FEATURED POSTS

10 Questions with Shane Briant

The talented British' born actor Shane Briant made his screen debut in the Hammer horror film Demons of the Mind. Since then he's gone on to appear in over 60 films and television productions including Straight On Till Morning (1972), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1973), The Mackintosh Man (1973), Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974), Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974), The Naked Civil Servant (1975) and Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981). Currently Briant is focusing his attention on writing fiction and he has recently completed a psychological thriller called Worst Nightmares that will be released May 12th. I've admired his film work for many years so I was thrilled to get the opportunity to ask Shane Briant a few questions about his early movies and current writing projects. READ MORE

THIS MONTH'S FEATURED POSTS

The Girl On a Motorcycle (1968)

The talented director and cinematographer Jack Cardiff has passed away at the age of 94. As the tributes start to roll out from various news sites and film blogs its become clear to me that most people regard Jack Cardiff as a great cinematographer and have little regard or knowledge of his directing contributions, which is a shame. Cardiff was a brilliant photographer and his groundbreaking contributions to cinematography are well worth celebrating. But his impressive work as a director on films like the wonderful D.H. Lawrence adaptation Sons and Lovers (1960), the entertaining spy thriller The Liquidator (1965), the excellent erotic drama The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968) and the effective horror film The Mutations (1974) is also worthy of applause. READ MORE

THIS MONTH'S FEATURED POSTS

Favorite DVD Releases of 2008

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but overall 2008 was somewhat of a lackluster year for new Region 1 DVD releases of '60s and '70s era films when compared to the previous two years (See: 2006 and 2007). Some of my favorite DVD companies such as BCI Eclipse and most recently New Yorker Films have folded. Boutique DVD companies are releasing fewer products and what is being released is often of questionable quality. With the failing economy and the rise in popularity of Blu-ray discs, it seems like the number of new worthwhile DVD releases might continue to drop dramatically in 2009. READ MORE

THIS MONTH'S FEATURED POSTS

Resurrecting Yusaku Matsuda

Toru Murakawa's Resurrection of the Golden Wolf (aka Yomigaeru kinrô; 1979) is a wildly uneven Japanese crime film that left me wishing it had been helmed by another director. The film's script was adapted from a popular novel by Haruhiko Ooyabu and directors like Seijun Suzuki have had great success turning Ooyabu's hard-boiled fiction into films, but Toru Murakawa doesn't have Suzuki's eye for detail or his pop art sensibility. Resurrection of the Golden Wolf runs much too long and the dramatic filler weighs down the action, but even with its flaws the movie still keeps your attention thanks to the star performance of Yusaku Matsuda. READ MORE

THIS MONTH'S FEATURED POSTS

We Are Controlling Transmission

This year analog broadcasting is coming to an end. On June 12th 2009 television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting in analog and switch permanently to digital. Digital broadcasting promises to provide viewers with a sharper picture and more diverse programming options, but this unavoidable change is forcing millions of people to buy new television sets or opt for getting a converter box that will often cost them $40 or more. I feel for these people because I didn't have complete cable TV Access or a digital television myself until 2007. READ MORE

Lucio Fulci - A Look Back

by Kimberly Lindbergs | March 13, 2007

Categories | Directors, Italian Cinema, Lucio Fulci, Michelangelo Antonioni

Lucio Fulci b. June 17, 1927 - d. March 13, 1996

Today is the 11th Anniversary of Italian director Lucio Fulci’s death. To celebrate the life of one of my favorite filmmakers I thought I would share a brief overview of Fulci’s early career in cinema, which is often overshadowed by his later years as a popular director of gory horror films and stylish thrillers.

Lucio Fulci was born on June 17, 1927 in Rome, Italy. His first passion was medicine and while he was studying the subject at an Italian medical school, Fulci also spent his time writing art criticism for local papers. One day while sitting on a train he noticed an advertisement on the back of a newspaper being read by a man sitting across from him which announced that the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (Experimental Film Studios) was accepting students. Fulci decided to apply and after a rigorous examination from legendary filmmaker Luchino Visconti (president at the time), Fulci was admitted to the school. Afterward he developed a friendship with Luchino Visconti along with Visconti’s assistants, which included filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni.

At Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia Fulci studied film theory from such luminaries as Umberto Barbaro, Luigi Chiarini and Béla Balázs alongside fellow students which included future filmmakers Nanni Loy and Francesco Maselli.

In 1948 Lucio Fulci graduated from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and immediately began working as an assistant to the visionary filmmakers Max Ophüls and Marcel L’Herbie. During this early period in Fulci’s career he began specializing in documentaries and comedies. He also started co-directing and co-writing scripts with filmmakers such as Carletto Romano, Steno (Stefano Vanzina), Mauro Bolognini, Giorgio Simonelli and Marino Girolami.

It seems for a brief time in the late 1950s that Fulci returned to writing criticism as part of the editorial staff for the entertainment publication La Settimana Incom. During this time Lucio Fulci also continued writing scripts and in 1959 he finally made his solo directing debut with a mobster comedy called I Ladri (1959) which starred the legendary Italian actor Totò along with Armando Calvo and Giacomo Furia.

Following I Ladria, Lucio Fulci went on to direct a few Italian musical comedies known as “Musicarello,” which featured many popular musical stars of the period. Fulci had become involved in co-writing songs for the young Italian artist Adriano Celentano with Piero Vivarelli. Together Fulci & Vivarelli composed a few of Adriano Celentano’s most popular songs including the award winning Il tuo bacio è come un rock and 24 mila baci.

One of Fulci’s early musicals was the interesting Urlatori alla sbarra (aka Metti, Celentano e Mina…, 1960). The movie featured many Italian pop sensations from the 60s such as Mina, Brunetta and Adriano Celentano, along with American jazz musician Chet Baker and the cute actress Elke Sommer. I came across some great old clips from this hard-to-find Lucio Fulci musicarello on Youtube and couldn’t resist sharing them here. The first clip featuring Mina really showcases Fulci’s early directing skills and the second clip manages to perfectly capture the high-energy of the youth movement that was taking shape on the streets of Italy during the 1960s.

Following Fulci’s all too brief musicarello period, he began focusing on comedy and directed many popular features starring the Italian comedy duo of Franco Franchi & Ciccio Ingrassia. Many of these comedies were crime parodies such as I Due pericoli pubblici (1964) or spy spoofs like 002 agenti segretissimi (1964).

In 1966 Lucio Fulci directed his first spaghetti western called Massacre Time (aka Tempo di massacro, 1966) and this film would take Fulci’s directing in a stylish and violent new direction. The movie starred genre favorites Franco Nero and George Hilton in their first big starring roles as feuding brothers. Both men would go on to gain international fame in surprisingly better known westerns such as Django and A Bullet for Sandoval (Los Desesperados, 1969) which was co-directed by Fulci.

It’s hard to watch Massacre Time and not be impressed by Fulci’s directing skills. The action and gun play is creatively shot and Fulci’s color palette is extremely eye-catching. The movie has obviously influenced many other filmmakers but unfortunately Fulci’s first western hasn’t gotten the critical attention that it richly deserves. In this brief trailer for Massacre Time you can easily see Fulci’s effective and dynamic film making abilities on display.

After making Massacre Time Fulci’s career as a filmmaker would take a dramatic turn towards thrillers and horror films as he he tapped into his own troubled life, which became haunted by the unexpected and tragic death of his wife. He would also begin to revisit his medical background and use it as the basis for creating many of the most violent and horrifying scenes in cinema history. This penchant towards extreme gore and unexpected shocks in Fulci’s later films would propel him into notoriety.

Four of Lucio Fulci’s best films from the second half - or middle period - of his long career as a filmmaker have recently been released on DVD, so over the next few days I hope to cover these new releases in more detail.

References
- Spaghetti Nightmares: Italian Fantasy-Horrors As Seen Through The Eyes Of Their Protagonists by Luca Palmerini and Gaetano Mistrett
- Shocking Images - Offical Lucio Fulci Tribute Site
- Lucio Fulci @ IMDb.com