DEODATO, RUGGERO

(1939-)

Screenwriter and director. After serving as assistant director forRoberto RossellinionIl Generale della Rovere(General della Rovere, 1959) andEra notte a Roma(Escape by Night, 1960), Deodato worked across most of the popular genres, frequently collaborating as assistant or codirecting withAntonio Margherition films as different as thepeplumUrsus il terrore dei Kirghizi(Hercules, Prisoner of Evil, 1964) and the minibudget science fiction fantasyI criminali della galassia(Wild, Wild Planet, 1965). On his own he directed (at times under the pseudonym Roger Rockefeller) exotic adventures, jungle films, musical comedies, Westerns, and police thrillers. He made his greatest mark, however, in the splatter-horror genre, achieving international cult status as "Mr. Cannibal" for his controversial and highly censoredUltimo mondo cannibale(The Last Cannibal World, 1977) andCannibal Holocaust(Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust, 1980), described as "the most savage and brutal film in modern history." From the late 1980s he has worked on much milder television fare, but in 2005 aCannibal Holocaust 2was announced as being in pre-production.