| Massacre Mania | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Paolo Bianchini |
| Screenplay by |
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| Story by |
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| Produced by | Gabriele Crisanti |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Erico Menczer [1] |
| Edited by | Otello Colangeli [1] |
| Music by | Carlo Savina [1] |
Production company | Cinecris [1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes [1] |
| Country | Italy [1] |
Massacre Mania (Italian : Hipnos follia di massacro) is an Italian 1967 science fiction film written and directed by Paolo Bianchini.
 | This article needs a plot summary.(July 2015) |
Massacre Mania was the third and final film directed by Paolo Bianchini for producer Gabriele Crisanti, following The Devil's Man and Superargo and the Faceless Giants . [2] The film was shot in eight weeks in and around Rome between February and March 1967. [2]
Among the cast was Robert Woods. [2] Woods described the script as improvized, stating that "these were nearly always collaborative efforts (where almost everyone involved had input)." [2] Woods spoke positively about working on the film, specifically on how it was a departure from the Westerns and that he "loved the comic book implications" of Massacre Mania. [3]
In his book about Italian films inspired by comic books and their conventions, Roberto Curti described the film as "often labelled as a spy flick, Massacre Mania is actually a lot closer to the superhero films of the era, of which it represents a darker version, and very Italian too." [4] Curti felt the film was a "strange mixture of science fiction, thriller and comic-book style adventure" [2]
Massacre Mania was submitted to the Italian board of censors in October 1967, one month after Superargo and the Faceless Giants, but was eventually released earlier than that film. [4] The Italian title for the film is Hipnos follia di massacro and is sometimes misspelled as Hypnos in reference books. [4] Producer Gabriele Crisanti described the film's release as "a flop", acknowledging that he "made the mistake of giving it to a distributor-Vecchioni, the owner of United International Films-who went bankrupt before the film was released." [4]
Director Paolo Bianchini did not have a high opinion of the film, stating that he had been "invited to conventions and film schools concerning [Massacre Mania]. But every time I watch it again, it's such a terrible thing. Perhaps people notice that there's a certain high craft about these pics, as they were literally made out of nothing." [4] [5]