Lamberto Bava
| Lamberto Bava | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 April 1944 Rome, Italy |
| Occupation | Film director |
Lamberto Bava (born 3 April 1944) is an Italian film director, specializing in horror and fantasy films.
Bava was born in Rome, Italy, the son of cinematographer/director Mario Bava, and grandson of cameraman Eugenio Bava. He is also a protege of director Dario Argento.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
After working for 15 years as a personal assistant, assistant director and screenwriter with his famous father (he first assisted him on Planet of the Vampires in 1965), Lamberto Bava worked as an assistant director with Dario Argento (on Inferno and Tenebrae) and with Ruggero Deodato (on the notorious Cannibal Holocaust and Jungle Holocaust). Eventually, Bava moved into the directing chair, making his debut with the twisted Macabre for producer Pupi Avati, then going on to helm several other features, including A Blade in the Dark, Delirium and Monster Shark.
In 1985, Bava re-teamed with Dario Argento, this time as a writer/director for Demons and Demons 2 (both of which Argento produced). Bava also helped to write Demons 3 (aka The Church), which was later directed for Argento by Michele Soavi.
In the mid-1980s, Bava was hired to direct six episodes of the Turno di Notte Italian TV series (1986), four films in the Brivido Giallo TV series (1987), and four films in the Alta Tensione TV series (1988). Unfortunately, only the four "Brivido Giallo" TV movies are available in the USA on DVD (English-dubbed).
In 1987, as an entry in the "Brivido Giallo" TV series, Bava directed Per Sempre/ Until Death, an unofficial sequel to Peter Medak's 1980 haunted house film, The Changeling. Reportedly, famed Italian horror director Lucio Fulci was furious when he learned that Bava directed this film, since he had understood that he was slated to direct it with the project's screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti. Fulci even accused Sacchetti of stealing the original plot idea from him, which was not at all true according to Sacchetti.
Bava then went on to direct the Italian made-for-TV fantasy film Fantaghirò, which has since spawned four sequels. He has continued making television films in this style, including The Dragon Ring and Pirates: Blood Brothers. Although Bava recently made a horror film entitled Ghost Son, it seems Bava has given up making horror films in favor of the made-for-TV fantasy films. He said in a recent interview that he enjoys creating imaginative movies for children, rather than just cranking out repetitive violent slasher flicks. Horror fans in the US and Britain seem to remember him best however for his two Demons films and A Blade in the Dark.
[edit] The Demons Film Series
Dario Argento hired Lamberto Bava to direct the first two films in his "Demons" series, but the third film in the series was directed by Michele Soavi instead of Bava. This third film wound up being released however as The Church, and not as Demons 3 for some reason. Later, a made-for-Italian-TV film that Bava directed, shown in Italy as House of The Ogre, somehow got released on video as Demons 3: The Ogre in several countries. Lamberto himself has said that Ogre was never meant to be part of the Argento-produced Demons series and that the real Demons 3 was always Michele Soavi's The Church.
To further confuse things, Umberto Lenzi's 1991 film Black Demons was also later released on VHS as Demons 3 in some countries. Michele Soavi later directed The Sect: Demons 4 (aka The Devil's Daughter), and Lamberto Bava's 1989 film Mask of the Demon was later released on VHS in some countries as The Devil's Veil: Demons 5. (Luigi Cozzi's 1990 film The Black Cat, starring Caroline Munro, has also been referred to in some film reference books as Demons 6, although Cozzi had originally intended it as a sequel of sorts to Dario Argento's Inferno.)
[edit] Filmography
- Shock (1977) aka Beyond the Door 2 (Lamberto co-directed this film with his father Mario Bava)
- Macabre (1980) aka Frozen Terror (Lamberto's first solo directorial effort)
- A Blade in the Dark (1983) aka The House with the Dark Staircase
- Monster Shark (1984) aka Devilfish, aka Red Ocean, aka Apocalypse in the Red Ocean (France), aka Devourer of the Ocean (Spain)
- Blastfighter (1984) aka Force of Vengeance (a Rambo clone)
- Demons (1985)
- Demons 2: The Nightmare Returns (1986)
- You'll Die At Midnight (1986) aka The Midnight Killer
- Turno di Notte (1986) Bava directed six episodes, including "E' di Moda la Morte", "Heavy Metal", "Buona Fine e Miglior Principio", "Giubetto Rosso", "Il Bambino Rapito" and "Babbo Natale" (These films are not available in English)
- Delirium (1987) aka Photos of Gioa
- Dinner with the Vampire (1987) (TV movie, part of the "Brivido Giallo" series)
- House of the Ogre (1987) aka Demons III: The Ogre (TV movie, part of the "Brivido Giallo" series)
- Until Death (1987) aka Per Sempre, aka The Changeling 2 (TV movie, part of the "Brivido Giallo" series)
- Graveyard Disturbance (1987) aka A Night in the Cemetery (TV movie, part of the "Brivido Giallo" series)
- The Prince of Terror (1988) (TV movie, part of the "Alta Tensione" series)
- The Man Who Didn't Want To Die (1988) (TV movie, part of the "Alta Tensione" series)
- School of Fear (aka Il Gioko) (1988) (TV movie, part of the "Alta Tensione" series)
- Eyewitness (1988) (TV movie, part of the "Alta Tensione" series)
- Mask of the Demon (1989) aka The Devil's Veil: Demons 5 (an homage to his father's 1960 classic Mask of the Demon/ Black Sunday)
- Body Puzzle (1990) aka Misteria
- Fantaghirò (Parts 1 through 5) (1991–1996, TV movies) aka The Cave of the Golden Rose: Parts 1 through 5
- The Dragon Ring (1994)
- Sorellina e il principe del sogno (1996) (TV movie)
- The Princess and the Pauper (1997)
- The White Elephant (1998) here as producer only
- Pirates: Blood Brothers (1999) aka Caraibi
- Human Currency (2000) TV miniseries
- The Torturer (2005)
- Ghost Son (2006)
- Sei passi nel giallo: Presagi (2012) TV
- Sei passi nel giallo: Ostaggi (2012) TV
- Sei passi nel giallo: Omicidio perfetto (2012) TV
[edit] External links
|
|||||
