Dante Tomaselli
Encyclopedia
Dante Tomaselli is an Italian-American horror screenwriter
, director
, and score composer.
's Pratt Institute
, then transferred to the New York School of Visual Arts, receiving a B.F.A.
degree in Advertising there. His first film was a 23-minute short called, Desecration, which was screened at a variety of horror and mainstream film festivals and venues. Tomaselli later expanded Desecration, which he also wrote, to feature-length. In 1999, the film received its world premiere to a standing-room-only audience at the prestigious Fantafestival
in Rome, Italy.
Tomaselli has been a lifelong supernatural/horror aficionado and is also the cousin of film director Alfred Sole, whose Alice, Sweet Alice (1976), made its own mark in the world of Catholic-themed horror films twenty-eight years prior.
His second feature film, Horror (2002), began principal photography January 15, 2001, in Warwick, New York
. It was his first commercially successful film, as well as the first to receive a wide DVD release.
Tomaselli then made Satan's Playground
(2005), his first linear film (as opposed to the extreme surrealism of his previous features). It starred 70's and early-80's cult-horror icons Felissa Rose
(Sleepaway Camp
), Ellen Sandweiss
(The Evil Dead
), and Edwin Neal
(The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
). The film is set, and was filmed in, New Jersey
's infamous Pine Barrens
Forest.
Dante is currently in post-production on his fourth feature, Torture Chamber (2011).
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, and score composer.
Directing career
Dante studied filmmaking at BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
's Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
, then transferred to the New York School of Visual Arts, receiving a B.F.A.
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
degree in Advertising there. His first film was a 23-minute short called, Desecration, which was screened at a variety of horror and mainstream film festivals and venues. Tomaselli later expanded Desecration, which he also wrote, to feature-length. In 1999, the film received its world premiere to a standing-room-only audience at the prestigious Fantafestival
Fantafestival
Fantafestival is a film festival devoted to fantasy film that is held annually in Italy from 1981....
in Rome, Italy.
Tomaselli has been a lifelong supernatural/horror aficionado and is also the cousin of film director Alfred Sole, whose Alice, Sweet Alice (1976), made its own mark in the world of Catholic-themed horror films twenty-eight years prior.
His second feature film, Horror (2002), began principal photography January 15, 2001, in Warwick, New York
Warwick, New York
Warwick is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 30,764 at the 2000 census. The 2007 census population estimate is 32,669.The Town of Warwick is located in the southwest part of the county...
. It was his first commercially successful film, as well as the first to receive a wide DVD release.
Tomaselli then made Satan's Playground
Satan's Playground (film)
Satan's Playground is a 2005 horror film directed and written by Dante Tomaselli, starring Felissa Rose, Ellen Sandweiss, and Edwin Neal.- Plot summary :...
(2005), his first linear film (as opposed to the extreme surrealism of his previous features). It starred 70's and early-80's cult-horror icons Felissa Rose
Felissa Rose
Felissa Rose is an American actress, known for her role as Angela Baker in the 1983 cult classic, Sleepaway Camp.-Early life:She was born as Felissa Rose Esposito in Greenwich Village and grew up in Woodbury, Long Island....
(Sleepaway Camp
Sleepaway Camp
Sleepaway Camp is a 1983 cult classic slasher film written and directed by Robert Hiltzik—who also served as executive producer. The film is about teen campers getting killed at a summer camp...
), Ellen Sandweiss
Ellen Sandweiss
Ellen Sandweiss is an American B-movie actress. She has also performed in musical theatre as a dancer and pop singer, and in a one-woman show of Jewish music....
(The Evil Dead
The Evil Dead
The Evil Dead is a 1981 horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi, starring Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, and Betsy Baker. The film is a story of five college students vacationing in an isolated cabin in a wooded area...
), and Edwin Neal
Edwin Neal
Edwin Neal is an American actor, perhaps best known for his role as the Hitchhiker in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre or his role as Lord Zedd in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. He has been a top voice talent and actor for years appearing on screen and off in such diverse projects as The Lord of the...
(The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film directed and produced by Tobe Hooper, who cowrote it with Kim Henkel. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen, who respectively portray Sally Hardesty, Franklin Hardesty, the...
). The film is set, and was filmed in, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
's infamous Pine Barrens
Pine Barrens (New Jersey)
The Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands, is a heavily forested area of coastal plain stretching across southern New Jersey. The name "pine barrens" refers to the area's sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soil, to which the crops originally imported by European settlers didn't take well...
Forest.
Dante is currently in post-production on his fourth feature, Torture Chamber (2011).