All language subtitles for Le Bambole Del Fuhrer1

Nearly every film that Aristide
Massaccesi made contains elements

of the horror genre, starting
with "Heroes in Hell" and "Diary

of a Roman Virgin" up to the
recent "Fatal Seduction", whose form

is an erotic thriller, with elements that
one expects in a horror film.

Think of the persistent recurrence
of the theme of castration

in Massaccesi's work, from "More
Sexy Canterbury Tales" in '72, to

"Chinese Kamasutra", in the '90's.

We can see how certain macabre
and fetishistic elements

in world cinema got their
start in Massaccesi's films.

It's not surprising, therefore, that at
the end of the '70's, when traditional

horror was updated by
more gory American films,

Massaccesi found himself at
home in this new type of cinema.

It was a type of filmmaking
he'd been long practicing.

His were internationally renowned
films that reached cult status, such as

"Buried Alive",
"Anthropophagus" and "Absurd".

"Death Smiles at Murder",
from 1973, is a film which, despite

echoes of the nascent mystery-thriller
genre begun by Dario Argento

with "The Bird with the Crystal
Plumage", still follows the gothic model

that characterizes the previous
decade, as seen in the work of directors

like Mario Bava, Riccardo
Freda and Antonio Margheriti.

"Death", the first and only
work he shot using his own name,

and not the usual pseudonym,
seems to follow closely

Sheridan Le Fanu's story, "Carmilla".

The leads in "Death Smiles at
Murder" included the blonde actress

Eva Aulin, who appeared in
hits such as "I Am What I Am"

by Tinto Brass, or "Death
Laid an Egg" by Giulio Questi.

We also see the Italian star Angela
Bo, unforgettable as Rosy Steward

and who appeared in so
many spaghetti westerns.

In addition, we see Klaus Kinksi,
even stormier than usual, who plays

a mad doctor convinced he
can bring the dead to life

with an ancient Aztec formula.

It was the first time I'd done a horror
film, and the material interested me

a lot. For that reason I wanted
to sign it with my own name -

Aristide Massaccesi. There were
also actors you might call important.

There were Klaus Kinski,
Eva Aulin, who'd had a hit...

afterwards she totally disappeared
- but at the time she was very famous.

The film was special...

...so I signed it with my own name,
Aristide Massacessi.

Just for the pleasure of putting my own
name on a piece, you know?

It looks like someone's in a real hurry.
- Yes. Odd.

The story for "Death Smiles at Murder",
which is part yours

...and part Scandigliato's.

How did you get the idea of
making a horror film...

...set in such a gothic environment?
Were you attracted to that type of film?

Yes, from taking photographs and
so on, I really liked creating

a sort of film that was, as you say,
gothic, based partly on photographs

and cheap special effects,
that sort of stuff.

Everything started like that. Romano
Scadigliato had been a friend of mine...

...for years, he used to work as
assistant director while I was working...

...as a cinematographer and so
on, and so we were friends.

He was easy to work with,
so we did the story together.

Klaus Kinski was also in it.
- Klaus Kinski was in it for

the money. You'd call him, give him
the money, he'd be there two days.

A complete whore. But
I must say he gave you

something more for your money.
He was very flexible, got into

the character - even if it was a
form of madness on his part - not done

in a very lucid manner. He was
fascinated by parts calling for insanity.

He got a kick out of doing films
that were sort of over the top.

Luciano Rossi is also in the film
- he's a very special sort of character.

What ever became of him?
- Luciano Rossi was a very sweet guy.

I wouldn't say he was completely
normal, either. In fact

the poor guy's in a nursing home.
He went crazy suddenly, apparently.

But last I heard, he'd got out
and become a sort of tramp who

hangs around town. He's from the
town of Alatri, near Frosinone...

They gave me some sad news
concerning him, to tell the truth.

The availability of film footage
from World War II convinced...

Massaccesi and Franco Gaudenzi, the
producer, to make "Heroes in Hell", 1973.

The film includes such excellent
actors as Ettore Manni, Lars Bloch

and Klaus Kinski. However, its theatrical
release lasted a very short time,

possibly due to the fact that the
war film genre had already seen its

glory days during the previous decade.

The film is worth a look, however,
for the way in which original footage

is mixed into the story, and also
for some strong scenes. For example

when a bullet is extracted from a
body, they show every last detail.

You change genres after "More
Sexy Canterbury Tales", and make

"Heroes in Hell", produced by
Gaudenzi, which is a war movie.

Naturally there was discovered
footage stuck in there, too.

In fact if you look, you see material in
black and white, dogfights, battles

and bombardments. That all came
from footage Gaudenzi bought.

We were supposed to use it somehow,
so we built a story around it.

I changed my name for this film
because at the time directors

from Eastern Europe were all the rage.

I called myself Mikail Wotruba.

It sounds like an Eastern
European director...

Stay still, damn you, or I'll kill you!

Stay still, damn you, or I'll kill you!

Stay still!

Done.

Let's go.

I'll take these.

One film that stands out among
Massaccesi's works is "Naked Warriors",

made in 1971. It stands aside "Diary
of a Roman Virgin", since Aristide

made the two films in rapid succession,
using many of the same extras.

"Naked Warriors" was made in
co-production with an American company

and represents a rare example of the
re-vitalization of the gladiator genre

after it had appeared
to be extinct for years.

"Naked Warriors", "Duel of the
Champions " by Terrance Young,

and "The Magnificent
Gladiator" by Alfonso Brescia

are rare 1960's examples of historic
films set in the ancient world.

Massaccesi's film stands out for
its almost entirely female cast,

along with its use of a colorful
and experimental eroticism.

"Naked Warriors" was brought to life
by Gaudenzi in co-production with

Roger Corman. Corman sent
this young man, Steve Carver,

who'd made maybe one or two films
- maybe only one.

Guadenzi didn't really want
to rely on him, so I went over

to handle the cinematography and
to direct two other movies connected

with this one. One was "Una
vergine per I'impero romano",

which never came out - I don't
know why - and the other was

"The Arena." I directed the scenes
in the arena and the action scenes,

Carver directed some because - at
that time my English wasn't too good -

and nearly all the actresses
spoke English. So Steve Carver did

the scenes with more dialogue,
and I did the action scenes.

Pam Grier is one of the actresses.
- She was a black American girl

who was extremely good. Now she
made a comeback with Tarantino's film.

She was a very good person,
very flexible, a real pro.

There was also Rosalba Neri playing
the head of the women gladiators.

You worked as cinematographer on
a film made that same year called

"The Devil's Wedding Night", in
which Rosalba Neri appeared again...

along with Mark Damon. What
do you recall about that film?

Was it a horror film?
- It was a Dracula film, if I remember
correctly.

The director was a certain Paolo
Solvay (Luigi Batzella). We called him

the bus driver 'cause he seemed
more a like bus driver than director.

But he had his talents, too.
A capable commercial director.

Mark Damon was then a
distributor for Park Films.

He was involved somehow in the film...
it was later distributed by Pack.

It's a film with all the
elements of a horror movie, set

in a town called Bassolano,
inside a castle there.

Rosalba Neri? What do
you remember about her?

Rosalba Neri at the time was a
sort of poor man's Barbara Steele...

Barbara cost too much to get at
that time, so we used Rosalba...

She had the same dark hair, was a
little vampire-like, if you will...

Another film you made was "Pugni,
pirati e karate", with the pirate theme

you've handled also recently, in
both the porn genre and in non-porn.

Yes. "Pugni, pirati e karate" came
out of the fact that Gaudenzi again

had bought some pirate film stock.
But there was enough for 7 films.

So we came up with a little
story that we first called

"Pantagruel and Gargantua". We
realized nobody knew who they were,

so we changed it to "Pugni, pirati e
karate". That too was made in 6 days.

It was an action and adventure film.
- What have you done lately?

Lately I've made a film called
"The Predator of the Antilles".

That was also made with
stock pirate footage.

It's what you might call
a more big budget film.

I mean a budget that's big for me,
of course! One that I could afford...

But it's pretty good, I'm getting a
lot of satisfaction out of it, also

in terms of money. Together with
film, since we built a piece of a ship,

a Spanish galleon, in a field in
Hungary, I made 3 or 4 porno films.

That was in order to cover the
costs of building that ship.

But you didn't have problems getting
normal actors to act in a porn film?

I didn't make the movies at the
same time. I did the porn films first

using the section of the ship, near
the bow, and then I returned to Rome

for a week, then went to Hungary to
do "Tortuga", as it was called then.

Now it's called "The Predator of the
Antilles", which is not a porn film.

At first it was announced as
being directed by Mario Bianchi.

Who's Mario Bianchi and what's
your relationship with him?

Mario Bianchi directed regular
films until about 7 or 8 years ago.

He's made a lot more porn films than
I have, with Moana and Cicciolina...

So he's been in porn a
lot longer than I have.

He's very talented,
however... A very patient guy.

He manages better than I can, doing
soft-core versions of porn films.

It's hard for me to get porn
actors to do soft-core acting.

He's a lot more patient and
manages to get them to act.

He's a lot better than me at turning
out soft-core versions of his porn.

We were supposed to do a film in
Hungary about a year and a half ago.

I think it was called "Pirates". He gave
me that part
- I don't remember

much now
- I memorized my lines...

And we worked on a
Disney set in Budapest.

There was a large set, a large
ship. But production was blocked.

I ended up packing my suitcase...

It was postponed and that
was the last I heard of it.

"Red Coat" represents Massaccesi's
first chance with a budget

that is large compared
to his previous work.

It also afforded him the chance to
work with actors who, at the time,

were well-known, including Fabio
Testi, who was on his way to becoming

a star of action films,
especially crime drama.

The film also included an upcoming
young female star, Renata Cestie

who had appeared in a series of
tear-jerkers that made her name.

Written in 2 days by Luigi Montefiori
and loosely based on "White Fang",

"Red Coat" is a sort of western
set amid the snows of Canada.

Despite the fact that it's a family
film, there are some violent scenes

and its rather sad story line sets
it apart from the films of that time.

I was supposed to do a sequel to a
film that Lucio Fulci was directing,

called "White Fang". I went to
Canada to take dog sled lessons.

The film went well
- they also made a documentary that
won a prize.

I was sent to do the sequel, sent
by the father of Donati, who was head

of Coralta Film, a company
in which Ermanno Donati

headed all the production. For my
film, we used some of the unused

footage from "White Fang"
and we made "Red Coat".

Was the story yours?
- Montefiori and I wrote the script.

That is, he was writing it
already, he was working with Donati.

The problem was, we had only three
days there also, a long weekend,

during which I wrote the script
with Aristide, who was continually

afraid that I'd fall asleep
and not get any writing done...

I remember he went to buy me a
roast chicken and would feed me

chicken as I was typing, since we
absolutely had to finish the script

by Monday morning.

There was a very rigid deadline for
this film since Fabio Testi, or De Rita,

I don't remember which, were
under contract for another movie.

So we were forced to
begin at a set time.

The producer forced me to stay
glued to Montefiori for 2 days,

in order to get the script done. I
remember I'd go get him stuff to eat -

he ate a lot, since he's very tall
- he still eats a lot...

I'd go get him chickens that I'd hold
up to his mouth as he was writing...

That was also to keep
him awake so he'd finish.

Three days without sleep, with
Montefiori eating chicken non-stop

and me trying to keep him awake...

Smells good, doesn't it? T ry it...

You cowardly bastard!
- No! Let him eat in peace...

Come on... eat up...

You've eaten enough to choke a horse...

You've killed him, you idiot!

He's worth a million dollars
and you've killed him!

Fun like this is worth even two million!

So I'll kill you instead, you bastard!
- We have to go, Haggard, or else...

Leone's dead and there's
nothing we can do about it.

"Tough to Kill" I made with Giuseppe
Zaccariello, who'd made a film

before that called "The Bermuda
Triangle" or something like that.

It was a big success. He had a
story by Donati, a great story,

which we sort of ruined... In fact
the film wasn't too good, because

the script we got out of it was no
good. Zaccariello wanted to change

some things, and in fact the
film suffered because of that.

But it was an action film with
Donald Brough, Luke Merenda,

Where did you shoot the film?
- In Santo Domingo.

Did you go there just to shoot this
film, or did you shoot anything else?

Just to shoot this one. I'd been in
Santo Domingo for a lot of other things,

I'd shot "Papaya dei Caraibi", "Erotic
Nights of the Living Dead", etc.

All these films, "Papaya"
and "Erotic Nights" and so on,

including "Hard Sensation", include
horror elements, apart from their

erotic content. In "Erotic
Nights of the Living Dead"

where the horror
elements come to the fore,

riding on the success of films
like Lucio Fulci's "Zombie 2".

Yes. This was just to wring as
much emotion out of it as possible,

you might say. That's the only reason.

Aristide's talent was... The first
film he worked on as director,

as director and producer,
was made in Santo Domingo.

I don't know if I've
already told this story.

We'd gone to Santo Domingo,
invited there by Aristide,

to make a series of three movies.
One was supposed to be a serious film,

and the other two were sort of erotic,
movies you don't have to do much

work to make. He showed me pictures
of Santo Domingo, which I liked,

so I went there, really for a vacation.

While we were shooting these three
films, I was crazy about gambling

at the time, and I lost my entire pay
for the these films and all the other

money I had in a week. So I was
penniless at the end of the first week.

Not even enough to
pay for the hotel room.

In fact I had to share a room with
Dirce Funari, one of the actresses,

despite the fact that we weren't
romantically involved. I'd be sleeping

at 4 a.m., she'd come in
- we caught some sleep when we could.

Since I had no money, and Aristide
refused to give me an advance

on other jobs, I tried to
convince him to do another movie.

I said, "Why don't you shoot something
of your own? You have the actors,

the location..." So while we
were shooting the other films -

we'd do a scene, change our clothes,
shot the scene of another film -

to use the same set
- I'd be the good guy one minute

and the bad guy the next
- So I said, "Let's do another story.

You can bring home another film
that's all yours when we leave."

He said, "No, I don't have a story..."
and I'd say "I'll write it for you."

So we agreed on my salary, and
in 3 days I wrote "Sesso nero".

When it came out it made
a lot of money.

He read it, liked it, and made it.
I played a small part, as a nightclub

manager, in a scene we
shot back in Rome, however.

I was paid two million lira. It
cost him about 20 million to make.

It ended up making hundreds
of millions, a great success.

That was the first film produced
and directed by Aristide.

Of course he'd directed others,
but none that were completely his.

Massaccesi's filmography is
distinguished as much by horror

as by erotic works. His horror films
have earned him an international

reputation as on of the genre's
most interesting directors.

But his horror films represent a
small part of his vast production.

Few, but especially valuable films,
such as "Buio Omega", from 1979,

six years after his first and successful
experiment in the gothic genre,

"Death Smiles at Murder"."Beyond the
Darkness" is also inspired by

Italian horror films of the 60's. "Beyond
the Darkness" is nearly a remake

of Mino Guerrini's film, "ll terzo
occhio". Guerrini, in fact, is
responsiblefor the screenplay

of this new version. But similarities
between "Beyond the Darkness",

and Guerrini's 1967 film end
here. At least on the surface.

Massaccesi, in recounting this story
of necrophiliac love, as Guerrini

had done before him, adds his own
brand of exceptionally perverse and

sick atmospherics, and an
extremely black sense of desolation.

The film's gore, which made it
famous, is less impressive, in the end,

than the subterranean, nightmarish
world in which the main character

lives, next to the embalmed corpse
of his girlfriend, Cinzia Morreale.

That was a great experience. I
made that with Ermanno Donato, too,

he was the producer. People think
I shot scenes of a real autopsy.

But there's no sense in going
to shoot a real autopsy, since

everything's made up. There's no
point. I shot it by going to the butcher

near where we were shooting, and
buying pounds and pounds of innards.

We shot close-ups of these innards.

We did the scene of the incision
- I learnt this from Giannetto de Rossi,

who was and probably still is a great
make-up artist - using pork rind.

We'd go buy loads of pork rind,
that we'd lay over the body,

completely covering the
breasts or wherever it was,

and then we could cut without
worries, having placed some protective

stuff underneath, of course,
since without it we'd have

cut her belly open along
with the pork rind...

"Beyond the Darkness" was re-issued
then in '86 as "In quella casa buio
omega".

Both versions, the 1976 one and
that one, were edited versions

of the film that made the rounds
abroad. Was that your doing,

or was it the result of censorship cuts?

It was the censors. They
determined that it was too violent.

The sexual elements were also
determined to be too explicit also.

So they made a lot of cuts.

What do you think of
censorship in general?

It doesn't exist anymore. It's been
completely abolished, unfortunately.

It's unfortunate because back
then, when a porno film came out,

the fact that it was in some way
"banned" acted as an added incentive

to seek it out, since there
was that taboo element.

You earned more money, because
of the banning of the movie.

But censorship, in my opinion, is
anachronistic, it's hard to understand

why an 18-year-old kid who can
get sent off to war to be killed,

can't go see two people making love.
It's a hold-over from ancient times.

In your opinion, is it true that a scene
that's particularly violent and gory

can harm the tension you
want to maintain in the film?

That is, is it better to have a film
with more violence and gore that lacks

tension, or vice-versa? Can
you reconcile the two things?

Of course you can reconcile them, since
- well, it's well known how

women or girls close their eyes
during scenes that are particularly

violent. Well, something that comes
just before convinces them, in fact,

to close their eyes!

Let's look at another film that's
especially crude: "Anthropophagus".

This is one of the films
that made your name abroad.

How did the idea of shooting a
horror film during a period when

you were doing mainly porn come to
you?

Well, Montefiori once again
wrote the story. It was very good.

The film was made precisely
to sell in other countries.

We went to Greece to shoot certain
parts, also to give it a certain

international flavor. Something
interesting about Anthropophagus:

There's a scene we shot in some
2000 year old Roman catacombs.

In the niches of these catacombs,
there are niches carved into the walls,

there are the corpses of
the Christians buried there.

After 2000 years there were
a few skulls, some bones...

When we went to shot there, I
sent someone to rent gunny sacks

full of fake, plastic bones to add
to the real ones, in order to make

the catacomb much more macabre
looking.

So we placed rented, plastic
skulls and bones all over.

There were three huge sacks of them.
When we finished the day's shoot,

I said, Let's gather all
the fake bones up and go.

The guy who was gathering up
all the bones took everything.

He even took the real bones
that had already been there.

So I found it all stored at my
house, in a space on the ground floor,

even the ancient Christian bones
mixed up with the fake ones.

And when we returned the fake,
rented bones to the shop, they found

the real ones mixed in, and brought
those back to me, because they

couldn't bring themselves to
bring them back to the Catacombs.

So I ended up with these bones, enough
to build myself a little ossuary.

Maybe someday someone will want
to make a pilgrimage to my house...

He had a story he got from
someone I don't remember,

that began pretty well. There was
a boat in the middle of the ocean,

with a man, a woman and a child who'd
died or fainted, three castaways.

From those elements we had to
invent the rest, there was just that.

So I took that scene to use as a
recurrent flashback in order to tell the
story...

...of this group of people going to an
island where this man had gone crazy

after he'd eaten his son, during
the time at sea and so on...

The film was basically quite
banal. I've really never liked it.

I mean, I had fun making it... The
scene, for example, with the fetus

and Serena Grandi... the cruder
things got, the harder we laughed!

But I honestly can't say
I'm proud of that film.

I can imagine Aristide who
shot the film using a rabbit...

Yeah, with a rabbit... The people
who were a bit shocked by the film

were the actors who didn't yet know
him. He had a language all his own.

He'd talk about the crudest things
in the sweetest voice. There was

an enormous contrast. You can
imagine a director who comes up to you

and says sweetly, "Please spread your
thighs and put this dead rabbit..."

He wasn't vulgar at all, he was very
kind. But he'd say the damnedest
things!

So they go like this for a
second... But in the end everyone did

what he told them to.

The film included the very young
Serena Grandi, who used a pseudonym.

How did you get in
touch with the actress?

A distributor practically forced me
to take her, I can't remember the name.

This distributor sent her to me
saying she was a young actress who

might make it big. Serena Grandi...
There was the scene with the fetus,

Montefiori rips the baby
right out of her and eats it...

Everybody has wild ideas about
that scene... it was just a rabbit

we bought at the butchers on the
corner, the ones hanging on hooks...

We shaped it so that it looked like
a fetus, and put a little blood on it

to make it look real, fake blood,
of course... And we had Montefiori

eating this dead rabbit...

Tisa Farrow is an actress who'd already
done "Zombie 2" and Margheriti's

"The Last Hunter". How did you get
her?

I contacted her because I'd seen her
in those other movies, Fulci's "Zombie".

She had a very genuine face,
especially good in a horror film.

She wasn't a great beauty,
but she was intriguing.

I got in touch with her through my
brother, who'd been in a relationship
with her.

So I called her and she
came to Italy for the movie.

To tell the truth, she wasn't a
professional actress, not really.

She was professional when she was
working, but when she wasn't acting

she worked as a taxi driver in New York.

She did that even though she was Mia
Farrow's sister...
- Yes.

And Saverio Vallone?
- Saverio Vallone was chosen because
he was

a handsome kid, so we chose him.

Where did you shoot
"Anthropophagus"?

We went to Greece, a very short trip.

But we shot the rest at Sperlonga,
which seems like a Greek village

by the sea.

Claudio Bernabei and I were in back
of a couple at the Metropolitan Cinema

in Rome, there were maybe
four people in the whole place.

Just those two in front of
us, quietly watching the film.

When we got to the scene of the
rabbit ripped out of Serena's womb,

they got up in disgust, I can't remember
their comments, and walked out.

Claudio and I were the
only ones watching the rest.

The movie had only a 2 day run...

The film was completely panned by
the Italian critics, like all my films

to tell the truth. There was never
a single one they liked, never.

In other countries it had a great
success, and is still talked about.

It was such a success that you made a
sequel.
- Yes, a sequel...

A film first called "Rosso
sangue", and then "Absurd".

It was really a prequel to
"Anthropophagus", with Montefiori

without the monster makeup.

There was Montefiori, and then
the actor who played the priest

who's chasing him here... Edmund
Purdom.

You've worked with him a lot. - Yes,
a bunch of times. He was well-known,

but he wasn't very good, not really.
But he did The Egyptian, an American
film

that was a big hit, so for that
reason we hired Purdom. For a cameo.

Anyway, he was always professional,
a professional actor in short.

"Absurd" is memorable for another
reason, also. There for the first time

you meet Michele Soavi, who played a
small part, one of the motorcyclists.

Then you went on to have
a relationship that was...

Michele Soavi's a kid who
loves to make horror films.

I think he's one of the best
young directors in Italy.

In "Absurd" I tried to do a little bit
more. But later on I lost that enthusiasm

as it became clear that it would end up
being something with a little bit less,

as usual. He always went for the
bone, never wanted to experiment.

I remember I tried...

How did you meet Aristide?

He phoned me one day, I remember,
and said, "Listen, Pierluigi, I want

to make a film. Come to
my office and we'll talk."

I said, "Listen, Mr. Massaccesi" -
since I didn't know him - "Listen,

I don't work on those kinds of
movies."He said"No, you idiot,

it's an adventure picture." So
I went over, and we hit it off.

Can you shoot a gun if necessary?

I do, but the others don't. If you
shoot a man, the only thing you see

is a body falling. But someone
who's telepathic feels the mind

of the dying person invaded with pain
and terror. It's as if he were dying, too.

He knew his stuff inside and out,
having worked as cameraman and so
on.

He knew how to frame a scene, even
with a low budget for lighting etc.

He knew his trade completely.

Was there a problem
wearing those heavy clothes?

Yeah, they'd put very thick clothes
on me, and boots that weighed a ton.

So I had a bit of a hard
time walking and so on.

But when you saw the movie,
it looked all right...

Yeah, he'd make fun of me during
the shoot, saying "Look how you walk

you clumsy fool" and that kind of
thing. Then the American buyer came

and told him "That guys walks really
well, gosh!"
- So I wore those

boots for every film, in
order to walk that way...

You remember another film you did with
Aristide, but directed by Montefiori?

I vaguely remember it...

Your character is killed halfway
through, you were playing a good guy...

Do you remember whether Montefiori
directed the whole film, or was

part of it directed by Aristide?

No, I think Montefiori
directed the whole thing.

Aristide was good with that sort of
thing. When he's entrusted the direction

to someone, he didn't interfere
with it, unlike the usual producer.

To be honest, when he said, "Let's
direct it together", I answered

"No, I'll direct, and you can
watch and learn how it's done."

He got really pissed off. No, I told
him that the first day on the set.

On the first day of the shoot, we were
in the basement of the Hilton hotel,

you know, where there are all
the pipes, for heating and so on -

in order to shoot a strange
scene, like out of James Bond -

Aristide and Donatella were on the set.
He stood there like this, watching me.

He wanted to see what I would
say. Then the cameraman showed up,

and I said "Put the camera here, with
this lens, then we'll do a dolly shot..."

And he was totally quiet. After five
minutes I was thinking he'd come up...

I was saying to myself "it's
impossible for him to hold his tongue".

And in fact he comes up and goes
"why'd you put the camera there?"

I said "Aha! Aristide!" I must say
that I hadn't asked him for a salary

as director. When he'd proposed we
direct together, I knew it was because

he didn't want to pay me! So I said,
"I'll direct". He started to object

and I told him to pay me an assistant
director's salary. I didn't care

about the money
- at the time I didn't give a damn about
money.

So when he came up to me and asked
why I'd placed the camera there

I said: "Ari, you're paying me to
direct, not to teach you how to direct."

He got really pissed off, called
me every name in the book and split.

Afterwards he didn't
appear on the set anymore...

But I must say he always let me work
in peace, since of course he knew me.

The thing that was fun for me was
to do something that everyone said

couldn't be done. We'd just answer:
"It can be done, don't worry".

Tell us about the series of
the three "Ghosthouse" movies...

Which one were you most pleased
with?

"Ghosthouse 4". Umberto Lenzi made
one. Fabrizio Laurenti made another...

...that was the one that made
the most money and was the best...

since Linda Blair was in it,
David Hasselhoff, and a lot of actors

that really stood out
in that kind of movie...

And perhaps the place it was shot
in, a nice place in Massachusetts...

Then we did another "Ghosthouse" with
Fragasso, which didn't do too well...

That was "Ghosthouse 5". Anyway
they weren't a great success.

What do you think of Fulci's films?

Fulci's films were the best I produced.

Unfortunately the ones I worked
on weren't so successful, maybe

because of distribution problems,
or financial problems and so on...

Even that one was affected...

It didn't do well, even if I think
it's the best film I've worked on.

It was a great film, with a great
atmosphere, Fulci's very good

so the shoot went great, with
John Savage, and we brought

a jazz band in to do the music,
since there was a jazz soundtrack...

We had helicopters... But it
didn't make a single cent...

But it's probably not the movie's
fault. It's maybe the fault of the mess

we'd found ourselves in at the time.

How was it with Fulci and D'Amato?
What's the difference between them?

Working with them? It's
hard to answer that question.

Aristide was more sort of part of
the trade. He had less illusions.

He was like a guy born on a movie
set. Fulci had his intellectual side.

Fulci might say stuff, make
references on the set that Aristide

wouldn't dream of. Fulci believed
more in what he was doing.

They were both true professionals,
they knew the pitfalls...

Aristide was more... Roman.

Your last horror film, "Frankenstein
2000", also had distribution problems...

That got caught up in the mess I
referred to that happened back then.

What's your opinion of the movie?

It's good...
- But the special effects weren't as
convincing as in earlier ones.

Why do you think that was?

Financial reasons. When money's
lacking even special effects suffer.

I also think it's an excess
of ambition or presumption.

You have this presumption that makes
you try things that don't turn out well.

I think I know it all sometimes
when I don't really understand shit.

In keeping with the horror
theme, we've spoken about 2 films,

"Killing Birds" and "Deep Blood".
What can you say about them?

The first one's credited to Claudio
Lattanzi.
- Yes.

But you were really the director.
- Yes, I was really the one who made it.

Even the other one, that's
signed by Rafael La Palma, I made.

That was done in order
not to over-use my name.

I'd just done a film with Laurenti,
so we decided to put me down as

simply the producer and not
have me as producer and director.

I would have signed them if I'd
been paid like I was with Laurenti

or Michele Soavi... And then I'd
been hired to work with those two,

who are in fact real people... And they
didn't work out, so I had to do them...

What about the lastest soft-core
movies, "Top Girl", "Provokation"

and "Fatal Seduction"?

They came about in order to vary
the porn offerings, and since I was

in Los Angeles, and there
was a huge apparatus to use...

I think "Fatal Seduction" is more
ambitious than the other two...

Yes. - There's a quote out
of "Anthropophagus"...- Yes.

"Fatal Seduction" is a
thriller, sort of, better made...

The story's also better... It's entirely
set in a house, a delineated space...

The suspense is greater that way than
with a film made on larger sets...

One defect in "Fatal Seduction",
I think, is that the sex scenes are

shot as if they were edited porn
scenes, which weighs the film down.

Yes. That's my fault. It's
become a habit of mine.

Because... It's just my
fault. All my fault...

Have critics re-evaluated Joe D'Amato
films, after the initial bad reception,

"Emanuelle", for example?

I don't think so. In Italy we're very...
what's the word presumptuous.

The presumption of someone who's
panned a film would never admit,

you couldn't do anything to get him to
change that initial opinion, not even
now.

Maybe some young person
who comes along...

But I think any re-evaluation
now is due to nostalgia...

The movies I made ten or fifteen years
ago, the fact that they're now considered

good, especially in other
countries, is due to nostalgia.

We don't make them anymore. So
my films, Fulci's films or Freda's...

Our kind is becoming extinct.

And yet not all the directors of that
time are as renowned as you are now...

That's because I made
so many films, Manlio!

I don't think it's due only to that. Do
you think you're cynical about your
career?

No, I think...

What do you think is your greatest
asset?
- My modesty, I think.

And your greatest defect?
- Modesty! Downloaded @ www.rarelust.com