Notable Directors of Giallo

Dario Argento was born in Rome, Italy on September 7 1940. He is the son of producer Salvatore Argento. He began his career as a movie critic for the Rome daily newspaper "Paese Sera". A professional screenwriter by the tender age of 20, he joined Bernardo Bertolucci to write the screenplay for Sergio Leone's epic western "Once Upon A Time In The West" in 1967. Many screenplays later, Argento was signed up by Goffredo Lombardo, head of an Italian film company (Titanus) and made his directing debut in 1970 with "The Bird With The Crystal Plumage". His father Salvatore was the producer on all his films up until "Deep Red" when Claudio Argento took over. He has always taken a great interest in all aspects of film making to ensure that the end results of his films are as near to his original vision as possible. One of the first directors to see the possibilities of the steady cam and the 'luma' crane, he used them npth to their full potential. He even helped compose the music for "Suspiria". Many of his films are considered to be `giallo'. Giallo meaning yellow, which in turn came from the yellow covers of the penny-dreadful horror/thriller paperbacks that were sold in Italy. He has directed 15 films - `The Bird with the Crystal Plumage', 'The Cat O Nine Tails', 'Five Days In Milan', 'Four Flies on Grey Velvet', 'Profondo Rosso', 'Suspiria', `Inferno', 'Tenebrae', 'Phenomena', 'Opera', 'Two Evil Eyes', 'Trauma', 'The Stendhal Syndrome', 'Phantom of the Opera' and 'Non ho sonno'. He has also been involved in producing/writing films for others such as his protege Michele Soavi. Argento has also worked on three series for Italian television. In 1972, 'The Door of Darkness', in 1987 'Giallo' and 'Turno di notte' in 1988. There are also three documentaries on Argento and his films, 'Dario Argento's World of Horror', 'Dario Argento: Master of Horror (Dario Argento's World of Horror 2)' and 'The World of Dario Argento 3'.

Silvio Amadio was born on 8 August 1926 in Frascati, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Wolves of the Deep (1959), Assassination in Rome (1965) and So Young, So Lovely, So Vicious... (1975). He died in 1995.

Francesco Barilli was born on 4 February 1943 in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for L'urlo (2019), Hotel Fear (1978) and The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974).

Lamberto Bava was born in Rome, Italy, and was the first of a third generation of Italian filmmakers. His grandfather, Eugenio Bava (1886-1966), was a cameraman and optics effects artist during the early days of Italian silent cinema. His father, Mario Bava (1914-1980), was a legendary cinematographer, special effects designer and director. Lamberto entered the cinema as his father's personal assistant, starting with Planet of the Vampires (1965). Bit by bit he gained experience from his father, who made him the assistant director for most of the rest of his films. He even co-wrote the screenplay for Shock (1977) ("Shock"), Mario's last theatrical film where. In poor health during the shoot, Mario often feigned illness so Lamberto could direct a few scenes, uncredited, to gain further experience.

Both Lamberto and Mario directed the made-for-TV drama La Venere d'Ille (1979). Both worked on the Dario Argento horror flick Inferno (1980), for which Mario designed some of the color set pieces, including the underwater ballroom, and created all the visual special effects, while Lamberto worked as Argento's assistant director. Late in 1979 Lamberto made his solo directorial debut with Macabre (1980), a tense drama-horror flick loosely based on a 1977 incident in New Orleans about a woman who keeps her lover's severed head in her freezer. According to Lamberto, the project started by chance when producer Pupi Avati approached him to direct as well as write the screenplay, which took just six weeks to write and direct. "Macabro" was released in Italy in February 1980 to mixed reviews, but won him recognition by his father Mario. Just two months later Mario Bava died, and an era in Italian film making came to a close.

'Macabro" was not the box-office hit and, as a result, Lamberto went back to assistant directing. He worked with Dario Argento again in 1982 with Tenebrae (1982). In 1983 Lamberto was offered to direct another film, titled A Blade in the Dark (1983), which was a violent mystery thriller shot in only three weeks on a tight budget and filmed almost entirely in a producer friend's house. Next he directed the action-flick Blastfighter (1984), which was filmed in the state of Georgia, and immediately afterwards directed the Jaws (1975)-like thriller Devil Fish (1984), which was shot in Florida. On both films Lamberto was purely a director for hire and had nothing to do with the script or production end. He used the pseudonym of "John Old Jr." for this film, which was a tribute to his father Mario, who often used the pseudonym "John M. Old".

He enjoyed his best commercial success to date with Demons (1985) ("Demons"), produced by Dario Argento, co-written by Dardano Sacchetti and filmed in West Berlin, Germany. This films international success allowed him to co-write, produce and direct a sequel, Demons 2 (1986). Lamberto returned to "giallo" thrillers with Delirium (1987).

In the late 1980s the Italian cinema turned moribund. Lamberto, like most of his colleagues, turned to making films for Italian television. He also directed a remake of his father's Black Sunday (1960), which was titled The Mask of Satan (1989).

Nowadays Lamberto Bava continues to divide his time between TV work and a few movies, acknowledging his inspiration from his late father, Mario.

Italian director Mario Bava was born on July 31, 1914 in the coastal northern Italian town of Sanremo. His father, Eugenio Bava (1886-1966), was a cinematographer in the early days of the Italian film industry. Bava was trained as a painter, and when he eventually followed his father into film photography his artistic background led him to a strong belief in the importance of visual composition in filmmaking.

Other than a series of short films in the 1940s which he directed, Bava was a cinematographer until 1960. He developed a reputation as a special effects genius, and was able to use optical trickery to great success. Among the directors for whom Bava photographed films were Paolo Heusch, Riccardo Freda, Jacques Tourneur and Raoul Walsh. While working with Freda on Lust of the Vampire (1957) in 1956, the director left the project after an argument with the producers and the film mostly unfinished. Bava stepped in and directed the majority of the movie, finishing it on schedule. This film, also known as "The Devil's Commandment", inspired a wave of gothic Italian horror films. After a similar incident occurred on Freda's Caltiki, the Immortal Monster (1959), and Bava's having been credited with "saving" Tourneur's The Giant of Marathon (1959), Galatea urged Bava to direct any film he wanted with their financing.

The film that emerged, Black Sunday (1960), is one his most well known as well as one of his best. This widely influential movie also started the horror career of a beautiful but then unknown British actress named Barbara Steele. While Black Sunday is a black and white film, it was in the color milieu that the director excelled. The projects which followed began to develop stunning photography, making great use of lighting, set design, and camera positioning to compliment mise-en-scenes bathed in deep primaries. Through works such as Hercules in the Haunted World (1961), The Whip and the Body (1963), and Planet of the Vampires (1965), Bava's films took on the look of works of art. In the films The Evil Eye (1963) and Blood and Black Lace (1964), he created the style and substance of the giallo, a genre which would be perfected in the later films of Dario Argento.

Bava worked in many popular genres, including viking films, peplum, spaghetti westerns, action, and even softcore, but it is his horror films and giallo mystery films which stand out and for which he is best remembered. Recommended are Black Sunday (1960), The Whip and the Body (1963), Blood and Black Lace (1964), Kill, Baby... Kill! (1966), A Bay of Blood (1971), and Lisa and the Devil (1973). Bava's son Lamberto served as his assistant on most of his films since 1965, and since 1980 has been a director himself. Lamberto Bava's films include Macabre (1980), Demons (1985) and Body Puzzle (1992).

But after the commercial failure of his later films, as well as the unreleased works of Rabid Dogs (1974), Bava went into a decline and by 1975, retired from filmmaking all together. He was persuaded to come out of retirement at the request of his son, Lamberto, to direct Shock, as well as a made-for-Italian television movie. Mario Bava died from a sudden heart attack on April 27, 1980 at age 65. With his death, an era in Italian filmmaking had come to a close.

Luigi Bazzoni was born on 25 June 1929 in Salsomaggiore Terme, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Di domenica (1963), The Possessed (1965) and The Fifth Cord (1971). He died on 1 March 2012 in Salsomaggiore Terme, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

Sergio Bergonzelli was born on 25 August 1924 in Alba, Piedmont, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for In the Folds of the Flesh (1970) and Blood Delirium (1988). He died on 24 September 2002.

Giuliano Carnimeo was born on 4 July 1932 in Bari, Puglia, Italy. He was a director and assistant director, known for Convoy Buddies (1975), The Exterminators of the Year 3000 (1983) and Find a Place to Die (1968). He died on 10 September 2016 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Paolo Cavara was born on 4 July 1926 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for L'occhio selvaggio (1967), Atsalut pader (1979) and A Dog's Life (1962). He died on 7 August 1982 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Armando Crispino was born on 18 October 1924 in Biella, Piedmont, Italy. He was a writer and assistant director, known for The Dead Are Alive (1972), Autopsy (1975) and The Castro's Abbess (1974). He was married to Franca Lumachi. He died on 6 October 2003 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Massimo Dallamano was born on 17 April 1917 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a cinematographer and writer, known for Tierra mágica (1959), A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and What Have You Done to Solange? (1972). He died on 14 November 1976 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Alberto De Martino was born on 12 June 1929 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Chosen (1977), The Pumaman (1980) and The Invincible Gladiator (1961). He died on 2 June 2015 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Ruggero Deodato was born on May 7, 1939, in Potenza, Italy, and grew up outside Rome. One of his close friends at the time was Renzo Rossellini, the son of famed Italian director Roberto Rossellini. Knowing Ruggerio's love for the movies, Renzo persuaded him to work as a second unit director on some of his father's productions. From 1958-67 Deodato worked as a second unit director for several cult film directors such as Anthony M. Dawson (Antonio Margheriti), Riccardo Freda and Joseph Losey. Deodato's directorial debut was the action-fantasy Hercules, Prisoner of Evil (1964), replacing Margheriti who quit the production. Deodato's claim to fame was the spaghetti western Django (1966). His career took off in 1968 when he directed a number of films based on comic-book characters and musicals. It was while shooting one of these films that Deodato met, and later married, Silvia Dionisio.

From 1971-75 Deodato worked in television, directing the series All'ultimo minuto (1971) as well as TV commercials, including ones for Esso Oil, Band-Aid and Fanta. Deodato returned to filmmaking with an erotic melodrama and a police thriller. At the same time his marriage fell apart. In 1977 Deodato directed the notorious Last Cannibal World (1977) and later Cannibal Holocaust (1980). Deodato traveled to New York City and directed the disturbing thriller House on the Edge of the Park (1980), a semi-follow-up to Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left (1972). Deodato made House on the Edge of the Park (1980) in just 19 days on a tiny budget. He then returned to directing action and horror flicks.

Deodato lives in Rome with his current partner, Micaela Rocco, and still works in movies and occasional TV series. He is rumored to be planning a sequel to "Cannibal Holocaust".

Luciano Ercoli was born on 19 October 1929 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a producer and director, known for The Magnificent Dare Devil (1973), The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (1970) and Death Walks at Midnight (1972). He was married to Nieves Navarro. He died on 15 March 2015 in Barcelona, Spain.

Riccardo Freda was born in Alexandria, Egypt, of Italian parents. Educated in Milan, he became a sculptor, then a newspaper art critic. He began a career in film in 1937 as a screenwriter and production supervisor. He moved into directing in 1942, beginning a career that lasted some 40 years. Resisting the strong neo-realism trend in postwar Italy, Freda (with Vittorio Cottafavi) continued to make "historical spectacles", at which he became somewhat of a master. He was a pioneer in Italy of horror-fantasy films, especially with Lust of the Vampire (1957) and The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962). From there he went to melodrama and spy films, and even made one western.

Strong on visual style, Freda's films had popular appeal and were usually commercial successes, several being French or other European co-productions. Freda used a number of aliases during his career, including "Robert Hampton", "Dick Jordan", "George Lincoln" and "Robert Davidson", among others. Some critics have praised him as an exploitation "stylist", and to this day his films have somewhat of a cult following.

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 1970s and early 1980s, 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 (1959) (The Thieves), Fulci quickly established himself as a prolific craftsman adept at musicals, comedies and westerns.

In 1968, Fulci made his first mystery thriller, One on Top of the Other (1969), and its success was sufficient to garner the backing for his pet project The Conspiracy of Torture (1969). Based on a true story, the film details the trial of a young woman accused of murdering her sexually abusive father amid fear and superstition in 16th Century Italy. 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 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 giallos: the haunting A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971) and the disturbing Don't Torture a Duckling (1972). 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, Don't Torture a Duckling (1972), despite a huge box-office success, 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 and with the adventure genre with two financially successful Jack London 'White Fang' adventure movies in 1973 and 1974 which were Zanna Bianca, and Il ritorno di Zanna Bianca. Also during the mid and late 1970s, Fulci also directed two 'Spaghetti Westerns'; The Four of the Apocalypse... (1975) and Silver Saddle (1978), (Silver Saddle) and another 'giallo'; The Psychic (1977), as well as a few sex-comedies which include the political spoof The Eroticist (1972) (aka: The Eroticist), and the vampire spoof Dracula in the Provinces (1975) (aka: Young Dracula), and the violent Mafia crime-drama Contraband (1980).

In 1979, Fulci's film making career hit another high point with him breaking into the international market with Zombie (1979), an in-name-only sequel to George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), which had been released in Italy as 'Zombi'. 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 City of the Living Dead (1980) and The Beyond (1981). Frequently derided as sheer sensationalism, these films, as well as the reviled The 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 of the early 1980s represent some of his most popular work in America and abroad, even if they do pale in comparison to his 1972 masterpiece and personal favorite Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) (an impossible act to follow, as it happens).

In the mid-1980s, at the peak of his most prolific period, Fulci became beset with personal problems and worsening health. Much of his work from the mid-1980s onward is disappointing, to say the least, but flashes of his brilliance can be seen in works like Murder-Rock: Dancing Death (1984) and The Devil's Honey (1986). 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. With Fulci playing the lead role (as more or less 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 has cameos in many of his films, frequently as a detective or doctor figure).

By the 1990s, Fulci went on a hiatus with film making for further health and personal reasons as the Italian cinema market went into a further decline. While in pre-production for the Dario Argento-produced The Wax Mask (1997), Lucio Fulci passed away at his home on March 13, 1996 at the age of 68. A serious diabetic most of his adult life, he 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.

Romolo Guerrieri was born on 5 December 1931 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is an assistant director and director, known for Johnny Yuma (1966), Covert Action (1978) and L'importante è non farsi notare (1979).

Aldo Lado was born on 5 December 1934 in Fiume, Italy [now Croatia]. He was a writer and director, known for Alibi perfetto (1992), The Conformist (1970) and Love Ritual (1989). He died on 25 November 2023 in Rome, Italy.

Born in Massa Marittima, Italy on August 6, 1931, Umberto Lenzi was a movie enthusiast since his early grade school years. During those years, he founded various film fan clubs while studying law. Lenzi started out as a journalist for various local newspapers and magazines. Lenzi put off his law studies to pursue the technical arts of filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale de Cinematografia.

After graduation from the school, Lenzi continued working as a writer and film critic. He found employment as an assistant director before making his directorial debut with Queen of the Seas (1961). Other pirate/sword flicks followed, starting with I pirati della Malesia (1964) (Pirates of Malaysia), which was part of the height of the career of fictitious tales of historic legendary characters including Robin Hood, Catherine the Great, Zorro, Sandokan and Maciste. For the movie Kriminal (1966), Lenzi turned to the new wave of adult-oriented comic books (known as fumetti) for fresh inspiration and initiated a popular trend.

After directing a war film and two "spaghetti westerns," Lenzi turned to the giallo gene with Paranoia (1969) (originally called "Orgasmo"), starring Carroll Baker and Lou Castel, which was the first of his thrillers and one of his personal favorites. Retitled Paranoia for its USA release, Orgasmo caused some confusion since Lenzi directed a movie with the same name, Paranoia, in 1970 also with Carroll Baker. During the 1970s, Lenzi directed a number of giallo thrillers among them So Sweet... So Perverse (1969), Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972) and Eyeball (1975). None of them were particularly successful since Lenzi blamed his tight budgets and poor scripts, which he believed no director could do well with.

In the late 1970s, Lenzi turned to the police thrillers (polizieschi), which rejuvenated his confidence and his popularity. Titles like Almost Human (1974), Tough Cop (1976) (Free Hand For a Tough Cop), and Brothers Till We Die (1977) (Brothers Till We Die) were the most popular and brutal of the thrillers. Prior to the polizieschi, Lenzi directed Sacrifice! (1972) (Man from Deep River), which was the start of the Italian cannibal sub-genre. A re-telling of the western A Man Called Horse (1970), with a south Asia setting, set the stage for a later group of extremely gory cannibal sub-genre movies most noteworthy being Ruggero Deodato's Last Cannibal World (1977) which featured a potent combination of extreme violence in a documentary realism. Lenzi responded with two very gory jungle cannibal features, Eaten Alive! (1980) and Cannibal Ferox (1981) (Make Them Die Slowly), which attempted to outdo Deodato's thrillers. The excess of Cannibal Ferox, which was banned in 31 countries, made Lenzi distance himself from the cannibal genre.

In between Eaten Alive and Cannibal Ferox, Lenzi directed Nightmare City (1980), a zombie flick, with Lenzi rejected the slow-moving zombies of the Romero and Fulci movies for a more type of fast-moving, weapons toting, super zombies with action and an anti-nuclear message.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Lenzi turned his attention to other genres: action-adventure, war films and even made-for-TV dramas, although he directed the occasional thriller most notable in that time was Ghosthouse (1988). His movie Le porte dell'inferno (1989) is a seldom-seen horror film, which makes the most of its low budget. Lenzi claimed to have shot it in three weeks at a cost of 300 million lire, whereas low-budget Italian horror films shot in Italy or abroad cost an average of a billion lire or more. It represented a personal challenge for Lenzi since the entire movie takes place in a cave and the suspense is maintained for the entire 90 minutes.

As his budgets and financing for his films dwindled, so did his output. The 1990s saw Lenzi directing a number of TV productions that were never broadcast, causing him lament upon the change in Italian film industry. After 40 years and directing over 60 films, Lenzi more or less retired from film directing and left his mark as one of the most creative and inexhaustible cult film directors of Italy.

Umberto Lenzi died on October 19, 2017 at a hospital in the Ostia district of Rome, Italy at age 86.

Michele Lupo was born on 4 December 1932 in Corleone, Sicily, Italy. He was a director and assistant director, known for Buddy Goes West (1981), The Master Touch (1972) and Goliath and the Sins of Babylon (1963). He died on 27 June 1989 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Antonio Margheriti was born on 19 September 1930 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Yor: The Hunter from the Future (1983), Cannibals in the Streets (1980) and The Unnaturals (1969). He died on 4 November 2002 in Monterosi, Lazio, Italy.

Talented, prolific and versatile writer/director Sergio Martino has made a vast array of often solid and enjoyable films in such diverse genres as horror, comedy, Western and science-fiction in a career that spans over 40 years.

Martino was born on July 19, 1938, in Rome, Italy. His grandfather was noted director Gennaro Righelli. Sergio began his cinematic career in his early 20s as an assistant to his writer/producer brother Luciano Martino and handled second unit director chores on Mario Bava's The Whip and the Body (1963), and made his directorial debut in 1969 with the mondo documentary Wages of Sin (1969). He really hit his stride in the early 1970s with several superior giallo murder mystery thrillers that usually starred popular actress Edwige Fenech (who was married to Martino's brother Luciano at the time): The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971), They're Coming to Get You! (1972), The Case of the Scorpion's Tail (1971) and Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972). Martino subsequently collaborated with Fenech on a handful of other projects, including the bubbly sex comedies Sex with a Smile (1976) and Cream Horn (1981). Other people Sergio has frequently worked with are actors George Hilton, Ivan Rassimov and Claudio Cassinelli and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi. Sergio's other worthwhile movies are the gritty spaghetti western Arizona Colt, Hired Gun (1970), the terrifically trashy Torso (1973), the rousing crime thriller The Violent Professionals (1973), the entertaining action/adventure romp Slave of the Cannibal God (1978), the fun "The Island of Dr. Moreau" rip-off The Island of the Fishmen (1979) and the funky post-nuke sci-fi/action opus 2019: After the Fall of New York (1983). He has also directed various made-for-TV features and episodes of TV shows for Italian television.

Emilio Miraglia was born in 1924 in Casarano, Puglia, Italy. He was an assistant director and director, known for The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971), The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972) and The Vatican Affair (1968). He died on 26 August 1982 in Rome, Italy.

Brunello Rondi was born on 26 November 1924 in Tirano, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for 8½ (1963), La Dolce Vita (1960) and Il demonio (1963). He died on 7 November 1989 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Salvatore Samperi was born on 26 July 1943 in Padua, Veneto, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Malicious (1973), Ernesto (1979) and Smell of Flesh (1974). He was married to Francesca Bardella. He died on 5 March 2009 in Trevignano Romano, Lazio, Italy.