G.G. Communications

Last updated
G.G. Communications
IndustryFilm distribution
Headquarters
Boston, Massachusetts
,
United States [1]
Key people
Nicholas W. Russo [2]
OwnerIndependent

G.G. Communications or GG Productions [3] was a film distributor based in Boston, Massachusetts. [1] Founded by city native Nicholas W. Russo (credited in releases as "N.W. Russo"), [1] [2] [4] it was responsible for the U.S. releases of various foreign films. The company was named after fisherman Gadabout Gaddis, for whom Russo had produced the successful documentary television series The Flying Fisherman. [2]

G.G.'s titles ranged from adult fare such as Lucio Fulci and Mario Bava's giallo films One on Top of the Other and Hatchet for the Honeymoon , [3] [5] to children's films such as the live-action Pippi Longstocking films, [6] Giuliano Cenci's The Adventures of Pinocchio , Rolf Kauka's Once Upon a Time, [4] and the 1975 anime feature based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. [2] In the early 1980s, several of its films were released on VHS through distributor Video Gems. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucio Fulci</span> Italian filmmaker (1927–1996)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franco Franchi</span> Italian comedian

Francesco Benenato, known as Franco Franchi, was an Italian actor, comedian and singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mario Bava</span> Italian filmmaker (1914–1980)

Mario Bava was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter. His low-budget genre films, known for their distinctive visual flair and stylish technical ingenuity, feature recurring themes and imagery concerning the conflict between illusion and reality, as well as the destructive capacity of human nature. Widely regarded as a pioneer of Italian genre cinema and one of the most influential auteurs of the horror film genre, he is popularly referred to as the "Master of Italian Horror" and the "Master of the Macabre".

<i>Zombi 2</i> 1979 film directed by Lucio Fulci

Zombi 2 is a 1979 Italian zombie film directed by Lucio Fulci. It was adapted from an original screenplay by Dardano Sacchetti to serve as a sequel to George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), which was released in Italy under the title Zombi. It stars Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, and Richard Johnson, and features a score by frequent Fulci collaborator Fabio Frizzi. Frizzi's score has been released independently of the film, and he has performed it live on tour.

<i>Blastfighter</i> 1984 film

Blastfighter is a 1984 action film directed by Lamberto Bava starring Michael Sopkiw and George Eastman.

<i>Giallo</i> Literature and film genre

In Italian cinema, giallo is a genre of murder mystery fiction that often contains slasher, thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, less frequently, supernatural horror elements.

<i>The Beyond</i> (1981 film) 1981 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Lucio Fulci

The Beyond is a 1981 Italian Southern Gothic supernatural horror film directed by Lucio Fulci. It is based on an original story created by Dardano Sacchetti, starring Catriona MacColl and David Warbeck. Its plot follows a woman who inherits a hotel in rural Louisiana that was once the site of a horrific murder, and which may be a gateway to hell. It is the second film in Fulci's Gates of Hell trilogy after City of the Living Dead (1980), and was followed by The House by the Cemetery (1981).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lamberto Bava</span> Italian film director

Lamberto Bava is an Italian film director. Born in Rome, Bava began working as an assistant director for his director father Mario Bava. Lamberto co-directed the 1979 television film La Venere d'Ille with his father and in 1980 directed his first solo feature film Macabre.

<i>The House by the Cemetery</i> 1981 Italian horror film directed by Lucio Fulci

The House by the Cemetery is a 1981 Italian horror film directed by Lucio Fulci. The film stars Catriona MacColl, Paolo Malco, Ania Pieroni, Giovanni Frezza, Silvia Collatina and Dagmar Lassander. Its plot revolves around a series of murders committed by a ghoulish and demonic serial killer taking place in a New England home that happens to be hiding a gruesome secret within its basement walls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ciccio Ingrassia</span> Italian comedian (1922–2003)

Francesco "Ciccio" Ingrassia was an Italian actor, comedian and film director.

<i>City of the Living Dead</i> 1980 supernatural horror film by Lucio Fulci

City of the Living Dead is a 1980 Italian supernatural horror film co-written and directed by Lucio Fulci. It stars Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Carlo de Mejo, Antonella Interlenghi, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, and Janet Agren. The film follows a priest whose suicide opens a gateway to hell that releases the undead. A psychic and a reporter team up to close it before All Saints' Day.

<i>Until Death</i> (1988 film) 1988 TV series or program

Until Death is a 1988 Italian made-for-TV horror film directed by Lamberto Bava.

<i>Manhattan Baby</i> 1982 film directed by Lucio Fulci

Manhattan Baby is a 1982 Italian horror film directed by Lucio Fulci, and starring Christopher Connelly and Carlo De Mejo. The film begins in Egypt, where Susie, the daughter of archaeologist George Hacker, is given a mysterious talisman by an old woman. Meanwhile, her father investigates a tomb, and is blinded by a blue light. George and Susie return to New York, where George gradually recovers his vision. Strange deaths begin to occur around the Hackers, seemingly caused by the amulet.

<i>Warriors of the Year 2072</i> 1984 film directed by Lucio Fulci

Warriors of the Year 2072 is a 1984 Italian science fiction film directed by Lucio Fulci. The film is set in the 21st century, where Romans have found a new way to handle criminals: by having them fight each other like gladiators on motorcycles on national television. The film was based on a trend of Italian cinema to develop stories of futuristic barbarians after the popularity of the films Mad Max and Escape from New York.

<i>Cat in the Brain</i> 1990 film directed by Lucio Fulci

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.

<i>Sette note in nero</i> 1977 film directed by Lucio Fulci

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.

<i>Voices from Beyond</i> Film directed by Lucio Fulci

Voices from Beyond is a 1994 Italian horror film by director Lucio Fulci. The original shooting title of the film was Urla dal profondo. The story centers around the murder of a wealthy man despised by most of his relatives, with his spirit returning from the afterlife to guide his daughter in uncovering the identity of his killer.

<i>One on Top of the Other</i> 1969 film directed by Lucio Fulci

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 Dummurrier (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.

<i>Roy Colt & Winchester Jack</i> 1970 film

Roy Colt & Winchester Jack is a 1970 Italian Spaghetti Western film directed by Mario Bava.

<i>The Red Monks</i> 1989 film

The Red Monks is a 1989 Italian horror film directed by Gianni Martucci, and produced by Pino Buricchi. The screenplay was co-written by Martucci and Buricchi, based on a story by Luciana Anna Spacca. Buricchi began promoting the fact that famed Italian horror director Lucio Fulci had handled the special effects, or that Fulci had even co-directed the film. Fulci claimed he never worked on the film, and director Gianni Martucci even said that Fulci was way too ill at the time to have worked on the project with him. The film was later released to home video however with credits that still claimed that Lucio Fulci had collaborated on the film.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Marquee Staff (August 25, 1975). "Theater district may lose patrons". The Boston Globe . p. 26. Everything's coming up G's for Nick Russo, the Park Square Disney: The headman of the Boston-based G.G. Communications, a movie distributing outfit...
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Nicholas W. Russo, 75, was TV producer". The Baltimore Sun . September 20, 1991. p. 7.C. Archived from the original on December 10, 2015. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
  3. 1 2 Lucas, Tim (2007). Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark. Video Watchdog. p. 778. ISBN   978-0-9633756-1-2.
  4. 1 2 G.G. Communications (February 25, 1977). "Matinee advertisement for Once Upon a Time". Daytona Beach Morning Journal . p. 4B. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
  5. Church, David (October 28, 2014). "One on Top of the Other: Lucio Fulci, Transnational Film Industries, and the Retrospective Construction of the Italian Horror Canon". Quarterly Review of Film and Video. 32: 1–20. doi:10.1080/10509208.2013.780935. S2CID   191562040.
  6. Commire, Anne, ed. (1985). Something About the Author. Vol. 38. Gale Research Company. p. 132. ISBN   978-0-8103-0071-2 . Retrieved October 5, 2011.
  7. Tiegel, Eliot (March 6, 1982). "Kid Stuff Clicks For 2-Year-Old Video Gems Company". Billboard . Vol. 94, no. 9. p. 66. Retrieved October 5, 2011.