all around
away in the night, which has the same striking
us, as are doors (and mirrors, like in Inferno) to
naivety as the grandfather clock scene in Le fris-
other dimensions.
son des vampires (970). Cavallone was especially
Blow Job is the closest the director came to
proud of the ensuing sequence where the witch
making a proper horror movie: at times, it al-
brings Stefano to a cave and makes him drink a
most looks like a live- action version of one of
magic potion, especially the 360° shots following
the adults- only comics made in the 970s, such
Sibilla from the man’s point of view, as she
as Oltretomba or Storie Blu. Cavallone’s take on
moves in circles around him like a predator and
the main themes of Italian Gothic—the haunted
then hypnotizes him with snake- like moves.
house, the warped space/time continuity, the
Other parts are definitely less successful: the ball
gullible male hero, the duality between animate
sequence in the darkened hall, with the enig-
and inanimate—is imbued with the director’s
matic participants carrying torches while danc-
literary and cinephile tastes, with at times strik-
ing a waltz and Alphonse directing a spotlight
ing results. The recurring character of the skull-
on them, and Stefano vainly trying to catch
masked biker echoes Jean Cocteau’s Orphée
Diana, looks like an excerpt from some thread-
(90), and the plot itself is basically a reworking