Lucio Fulci was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including comedies and spaghetti Westerns, he garnered an international cult following for his giallo and horror films.
In Italian cinema, giallo is a genre of murder mystery fiction that often contains slasher, thriller, psychological horror, psychological thriller, sexploitation, and, less frequently, supernatural horror elements.
The New York Ripper is a 1982 English-language Italian giallo film directed by Lucio Fulci, and co-written by Gianfranco Clerici, Vincenzo Mannino, and Dardano Sacchetti. The film is about a police lieutenant who is tracking a sadistic killer who slashes women with a switchblade and straight-razors.
Francesco "Ciccio" Ingrassia was an Italian actor, comedian and film director.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is a 1970 giallo film written and directed by Dario Argento, in his directorial debut. It stars Tony Musante as an American writer in Rome who witnesses a serial killer targeting young women, and tries to uncover the murderer's identity before he becomes their next victim. The cast also features Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno, Eva Renzi, Umberto Raho and Mario Adorf.
Tomas Milian was a Cuban-born actor with American and Italian citizenship, known for the emotional intensity and humor he brought to starring roles in European genre films.
The House of Clocks is an Italian horror film directed by Lucio Fulci. In it, a wealthy older couple is murdered during a robbery by three young perpetrators. The event results in a supernatural reversal of time, symbolized by the fast, counter-clockwise movement of hands on the house's many clocks. Eventually, this leads to the resurrection of the older couple, who subsequently seek to terrorize the three burglars.
Gianfranco Clerici is an Italian writer of numerous screenplays for Italian film and television productions. He has collaborated with several directors of exploitation cinema, including Lucio Fulci and Ruggero Deodato. Many of his scripts went on to become controversial films, most infamously the 1980 film Cannibal Holocaust, directed by Deodato.
Lino Banfi is an Italian actor and screenwriter. Since 1960 he has appeared in more than 100 films.
Cat in the Brain, also known as Nightmare Concert, is a 1990 Italian horror film written and directed by Lucio Fulci. Fulci stars as a fictionalized version of himself, a tortured horror filmmaker who is driven by the violent visions that he experiences both behind the camera and off the set. Feeling like he's losing his grip on reality and disturbed by murderous fantasies, Fulci consults a psychotherapist, who is secretly a serial killer and using hypnosis, exploiting the director's vulnerabilities to his own murderous ends.
Franco and Ciccio were a comic comedy duo formed by Italian actors Franco Franchi (1928–1992) and Ciccio Ingrassia (1922–2003), particularly popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Their collaboration began in 1954 in the theatre field, and ended with Franchi's death in 1992. The two made their cinema debuts in 1960 with the film Appuntamento a Ischia. They remained active until 1984 when their last film together, Kaos, was shot, although there were some interruptions in 1973 and from 1975 to 1980.
A Day in Court is a 1954 Italian comedy film directed by Steno and starring Peppino De Filippo, Silvana Pampanini, Sophia Loren, and Alberto Sordi. The film is an anthology, consisting of a day's cases before Judge Salomone Lo Russo in a court in Rome.
Sette note in nero is a 1977 Italian giallo film directed by Lucio Fulci and co-written by him with Roberto Gianviti and Dardano Sacchetti. Sette note in nero stars Jennifer O'Neill, Gianni Garko, Marc Porel, and Ida Galli. The film involves a woman who begins experiencing psychic visions that lead her to discover a murder; her husband is charged with the killing. The psychic must embark on an investigation with a paranormal researcher to clear her husband's name of the crime.
Cold Eyes of Fear is a 1971 Italian-Spanish thriller film directed by Enzo G. Castellari, starring Fernando Rey.
Nude per l'assassino is a 1975 giallo film directed by Andrea Bianchi. Written by Massimo Felisatti, the film stars Nino Castelnuovo, Edwige Fenech and Solvi Stubing, and features music by Berto Pisano. Nude per l'assassino has received mixed to negative reviews from critics.
One on Top of the Other, also known as Perversion Story, is a 1969 giallo film directed by Lucio Fulci. Written by Fulci and Roberto Gianviti, the film stars Jean Sorel, Marisa Mell, Elsa Martinelli, Alberto de Mendoza and John Ireland. The first giallo directed by Fulci, its plot concerns George Dumurrier (Sorel), an unscrupulous San Franciscan doctor who is suspected of orchestrating the death of his asthmatic wife Susan (Mell) as part of an insurance scam, despite her seeming reemergence as Monica Weston, a high-class stripper.
Il coltello di ghiaccio is a 1972 giallo film directed by Umberto Lenzi and starring Carroll Baker, Evelyn Stewart, and George Rigaud. Both Baker and Stewart featured in several other films helmed by Lenzi. The film follows a mute woman who finds herself in danger when a serial killer begins stalking the Spanish countryside. The title takes its name from a quote attributed to Edgar Allan Poe, in which he refers to fear as a "knife of ice which penetrates the senses down to the depth of conscience"; the quote, however, was a fabrication by the filmmakers.
Giallo a Venezia is a 1979 Italian giallo film directed by Mario Landi. The film released on December 31, 1979, in Italy and starred Leonora Fani. It is known primarily for its extremely graphic scenes of sex and gore, including a woman's leg being slowly sawed off with a long knife. There is also a Brazilian VHS version containing XXX scenes under the title Pesadelo em Veneza.
Ornella Micheli was an Italian film editor active from the 1950s through the 1980s. She often worked on the exploitation films and thrillers of directors Lucio Fulci, Riccardo Freda, and Giuliano Carnimeo.
