HORROR FILM

Horror film: translation

Film genre. With the significant exception ofCarmine Gallone's gothic mystery taleMalombra(1917) and Eugenio Testa'sIlMostro di Frankenstein(Frankenstein'sMonster, 1920), Italian silent cinema appears to have shown little interest in the horror genre. In the early sound yearsAlessandro Blasettimade a version of the Jekyll and Hyde story,Il Caso Haller(The Haller Case, 1933), but it is generally agreed that the horror genre really only began in Italy in the late 1950s withRiccardo Freda'sI vampiri(The Devil's Commandment, 1957) andCaltiki, il mostro immortale(Caltiki, the Immortal Monster, 1959), both photographed and codirected byMario Bava. The genre exploded, however, in 1960 when Mario Bava made his landmarkMaschera del Demonio(Black Sunday, 1960), flanked by Giorgio Ferroni'sIl mulino delle donne di pietra(Mill of the Stone Women, 1960), Renato Polselli'sL'amante del vampiro(The Vampire and the Ballerina, 1960), Piero Regnoli'sL'ultima preda del vampire(The Playgirls and the Vampire, 1960), and Anton Giulio Majano'sSeddok, l'erede di Satana(Atom Age Vampire, 1960).

The genre continued to flourish throughout the 1960s in films such as Freda'sL'orribile segreto del dottor Hichcock(The Horrible Secret of Dr.Hichcock, 1962) andLo spettro(The Ghost, 1963);AntonioMargheriti'sLa danza macabra(The Castle of Terror, 1963),La vergine di Norimberga(Horror Castle, 1963),I lunghi capelli della morte(The Long Hair of Death, 1964), andContronatura(Unnaturals, 1969); Camillo Mastrocinque'sLa cripta e l'incubo(Terror in the Crypt, 1964) andUn angelo per Satana(An Angel for Satan, 1966); and Massimo Pupillo'sIl boia scarlatto(Bloody Pit of Horror, 1965),Cinque tombe per un medium(Terror Creatures from the Grave, 1966), andLa vendetta di Lady Morgan(The Vengeance of Lady Morgan, 1966). The borders between the horror film proper and the emerginggiallowere not always clear as the same directors often worked in both, and the spectacular aspects of horror also easily migrated to genres like thepeplumin films such as Bava'sErcole al centro della terra(Hercules in the Haunted World, 1961) and Giacomo Gentilomo'sMaciste contro il vampiro(1961), and to science fiction as in Bava'sTerrore nello spazio(Terror in Space, 1965). The genre flourished so much during this period that it also spawned numerous parodies, such as Steno'sTempi duri per vampiri(Hard Times for Vampires, 1959) andUn mostro e mezzo(A Monster and a Half, 1964).

In the 1970s the genre dissiated into a number of subgenres such as the zombie and cannibal films ofLucio FulciandUmberto Lenzibut received new life in the work ofDario Argento, who came to be internationally renowned as the master of Italian horror for classics such asProfondo rosso(Deep Red, 1975),Suspiria(Dario Argento's Suspiria, 1976), andInferno(Dario Argento's Inferno, 1980). A notable contribution to the genre was also made by the more art house directorPupi Avatiwith hisLa casa dalle finestre che ridono(The House with Laughing Windows, 1976),Zeder(Revenge of the Dead, 1983), andL'arcano incantatore(The Arcane Enchanter, 1996). Although the genre was critically disregarded, it attracted collaboration from musicians such asEnnio Morricone, Roman Vlad, andRiz Ortolani, screenwriters such asEnnio De Conciniand Bernardino Zapponi, and cinematographers likeVittorio Storaro, Luciano Tovoli, and Luigi Kuveiller, all of whom contributed to the spectacular quality of this genre.