Umberto Lenzi
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Featured:  Illustration: Portrait fantaisiste du marquis de Sade (1866) by H. Biberstein |
Umberto Lenzi (born August 6 1931), is an Italian film director who was very active in low budget crime films, peplums, spaghetti westerns, war movies, cannibal films and giallo mysteries (in addition to writing many of the screenplays himself). He is the director of two highly controversial exploitation films: Eaten Alive! (1980) and Cannibal Ferox (1981) as well as the film adaptation of the Italian comic book Kriminal (1966).
Lenzi was born in Massa Marittima, southern Tuscany.
He was one of the first Italian directors to get involved in the Giallo film craze (along with Mario Bava and Dario Argento), and his "Man From Deep River" is credited as being the film that started the "Italian cannibal film" genre later popularized by Ruggero Deodato, Jess Franco and others. In spite of his moments of ground-breaking originality, however, Lenzi wasn't above "cloning" popular hit movies such as "Conan the Barbarian" (with his 1982 "Ironmaster") and "Dawn of the Dead" (with his 1980 "Nightmare City"). His most critically acclaimed film is Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare (1974).
The Italian "La Casa" horror film series
Umberto Lenzi directed "Ghosthouse" in 1988, but many of his fans do not know why it was released as "La Casa 3" in Italy. The American films "Evil Dead" and "Evil Dead 2" were released in Italy as "La Casa" and "La Casa 2" respectively. Lenzi's film "Ghosthouse" was designed as a sort of sequel to these two high-grossing fan favorites, and thus was released in theatres there as "La Casa 3". The same year, Fabrizio Laurenti directed "Witchery" (starring Linda Blair) which was released in Italy as "La Casa 4" and was followed several years later by Claudio Fragasso's "La Casa 5: Beyond the Darkness" (which is a very hard film to locate).
Filmography
- Queen of the Seas (1961)
- Caterina di Russia (1962)
- Triumph of Robin Hood (1962)
- Duello nella Sila (1962) aka "Duel of Fire"
- L'invincibile cavaliere mascherato/ The Invincible Masked Rider (1962) aka "Terror of the Black Mask"
- Sandokan, la tigre di Mompracem/ Sandokan, the Tiger of Mompracem (1963) aka "Sandokan The Great"
- Zorro Vs Maciste (1963) aka "Samson and the Slave Queen"
- Temple of the White Elephant (1964) aka "Sandok, the Maciste of the Jungle"
- The Pirates of Malaysia (1964) w. Steve Reeves
- Messalina Against the Son of Hercules (1964) aka "The Last Gladiator"
- Superseven chiama Cairo (1965) aka "Super Seven Calling Cairo"
- 008 Operation Exterminate (1965)
- The Spy Loves Flowers (1966)
- A Million Dollars For Seven Killers (1966)
- Kriminal (1966)
- Attentato ai tre grandi (US title: Desert Commandos) 1967)
- Copperface (1967)
- A Pistol for a Hundred Coffins (1968)
- Legion of the Damned (1962) aka "Battle of the Commandos"
- Orgasmo (1969) (released as "Paranoia" in the USA)
- Paranoia (1969) (released as "A Quiet Place To Kill" in the USA, since "Orgasmo" was already released in the USA as "Paranoia")
- So Sweet, So Perverse (1969)
- Il Paese del sesso selvaggio (1972) aka "The Man From Deep River", aka "Sacrifice"
- Seven Bloodstained Orchids (1972) aka "Puzzle of the Silver Half Moons"
- Il coltello di ghiaccio (1972) aka "The Knife of Ice", aka "Silent Horror"
- Gang War in Milan (1973)
- Spasmo (1974)
- Milano odia la polizia non può sparare (1974) aka "The Kidnapping of Mary Lou", aka "Almost Human"
- Gatti rossi in un labirinto di vetro (1975) aka "Eyeball", aka "Wide-Eyed in the Dark"
- Il giustiziere sfida la città/ "The Avenger Challenges the City" (1975) aka "Syndicate Sadists"
- Roma a mano armata (1976) aka "Brutal Justice"
- Napoli violenta (1976) aka "Violent Naples"
- Il trucido e lo sbirro (1976) aka "Free Hand for a Tough Cop"
- La banda del Gobbo (1977) aka "Brothers Till We Die"
- Il grande attacco (1978) aka "The Great Battle"
- Contro 4 bandiere (1979) aka "From Hell to Victory"
- Da Corleone a Brooklyn (1979) aka "The Sicilian Boss"
- Nightmare City (Incubo sulla città contaminata) (1980) aka "City of the Walking Dead"
- Eaten Alive! (Mangiati vivi) (1980) aka "The Emerald Jungle", aka "Doomed To Die"
- Cannibal Ferox (1981) aka "Make Them Die Slowly"
- Daughter of the Jungle (1982) aka "Incontro nell'ultimo paradiso"
- La guerra del ferro/ The War of Iron (1982) aka "Ironmaster"
- Nightmare Beach (1988) aka "Welcome to Spring Break"
- La casa 3 - Ghosthouse (1988) aka "Evil Dead 3", aka "Ghosthouse"
- Hell's Gate (1989)
- Hitcher in the Dark (1989) aka "Fear in the Dark"
- The House of Witchcraft (1989) Made for Italian TV
- The House of Lost Souls (1989) Made for Italian TV
- Black Demons (1991) aka "Demons 3"
- Hunt for the Golden Scorpion (1991)
- Mean Tricks (1993)
