Mario Bava was born on July 31, 1914, in San Remo, Italy. The son of cinematographer/special effects designer Eugenio Bava, young Mario grew up surrounded by film. So strong was his father's influence on him that Mario gave up his initial desire to be a painter to pursue a career as a cinematographer. He got his break in the 1930s, assisting his father initially, and then branching off as a distinguished cinematographer in his own right. By the 1950s, Bava's innovative lighting techniques and his genius at creating realistic special effects on a shoestring cemented him as one of Italy's top film technicians. Hired by his friend, director Riccardo Freda, to provide the lighting and special effects for I VAMPIRI (1956, aka THE DEVIL'S COMMANDMENT), he ended up directing half of the film in a mere two days after Freda had a disagreement with the producers. Historically significant as the first Italian horror film of the sound era, the film was a commercial flop. It was Freda's contention that Italian audiences didn't like the idea of an Italian horror film, so he hid behind the psuedonym Robert Hampton when he directed the tongue-in-cheek CALTIKI -- IL MOSTRO IMMORTALE (1959, aka CALTIKI, THE IMMORTAL MONSTER). Once again, Bava (credited as John Foam, "foam" being the English translation of "bava") was called upon to complete the film, which he also lit and provided the gruesome special effects for, when Freda walked. As a result of rescuing yet another troubled production, Jacques Tourneur's spectacle THE GIANT OF MARATHON (1959), Bava was given the opportunity of directing any film he chose, so long as it didn't cost too much money. Inspired by the recent success of Terence Fisher's Hammer production of DRACULA (1958, aka HORROR OF DRACULA) with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, Bava decided to make a horror film of his own. The result was LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO (1960, aka BLACK SUNDAY/MASK OF SATAN), a film that stood as a perfect synthesis of the Germanic expressionism of the silent era horror films (and its imitative Universal cycle in the 30s and 40s), and the more emboldened expression of violence and sensuality of the Hammer films -- this aspect, combined with Bava's peculiar sense of irony and dark imagination, helped to make LA MASCHERA into a worldwide success with audiences and critics. Bava's subsequent films encompassed everything from gothic horrors (LA FRUSTA E IL CORPO) and pop art fantasies (DIABOLIK) to spaghetti westerns (LA STRADA PER FORT ALAMO) and action epics (GLI INVASORI). No matter what the subject matter, Bava's obsession with key themes like the deceptive nature of appearances and the destructive capacity of human nature shone through, and his wholly distinctive visual style endeared him to a generation of film fanatics. For all of that, his name remains essentially unknown. Based on the testimony of his collaborators, this is perhaps not very surprising. Bava's own view of his talent was colored by a lack of confidence, and his basic shyness prevented him from taking advantage of opportunities which would have made his name more internationally known. Fortunately, recent film sensations like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino have loudly championed his efforts, thereby establishing him as one of the most influential figures in modern cinema. In his film SEI DONNE PER L'ASSASSINO (1964), he created and defined the "giallo" -- a form of the thriller which concentrates on violent death as opposed to prosaic police procedural. ("Giallo," Italian for "yellow," refers to the yellow covers of the Italian crime novels of the era). This film alone has had a tremendous influence on the work of Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci and John Carpenter. Sadly, Bava was not appreciated during his lifetime, and the unfortunate outcome of two pet projects (LISA E IL DIAVOLO, 1972, and CANI ARRABBIATI, 1974) soured his enthusiasm for filmmaking during the latter part of the 1970s. Enlisted by protegee Dario Argento to provide some key effects for his hallucinatory nightmare classic INFERNO (1980), Bava went uncredited on the final print, though Argento has often spoken of his contribution with much gratitude. Sadly, the film proved to be the last on which he ever worked. On April 25, 1980, Mario Bava died of a heart attack at the age of 65. A mere four days later, Bava's better known Anglo counterpart Alfred Hitchcock also passed away. Just as much as Hitchcock, Bava's films have had a tremendous influence on the development of the modern horror/thriller film, yet his genius is only just beginning to be recognized. Bava will perhaps never find the audience acceptance of a Hitchcock -- his films are too stylized, too disturbing and too weird for that type of adulation -- but for serious film buffs, his filmography remains one of the most distinctive and consistently satisfying in the history of film.aDario Argento was born on September 7, 1940 in Rome, Italy. The first born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for film making from his close knit family from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other family members including an aunt who told him frighting bedtime stories. Argento based most of his thriller movies on childhood trauma, yet his own, acording to him, was a normal one. Along with tales spun by his aunt, Argento was impressed by stories from The Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Andersen, and Edgar Allan Poe. Argento started his career writing for various film journal magazines while still in his teens attending a Catholic high school. After graduation, instead of going to college, Argento took a job as a columnist for a roman evening newspaper, Paese Sera. Inspired by the movies, Argento later found work as a screenwriter and wrote several screenplays for a number of films, but the most important were his Western colaborations, which included Une corde, un Colt (1969), and the Sergio Leone masterpiece C'era una volta il West (1968). After its release Argento wrote and directed his first movie, Uccello dalle piume di cristallo, L' (1970) a loose adoption on Frederick Brown's novel "The Screaming Mimi", which was made for his father's film company. Argento wanted to direct the movie himself because he did not want any other director messing up with the production and his screenplay.After "The Bird With the Crystal Plumage" became an international hit, Argento followed up with two more thrillers, Gatto a nove code, Il (1971) and 4 mosche di velluto grigio (1971), both of them were backed by his father Salvatore. Argento then directed the TV drama Testimone oculare (1973) (TV) and the historical TV drama Cinque giornate, Le (1973). Argento then went back to directing the so-called "giallo" thrillers starting with Profondo rosso (1975), a violent mystery-thriller with inspired a number of international directors with the thriller-horror genre. His next work was Suspiria (1977) which was inspired by the Gothic fairy tales of Grimm and Andersen which were collaborated by his girlfriend, screenwriter/actress Daria Nicolodi, who acted in "Profondo Rosso" ("Deep Red") and most of Argento's films from then on to the late 1980s. Argento advanced the unfinished trilogy with Inferno (1980), before returning to the "giallo" thrillers with Tenebre (1982), and then with Phenomena (1985).The lukewarm reviews caused Argento to slip away from directing to producing and co-writing two Lamberto Bava horror flicks _Demoni (1985)_ and Demoni 2 (1986). Argento returned to directing with the "giallo" thriller Opera (1987), which according to him was "a very unpleasant experience". A number of technical problems happened which delayed production, the lead actress Vanessa Redgrave dropped out before filming was to begin, Argento's father Salvatore died during filming, and his long-term girlfriend Daria broke off their relationship. After the commercial box-office failure of "Opera", Dario Argento temporarily settled in the USA where he colaborated with director George A. Romero with the two-part horror-thriller Due occhi diabolici (1990). Argento had previously colaborated with Romero on the horror action thriller Dawn of the Dead (1978). While still living in America, Argento acted in small movie roles and directed another violent mystery thriller Trauma (1993) which starred his youngest daughter Asia Argento from his long-term relationship with Daria Nicolodi. Argento returned to Italy in 1996 where he made a comeback to the horror genre with Sindrome di Stendhal, La (1996) and then by another version of Fantasma dell'opera, Il (1998) (Phantom of the Opera) both of which starred Asia. Most resently, Argento directed the thriller Non ho sonno (2001). His movies may be regarded by some as cheap and overly violent. But second or third vewings reguard him as a talented writer/director with a penchant for original ideas and creative directing.Lucio Fulci, born in Rome in 1927, remains as controversial in death as he was in life. A gifted craftsman with a sharp tongue and a wicked sense of dark humor, Fulci achieved some measure of notoriety for his gore epics of the late 70s and early 80s, but respect was long in coming. Abandoning his early career as a med student, Fulci entered the film industry as a screenwriter and assistant director, working alongside such directors as Steno and Riccardo Freda. Granted his debut feature in 1959, with a seldom seen comedy called I Ladri (The Thieves), Fulci quickly established himself as a prolific craftsman adept at musicals, comedies and westerns. In 1968, Fulci made his first thriller, Una sul'altra (One on Top of the Other), and its success was sufficient to garner the backing for his pet project Beatrice Cenci. Based on a true story, the film details the trial of a young woman accused of murdering her sexually absuive father. A scathing commentary on church and state, the film was the first to give voice to its director's passionate hatred of the Catholic Church. Predictably, the film was misunderstood, and Fulci's career was thrown into jeopardy. Deciding to it would be best to leave his political feelings on the back burner, Fulci pressed on with a series of slickly commercial ventures. In 1971 and 1972, Fulci re-established himself in the thriller arena, directing two excellent gialli: Una lucertolla con la pelle di donna (A Lizard in a Woman's Skin) and Non si sevizia un paperino (Don't Torture the Duckling). The former, with its vivid hallucinations involving murderous hippies and vivisected canines, and the latter, with its psychotic religious zealots and brutal child killings, were -- to say the least -- controversial. In particular, Non si sevizia. . . painted too graphic a portrait of perverted catholicism, and Fulci's career was derailed -- some would say, permanently. Blacklisted (albeit briefly) and despised in his homeland, Fulci at least found work in television before breaking into the international market with Zombi 2 (Zombie), an in-name-only sequel to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, which had been released in Italy as Zombies. With its flamboyant imagery, graphic gore and moody atmospherics, the film established Fulci as a gore director par excellence. It was a role he accepted, but with some reservations. Over the next three years, Fulci plied his trade with finesse and flair, rivaling even the popularity of his "opponent" Dario Argento, with such sanguine classics as Paura nella citta dei morti viventi (The Gates of Hell, 1980) and L'aldila (The Beyond, 1981). Frequently deried as sheer sensationalism, these films (as well as the reviled Lo squartatore di New York / New York Ripper, 1982) are actually intelligently crafted, with sound commentaries on everything from American life to religion. High on vivid imagery and pure cinematic style, Fulci's films from this period represent some of his most popular work, even if they do pale in comparrison to his masterpiece Non si sevizia un paperino (an impossible act to follow, as it happens). At the peak of his most prolific period, Fulci became beset with personal problems and worsening health. Much of his work from the mid-80s onward is disappointing, to say the least, but flashes of his brilliance can be seen in works like Murder Rock (1983) and The Devil's Honey (1986). Il gatto nel cervello (A Cat in the Brain, 1990), one of Fulci's last works, remains one of his most original. Though strapped by budgetary restraints and marred by mediocre photography, the film is wickedly subversive and comical; in playing the lead role (as himself, no less -- a harried horror director who fears that his obsession with sex and violence is a sign of mental disease), Fulci also proves to be an endearing and competent actor (he also cameos in many of his films, frequently as a detective or doctor figure). Alas, while in pre-production for the Dario Argento-produced La maschera di cera (Wax Mask), Lucio Fulci passed away -- somewhat mysteriously -- in March of 1996. A serious diabetic, Fulci inexplicably forgot to take his insulin before retiring to bed; some consider his death a suicide, others consider it an accident, but his many fans all consider it to be a tragedy. Whether one considers him to be a hack or a genius, there's no denying that he was unique.Joe D'Amato was born Aristide Massaccesi on December 15, 1936 in Rome, Italy. At age 14, Massaccesi began working for his father whom was a chief electrician and later the founder of the company A.C.M. By going to school in the daytime, Massaccesi worked afternoons part-time as a stagehand and stage cameraman around various film sets. From 1953 to 1957, after finishing grade school, Massaccesi worked for his father until Mole Richardson, another motion picture company, was looking someone to work as an assistant cameraman and Massaccesi jumped at the opportunity. Starting in 1969, Massaccesi worked as the director of photography as well as assistant director for various films until 1974. Massaccesi's first directing work was in 1972 when he personally directed the low-budget Scansati... a Trinità arriva Eldorado (1972) which was directed by Diego Sparto, under the pseudonym 'Dick Spitfire', which was a commercial failure. Later that same year, Massaccesi directed a western (under the name of Oskar Faradine). Massaccesi then used his assistant's name, Romano Gastaldi, for his next film Fra' tazio da velletri, as well as a few others.Aristide Massaccesi was reluctant to put his real name early in his directing career since he was still the director of photography and didn't want it to be known about his directing skills which might have jeopardized his work. He used his real name for screenplay and cinematography roles, but many alias such as Michael Wotruba to disguise the authorship of some films in order not to mix up the different genres of comedy, western, drama, thrillers and others. Massaccesi may have had more pseudonyms then most directors in Italy and the world.Massaccesi entered the horror film genre with Morte ha sorriso all'assassino, La (1972) under his real name which inspired him to make other gothic horror films. Under a new pseudonym, Joe D'Amato, he directed soft-core, erotic films starring Laura Gemser such as Emanuelle e Françoise le sorelline (1976), Emanuelle e gli ultimi cannibali (1977), Emanuelle in America (1977), Notti erotiche dei morti viventi, Le (1980), and others. Also included were action films such as Duri a morire (1978).Massaccesi, now referring to himself as Joe D'Amato, entered the 'gore' genere films with Buio Omega (1979) which remains his most successful horror film which was shot in four weeks on a low budget entirely at a villa near Bressanone and had an excellent music soundtrack by the rock group Goblin. His next horror film, but less successful, was Antropophagus (1980), directed under the psudo Peter Newton, which starred Tisa Farrow, the star of Zombi 2 (1979), which was another gore genre flick.During the 1980s and 1990s, D'Amato directed over 100 hard-core sex films for the Italian video market, although under his many pseudonyms he continued to direct and produce other films, one of which was Aquarius (1987) directed by Michele Soavi which, under his real name, Massaccesi served as the producer. D'Amato then directed two Ator L'invincible films which was written by Jose Maria Sanchex (under the pseudonym Sherry Russel). The violent, hard-core Caligola: La storia mai raccontata (1981) directed under the pseudonym David Hills, was a commercial exploitation of the successful film by Tinto Brass.D'Amato's other films during the 1980s were Paradisco blu, and violent adventures films such as Deep Blood (1989) which were filmed in Florida. D'Amato directed Ghosthouse (La Casa 3). Some of D'Amato's greatest successes abroad were his films L'alcova and Pomeriggio caldo (1987), as well as the horror-thriller Paura nel buio (Hitcher in the Dark).But his long film career came to an abrupt end when, in January 1999, he suffered an unexpected and fatal heart attack at his home in Rome. He was 62. Joe D'Amato (Aristide Massaccesi) had left his part in Italian cinema as a talented director, scriptwriter, producer and cinematographer with more than a dozen different aliases to his work.
