All language subtitles for The Director Who Didn’t Like Blood- Interview with Edoardo Margheriti (2024)

My father adored Gothic cinema,

while he didn't really like
splatter movies and

horror films which relied
too much on blood and violence.

He loved Gothic cinema,

and he was fond of DANZA MACABRA
because it was in black and white,

so the blood didn't have that
gruesome effect that it has in color films.

He loved Gothic and the
stories of Edgar Allan Poe.

This picture, after all, begins with
Edgar Allan Poe's short story "Berenice,"

which then becomes the occasion to
set up a bet between the characters

and leads the protagonist
to the haunted castle.

My father really
cherished that movie.

My father often read and
was really fond of

great Gothic writers like
Edgar Allan Poe or Le Fanu.

In the late 1990s, he wanted to
make a movie based on "Carmi||a."

He had many projects
inspired by Edgar Allan Poe,

not just adaptations
of his stories.

In the 1980s, he was supposed to direct a
project called "The Nights of Mala Strana."

It was a ghost story set
in a cemetery in Prague,

a Gothic tale without violent
or splatter elements.

DANZA MACABRA was written by Bruno
Corbucci and, I believe, Aurelio Grimaldi.

Sergio Corbucci was supposed to direct it,

but at that time he was
busy with a Western,

although I don't think it was DJANGO,
which came out a couple of years later.

Since he was already under
contract for this other film,

Corbucci suggested the name of my
father, who was contacted by Grimaldi.

The two developed a good relationship
and the project progressed.

My father always said that DANZA
MACABRA was the only film in which

he had a perfect script that
he did not change a word of.

I think the relationship between my
father and Grimaldi was quite good,

because about ten years later they
made a remake of DANZA MACABRA.

The film was called
WEB OF THE SPIDER.

It was filmed in color and
more international in spirit,

also because of a
more well-known cast.

It included names like Anthony
Franciosa and Michele Mercier.

The early part with
Poe was expanded,

and he was played by Klaus Kinski,
who was exceptionally good.

I think Grimaldi and my father
had a good working relationship,

although I can't tell with absolute
certainty because I was five years old.

My love...

My father adored Barbara Steele.

He thought she was
a gorgeous woman,

an excellent actress and
a beautiful human being.

They made another movie together shortly
afterward, THE LONG HAIR OF DEATH.

He always spoke
very fondly of her.

DANZA MACABRA was made
in two weeks and a day,

whereas in those days films were made with
a minimum of four weeks or even five.

They had to run like crazy,

and it was difficult to establish
a relationship with the actors.

It was not easy for them to work and
stay focused with a director

who was running all over the
place to finish the film on time.

The crew used three
cameras to optimize time,

and the actors definitely
had a hard time.

Nevertheless, my father had an amazing
relationship with Barbara Steele.

He held her in an almost
exaggerated regard.

DANZA MACABRA was DoP Riccardo Pa||ottini's
first collaboration with my father.

The funny thing is that it didn't
start out too well between them.

As I said before, the film
was shot in two weeks,

and my father could never stop for a second
and had a very leader-like attitude.

Exasperated by my
father's pressure,

one day Pallottini hung a lamp from the
ceiling with a stocking around it

and said they were ready to roll.

It was a taunt to put
my father on the spot.

My father understood what he was trying
to do and replied to start shooting.

Pallottini stopped everything and said
that, after all, the set was not ready!

A great partnership and
friendship developed from there.

Riccardo was an
outstanding individual.

I made three films with him before
he died, tragically, in an accident.

I think he made twenty
films with my father.

They were really close. Two real
friends as well as collaborators.

DANZA MACABRA has a
couple of moments that were,

I don't want to say
erotic but very sensual.

For instance, the topless scene where
a married couple goes to the castle.

The film was from 1964, not yet the era
of big nude scenes in Italian cinema.

Also, the film was Gothic and not comedy,
so a nude scene was not very fitting.

There is also a Sapphic moment
between the two leading ladies,

and one is attracted to Elisabeth
in an almost pathological way.

It was a very strong
scene for those years.

My father did not have a particular
attitude toward eroticism.

He was not the kind of director who would
sprinkle hints throughout his films.

When he did it in a film
like THE UNNATURALS,

where there's another Sapphic relationship,
he always did it with taste and style,

trying to make sense of
those kinds of scenes.

It wasn't gratuitous nudity.
It always had its own logic.

I think DANZA MACABRA is one of my
father's undisputed masterpieces.

I remember when Joe Dante and
Quentin Tarantino hosted

a retrospective at the
Venice Film Festival in 2004,

which was dedicated to directors of,
let's say, B-grade Italian cinema.

I remember seeing the film with
Joe Dante, who was thrilled.

The film is still absolutely
worth seeing today.

The copy screened was nicely restored,
with fantastic audio and video quality.

Despite all the time and budget
difficulties they had at the time,

the film is still
worth its salt.

Allow me to add a
funny anecdote.

Besides originally having
to be directed by Corbucci,

the film was born as an operation to reuse
the sets built for IL MONACO DI MONZA,

a comedy starring Toto and
directed by Sergio Corbucci.

DANZA MACABRA was filmed
precisely soon after so that

the producer could recover
the money spent on those sets.

If you look at both films,
the sets are the same.

Of course, the castle and
the exteriors were real,

but the hall with the stairs was a
soundstage built for the other film.

In the 1960s, the movie industry
often operated like that.

A masterpiece could be born out of a
financial operation. It was mind-boggling.

If a producer had spent fifty
million liras to build some sets,

they would often decide to use them for
another film and recoup their expenses.

Ten years after DANZA MACABRA, they
did a remake titled WEB OF THE SPIDER.

Same producer, same director,
and almost identical scripts.

The dialogue is
virtually the same.

The beginning is more
fleshed out, though.

There is Klaus Kinski as Edgar Allan Poe,
playing the writer's short story "Berenice."

In DANZA MACABRA, the tale is told
in a pub by Edgar Allan Poe.

Here, however, we see Poe's escape, his
madness, and the opening of the tomb.

The actual plot of the film starts
after this fantastic introduction.

My father undoubtedly
preferred DANZA MACABRA.

It amused him greatly, however,

to be one of the few directors to
have done a remake of his own film.

He was not overly fond of it,
perhaps partly because of the cast--

I mean no disrespect, but Michele Mercier
is not comparable to Barbara Steele.

Also, the black and white of the
original is perfect for a Gothic film,

whereas the color remake might have seemed
a little too horror for my father's taste.

Othen/vise, he had no particular
dislikes or preferences,

but clearly DANZA MACABRA is a
step or two above the remake.

My father disliked blood, or rather
the color of blood. It bothered him.

For example, and I'm talking about a film
that Quentin Tarantino is very fond of,

my father did not like
CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE.

It's full of splatter stuff.

For example, there's a scene with a
guy getting his eyes gouged out,

not to mention people eating
guts and lots of blood.

My father really didn't like it, and it's
probably one of his least favorite films,

even though it's one of the movies that
brought him the most exposure abroad,

even at a box office and
worldwide distribution level.

Tarantino praised many
of my father's films,

as well as referencing
them in his own works.

They never met, but after
learning about these praises,

my father reevaluated CANNIBAL
APOCALYPSE a little bit, as well.