Lamberto Bava
Encyclopedia
Lamberto Bava is an Italian
film director, specializing in horror
and fantasy film
s.
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
.
, 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 Italian TV series Turno di Notte, four films in the Brivido Giallo TV series, and four films in the Alta Tensione TV series. 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.
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.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
film director, specializing in horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
and fantasy film
Fantasy film
Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...
s.
Bava was born in Rome, Italy, the son of cinematographer/director Mario Bava
Mario Bava
Mario Bava was an Italian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer remembered as one of the greatest names from the "golden age" of Italian horror films.-Biography:Mario Bava was born in San Remo, Liguria, Italy...
, and grandson of cameraman Eugenio Bava
Eugenio Bava
Eugenio Bava was an Italian film cinematographer and is the patriarch of the Bava family. His son was acclaimed film director Mario Bava.-References:* at Images Journal...
. He is also a protege of director Dario Argento
Dario Argento
Dario Argento is an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, and for his influence on modern horror and slasher movies....
.
Biography
After working for 15 years as a personal assistantPersonal assistant
A personal assistant or personal aide is someone who assists in daily business or personal tasks. It is common in design to have a PDA, or personal design assistant....
, assistant director
Assistant director
The role of an Assistant director include tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, maintaining order on the set. They also have to take care of health and safety of the crew...
and screenwriter
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:...
with his famous father (he first assisted him on Planet of the Vampires
Planet of the Vampires
Planet of the Vampires is a 1965 Italian science fiction horror film directed by Mario Bava. The film stars Barry Sullivan and Norma Bengell. The screenplay, by Bava, Alberto Bevilacqua, Callisto Cosulich, Antonio Roman, and Rafael J. Salvia, was based on an Italian language science fiction...
in 1965), Lamberto Bava worked as an assistant director with Dario Argento (on Inferno
Inferno (1980 film)
Inferno is a 1980 Italian supernatural horror film written and directed by Dario Argento. The film stars Irene Miracle, Leigh McCloskey, Eleonora Giorgi, Daria Nicolodi, and Alida Valli. The cinematography was by Romano Albani, and Keith Emerson composed the film's thunderous musical score...
and Tenebrae
Tenebrae (film)
Tenebrae is a 1982 Italian horror thriller film written and directed by Dario Argento. The film stars Anthony Franciosa, John Saxon, and Daria Nicolodi...
) and with Ruggero Deodato
Ruggero Deodato
Ruggero Deodato is an Italian film director and screen writer, best known for directing violent and gory horror films. Deodato is infamous for his 1980 film Cannibal Holocaust.- Biography :...
(on the notorious Cannibal Holocaust
Cannibal Holocaust
Cannibal Holocaust is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Ruggero Deodato from a screenplay by Gianfranco Clerici. Filmed in the Amazon Rainforest and dealing with indigenous tribes, it was cast mostly with United States actors and filmed in English to achieve wider distribution...
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
A Blade in the Dark
A Blade in the Dark but also known by the title House of the Dark Stairway, is a 1983 horror film.-Plot:Bruno, a composer, becomes involved in a series of murders who lives in a villa. In a horror film Bruno is scoring: a young child, taunted by cruel bullies, descends into a dark cellar after a...
, Delirium and Monster Shark.
In 1985, Bava re-teamed with Dario Argento, this time as a writer/director for Demons
Demoni
Dèmoni is a 1985 Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava and produced by Dario Argento. The screenplay was written by Bava, Argento, Franco Ferrini, and Dardano Sacchetti, from a story by Sacchetti...
and Demons 2
Demoni 2
Dèmoni 2 is a 1986 Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava and co-written and produced by Dario Argento. It is a sequel to Bava's 1985 film Dèmoni and stars David Edwin Knight, Nancy Brilli, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, as well as Argento's youngest daughter Asia Argento in her debut film...
(both of which Argento produced). Bava also helped to write Demons 3 (aka The Church
The Church (film)
The Church is a 1989 Italian horror film written and produced by Dario Argento and directed by Michele Soavi. The film stars Hugh Quarshie, Tomas Arana, Barbara Cupisti, Asia Argento, Feodor Chaliapin, Jr., and Giovanni Lombardo Radice...
), which was later directed for Argento by Michele Soavi
Michele Soavi
Michele Soavi, sometimes known as Michael Soavi is an Italian filmmaker.-Career:Michele Soavi was born in Milan. As a teenager, Soavi enrolled in creative arts classes and developed into a talented actor. He took acting lessons at Milan's Fersen Studios, but his greatest talent was working behind...
.
In the mid-1980s, Bava was hired to direct six episodes of the Italian TV series Turno di Notte, four films in the Brivido Giallo TV series, and four films in the Alta Tensione TV series. 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
Peter Medak
Peter Medak is a Hungarian-born film director of British and American films.-Early life:He was born in Budapest, Hungary to a Jewish family, but in 1956 fled his native country for England due to the Hungarian Revolution...
's 1980 haunted house film, The Changeling
The Changeling (film)
The Changeling is a 1980 horror film directed by Peter Medak and starring George C. Scott and Trish Van Devere . The story is based upon events that writer Russell Hunter said he experienced while he was living in the Henry Treat Rogers Mansion of Denver, Colorado.-Plot:Scott stars as Dr...
. Reportedly, famed Italian horror director Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is perhaps best known for his directorial work on gore films, including Zombie and The Beyond , although he made films in genres as diverse as giallo, western, and comedy...
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
Fantaghirò
Fantaghirò is a fantasy television film produced by Reteitalia, directed by Lamberto Bava and starring Alessandra Martines. It originally aired in 1991 as a two-parter, and hence has been known in certain video releases and airings as double-set of Fantaghirò 1 and Fantaghirò 2. It is the first...
, 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.
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
Umberto Lenzi
Umberto Lenzi , is an Italian film director who was very active in low budget crime films, peplums, spaghetti westerns, war movies, cannibal films and giallo murder mysteries ....
'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
Luigi Cozzi
Luigi Cozzi is an Italian movie director and screenwriter who directed mainly science fiction and horror films in the mid-1970s and throughout the 1980s...
'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.
Filmography
- Shock (1977) aka Beyond the Door 2 (Lamberto co-directed this film with his father Mario Bava)
- MacabreMacabre (1980 film)-Plot:In this horrific tale of murder, madness and perverse passion, a New Orleans wife and mother carries on a torrid affair behind her family's back. But when a violent accident leaves her lover dead, the woman returns from a mental institution determined to pursue her forbidden desires...
(1980) aka Frozen Terror (Lamberto's first solo directorial effort) - A Blade in the DarkA Blade in the DarkA Blade in the Dark but also known by the title House of the Dark Stairway, is a 1983 horror film.-Plot:Bruno, a composer, becomes involved in a series of murders who lives in a villa. In a horror film Bruno is scoring: a young child, taunted by cruel bullies, descends into a dark cellar after a...
(1983) aka The House with the Dark Staircase - Monster SharkMonster SharkMonster Shark is a 1984 Italian horror film, and one of several environmental disaster films to emerge following the success of the 1975 film Jaws, including films such as: Great White, Orca, Piranha, Tentacles and Tintorera.- Plot :The film takes place along...
(1984) aka Devilfish, aka Red Ocean, aka Apocalypse in the Red Ocean (France), aka Devourer of the Ocean (Spain) - BlastfighterBlastfighterBlastfighter is a 1984 Italian action film by Lamberto Bava starring Michael Sopkiw and George Eastman.-Plot:Jake "Tiger" Sharp is a former policeman who seeks revenge after his wife is murdered. After killing the murderer, Sharp is sentenced to seven years in prison...
(1984) aka Force of Vengeance (a Rambo clone) - DemonsDemoniDèmoni is a 1985 Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava and produced by Dario Argento. The screenplay was written by Bava, Argento, Franco Ferrini, and Dardano Sacchetti, from a story by Sacchetti...
(1985) - Demons 2: The Nightmare ReturnsDemoni 2Dèmoni 2 is a 1986 Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava and co-written and produced by Dario Argento. It is a sequel to Bava's 1985 film Dèmoni and stars David Edwin Knight, Nancy Brilli, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, as well as Argento's youngest daughter Asia Argento in her debut film...
(1986) - You'll Die At Midnight (1986) aka The Midnight Killer
- DeliriumDelirium (1987 film)Delirium, also known as Photo of Gioia and Delirium: Photo of Gioia is a 1980 Italian giallo film directed by Lamberto Bava and starring Serena Grandi.-Plot:A former prostitute is in charge of a successful men's magazine...
(1987) aka Photos of Gioa - Turno di Notte (1987) 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)
- 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 DisturbanceGraveyard DisturbanceGraveyard Disturbance is a 1987 Italian horror made-for-TV movie directed by Lamberto Bava and written by Dardano Sacchetti...
(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
- FantaghiròFantaghiròFantaghirò is a fantasy television film produced by Reteitalia, directed by Lamberto Bava and starring Alessandra Martines. It originally aired in 1991 as a two-parter, and hence has been known in certain video releases and airings as double-set of Fantaghirò 1 and Fantaghirò 2. It is the first...
(Parts 1 through 5) (1991–1996, TV movies) aka The Cave of the Golden Rose: Parts 1 through 5 - The Dragon RingDesideria e l'Anello del DragoDesideria e l'Anello del Drago is an Italian fantasy mini-series directed by Lamberto Bava and starring Anna Falchi...
(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)
- Hostages (2010) TV
- The Medium (2010) TV
- Perfect Murder (2011) TV