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Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Films by Country: Italy



ITALIAN HORROR [1950 - 1990]

Of all the non English-speaking countries, Italy was the #1 exporter of genre films to America, which is precisely why most horror-loving Americans of a certain age feel the same nostalgia for Italian genre films as they do American ones. Italy was an anomaly in that the vast majority of their films were dubbed into English, released to U.S. theaters and filled American video stores to the point where you were just as likely to go home with an Italian-produced rental as an American one. The same really cannot be said for any other country. Many Italian genre filmmakers also received widespread coverage, usually praise, in U.S. genre publications, which turned filmmakers like Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci into top cult horror directors whose latest releases were just as highly anticipated as those from the likes of Carpenter, Craven or Romero. Again, the same cannot be said for most directors from most other countries, even ones of equal or even greater talent. It's pretty easy to see the appeal, though. Italian films just felt different. They were often gorier and / or sleazier than homegrown horrors and were distinctly un-American in how they were directed, shot and scored, with even their (technically) worse attributes, like choppier editing (frequently due to censor cuts) and the awful dubbing, only contributing to their "style."


When looking at Italian genre trends from the late 50s until 1990, it's always important to remember the three big G's: Gothic, giallo and gore. The history of Big Boot horror traces all the way back to the silent era and 1911's L'Inferno (U.S. = Dante's Inferno) directed by Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan and Giuseppe de Liguoro, which took over three years to make, was the very first feature-length film made in Italy and became a global hit that grossed millions in the U.S. alone. While not quite as notable as Inferno, they also produced their own Frankenstein film, the now-missing Il mostro di Frankenstein (1920). There were just a few other genre films made in Italy from the 1910s up until the early 30s but then... silence... for several decades. There's an easy explanation as to why: Horror films were essentially banned in the country due to the artistically toxic combo at fascism (Mussolini) and religion (the Vatican), a one-two punch that clamped down on content they felt contained "disturbing cultural themes." Of course, propaganda (nationalistic / military and religious) films were produced in large quantities during this time.

It wouldn't be until the late 50s, after a rejection of fascism and a period of post-WWII working class neorealist pictures that produced some of the country's most renowned films, that Italy would start making horror films again. While Hammer and Roger Corman are noted as being driving forces in the resurgence of 60s Gothic horror, I vampiri (1957; released in America with newly-shot U.S. footage spliced in as The Devil's Commandment in 1960), would beat both to the punch while also becoming the first Italian genre film of the sound era. This macabre tale of blood being used to restore an evil woman's youth and beauty also introduced audiences to two pioneering Italian genre directors: Riccardo Freda, who was basically branded a second tier, workman-like filmmaker throughout his career, and Mario Bava, who became one of the most influential and (sadly, posthumously) acclaimed.


Even though it wasn't technically the first, Bava's (credited) feature film debut Black Sunday (1960) was the real turning point. It had more graphic violence and far better photography, special effects and art direction than usual, helping to make it a big international hit. It also launched the career of British actress Barbara Steele, who became the only female of the decade who was headlining horror films as a major box office draw comparable to Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Vincent Price. Dozens of moody, creaky, shadowy, usually black-and-white but sometimes color Italian Gothics followed throughout the 60s. Steele herself starred in about ten of these and Lee, looking to branch out from Hammer, also made his presence known by appearing in around half-a-dozen. His Bava collaboration The Whip and the Body (1963) was a major highlight of this cycle, though many others were also quite good.


By the end of the 60s, Gothic films were starting to fall out of favor with audiences, so production of these more old-fashioned, atmospheric films lessened considerably. Movies like The Last House on the Left (1972), The Exorcist (1973) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), dragging horror out of the 1800s into contemporary society kicking and screaming, then drove the final nail in the coffin by the middle of the decade. This left some European studios like Hammer floundering (and thus greatly reducing the number of UK theatrical horror films starting in the mid 70s), but many Italian filmmakers who cut their teeth on Gothic horror adapted to the times / trends and their film industry continued to flourish.


Giallo, named after lurid paperback crime-thrillers / mysteries with yellow covers and owing somewhat to a string of late 50s / early 60s Edgar Wallace "krimi" adaptations produced mostly in Germany, was the next major Italian genre movement. And, no surprise, this was another area that Bava was at the forefront of with his films The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963; U.S. release = Evil Eye) and Blood and Black Lace (1964). These two movies, especially the latter, codified what the giallo film would become - stylish, colorful, complex (often nonsensical) plots, black-gloved killer, elaborately-staged murder set pieces - as much as Carpenter's Halloween and Cunningham's Friday the 13th informed the 80s slasher movement. This cycle was boosted even further by the domestic and international success of Dario Argento's debut feature, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), with Bava's gory A Bay of Blood (1971) also considered a key film in both the giallo and later slasher movements. Many of these were co-productions with other countries like Spain and West Germany. Several other directors, most notably Sergio Martino (who's right behind Argento and Bava as far as both popularity and quality are concerned) and Umberto Lenzi, were able to cultivate fan followings for their work.

Italy had their hand in well over 100 gialli by the middle of the 70s but the popularity of these kind of films waned fairly quickly. In a way, Argento's superlative Deep Red (1975) kind of threw down an exclamation point and then shut the door behind it. Later films frequently classified as giallo, unless directed by an old hand like Argento himself, didn't quite feel the same as the films produced during the 1970 - 1975 heyday. Ones to surface in the late 70s tried to compensate for the familiarity by piling on the sleaze, incorporating elements like X-rated sex and having plots centered around killers using over-sized dildos as murder weapons and such, while the 80s movies blended in with, and were virtually indistinguishable from, the North American slashers. Well, aside from being poorly dubbed.


Not that giallo were all the Italians were up to the 1970s. They also churned out quite a few titles in most other exploitation subgenres. The success of the previously mentioned Last House and The Exorcist, plus the likes of Jaws (1975), Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Alien (1979), spawned many imitators. Rest assured, if something was popular and profitable, the Italians were around to make their own version(s) of it! They made nunsploitation films (perhaps in response to Ken Russell's The Devils), Naziploitation torture films (likely in response to the notorious North American Ilsa series), women-in-prison films (likely in response to a series of Corman-produced early 70s drive-in hits), Satanism films, killer animal films and more, plus established a few of their own subgenres with the jungle cannibal gore film and the mondo shockumentary (brought on by the worldwide success of 1962's Mondo cane). Two of the most notorious films of the entire decade; Pier Paolo Pasolini's sick-o "art film" Salo (1975) and the "historical hardcore" Penthouse magazine production Caligula (1979), were both Italian co-productions filmed in Italy, though Salo was actually banned there (and in numerous other countries) for years.


Italy ended up adapting extremely well to the 80s video revolution, which would carry it through the decade... but unfortunately not too far beyond that. Directors like Lucio Fulci and Joe D'Amato were able to gain traction for their gore-soaked work once VHS arrived, with titles like the former's Zombie (1979) and The Beyond (1981) and the latter's Buio Omega (1979) and The Grim Reaper (1980) becoming big hits. A long way from his "classy" giallo days, Lenzi blended in just fine with his own trash zombie film Nightmare City (1980) and the mean-spirited gore-fest Cannibal ferox (1981), which claimed to be "Banned in 31 Countries" and became one of the most notorious titles in 80s video stores under the moniker Make Them Die Slowly.


Antonio Margheriti, one of the 60s Gothic guys who made the well-regarded Castle of Blood (1964) and others, was still working, only now making stuff like Invasion of the Flesh Hunters (1980) while Argento was still going strong, though less prolific due to making more elaborate, expensive films. However, it was Ruggero Deodato who directed the most notorious Italian genre film of the 80s with Cannibal Holocaust (1980), which was banned in numerous countries (including Italy) for years. Over the past few decades, it has surpassed nearly every other Italian horror film in popularity due to its undiminished power to shock and early incorporation of found footage elements that would become extremely popular in the 2000s.


After Mario Bava passed away in 1980, his son Lamberto (bottom, left) quickly created a name for himself in video horror, most especially with his gory and hugely popular Demons (1985). He'd go on become one of his country's most prolific genre directors of the 80s, behind only D'Amato (center) and Fulci (right). Some other directors you'll run across are nondescript but usually competent jack-of-all-trades Alberto De Martino (Formula for a Murder), low budget trash-meister and frequent plagiarist Bruno Mattei (Rats: Night of Terror), better-financed frequent plagiarist Ovidio G. Assonitis (Tentacles), sometimes surrealist Pupi Avati (Zeder), Claudio Fragasso of Troll 2 infamy and Argento disciples Michele Soavi (The Church) and (the much schlockier) Luigi Cozzi (Alien Contamination). And then you have other non-Italian directors like Spaniard Jess Franco, who received funding from Italian sources for some of his 200+ films, and American Charles Band, who made many of his 80s films in Italy with mostly Italian crews.

      

There's little consistency to the casting of Italian films. Often times, the dialogue was dubbed in later, so it didn't even matter if the actor was Italian, British, Spanish, American or German. If someone was a "name" and willing, language wasn't a barrier to being cast. In fact, some of the more prolific stars in these films weren't Italian at all and many didn't even speak the language. You're just as likely to see Americans like Carroll Baker or John Saxon or Brits like Donald Pleasence and Richard Johnson in Italian films as you are actual Italian actors like Franco Nero, Erika Blanc, Ivan Rassimov or Edwige Fenech. Some others who were in regular rotation include Germans Anton Diffring and Klaus Kinski, Austrian William Berger, Indonesian Laura Gemser, French Jean Sorel, Brazilian Florinda Bolkan, Americans Farley Granger, Joseph Cotten and Ray Milland, Uruguayan George Hilton, Argentinian Alberto de Mendoza, Swedish Janet Agren, New Zealander David Warbeck and the list goes on and on and on.


Starting in the early 90s, the Italian film industry as international powerhouse started to buckle. You can even see the early stages of that at the tail end of the 80s. Demand was down for imports as video stores were already well-stocked and what space remained was typically reserved for newer titles. Toward the end of the decade, chains like Blockbuster were killing off independently-run stores whilst also implementing an extremely irritating policy of clearing off entire walls so they could stock 100 copies of whatever Hollywood wide release was heading to video that week. They seemingly couldn't throw their older titles out fast enough and certainly had no interest in acquiring lesser-known films, let alone ones that didn't even play theatrically in America. This wasn't an exclusively Italian problem either as independent filmmakers everywhere (including American ones) faced the same exact hurdles.


Glancing over the list below, you may notice that toward the end of the 80s there are both more films made exclusively for Italian TV and a number of titles that didn't get decent distribution in America, if any at all. Some of the later Bava Jr. and Fulci titles, which would have been popular just a few years earlier, were suddenly hard to come by. Even Argento, the most famous Italian horror director, took a hit. After Opera (1987), his most expensive production to that time, failed to live up to expectations at the Italian box office, he ended up in America directing half of the shot-in-Pittsburgh anthology Two Evil Eyes (1990) and then Trauma (1993), which was filmed in Minnesota. It would be nearly a decade before he made another film in Italy.

Lenzi, Fulci, D'Amato and Fragasso also made films in the U.S. with English-speaking casts at around the same time, with their eye on better international distribution. D'Amato's company Filmirage produced many of these, nearly all shot in either Louisiana, Virginia or Massachusetts and three of them - Ghosthouse (1987), Witchery (1988) and Beyond Darkness (1990) - fraudulently marketed as further sequels to Sam Raimi's Evil Dead films. Meanwhile, the company Flora Film marketed their own bogus sequels, including the Bruno Mattei troika of Robowar (1988), Shocking Dark (1989) and Night Killer (1990), which were pawned off as sequels to, respectively, Robocop, The Terminator and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In addition they picked up where Fulci left off with three more bogus Dawn of the Dead sequels: Zombi 3, 4 and 5.


Just to illustrate the huge drop-off in Italian horror films after the 80s, an IMDb title search for Italian horror made between 1970 to 1990 brings up 303 titles while a similar search for 1991 to 2011 turns up less than half of that: 149. This doesn't even take into consideration that some schmuck deleted the horror genre classification from most giallo and changed them to "thriller" or the proliferation of digital, which makes it much cheaper / easier to make a horror film nowadays than it was back then.

I also need to point out that many film connoisseurs (the snobbier ones) consider the mid 70s until the late 80s, where horror, exploitation and sex comedies reigned supreme, the all-time "low point" in Italian cinema. I've actually seen it described as a "film crisis" before, which is hilarious! I know I'll sometimes bitch about the various ways "art films" can get on my nerves, but I've never been that damn dramatic about it!

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1950s

- Vampires, The (The Devil's Commandment; I vampiri) (1957; Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda)

- Caltiki, the Immortal Monster (Caltiki il mostro immortale) (1959; Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda) [co-USA]
- Uncle Was a Vampire (Tempi duri per i vampiri) (1959; Steno) [co-France]



1960s

- Atom Age Vampire (Seddok, l'erede de Satana) (1960; Anton Giulio Majano)
- Black Sunday (La maschera del demonio) (1960; Mario Bava)
- Blood and Roses (Et mourir de plaisir) (1960; Roger Vadim) [co-France]
- Dance of Death, The (Le Saint mène la danse) (1960; Jacques Nahum) [co-France]
- Eyes Without a Face (Les yeux sans visage) (1960; Georges Franju) [co-France]
- Mill of the Stone Women (Il mulino della donne di pietra) (1960; Giorgio Ferroni) [co-France]
- My Pal, Dr. Jekyll (Il mio amico Jekyll) (1960; Marino Girolami)
- Playgirls and the Vampire, The (L'ultima preda del vampiro) (1960; Piero Regnoli)
- Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse, The (Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse) (1960; Fritz Lang) [co-France, West Germany]
- Vampire and the Ballerina, The (L'amante del vampiro) (1960; Renato Polselli) ▼


- Goliath and the Vampires (Maciste contro il vampiro) (1961; Giacomo Gentilomo)
- Hercules in the Haunted World (Ercole al centro della Terra) (1961; Mario Bava)
- Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory (Lycanthropus) (1961; Paolo Heusch) [co-Austria]

- Burning Court, The (La chambre ardente) (1962; Julien Duvivier) [co-France, W. Germany]
- Carpet of Horror, The (Der Teppich des Grauens) (1962; Harald Reinl) [co-Spain, WG]
- Horrible Dr. Hichcock, The (L'orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock) (1962; Riccardo Freda)
- Hypnosis (Ipnosi) (1962; Eugenio Martín) [co-Spain, West Germany]
- Mondo Cane (1962; Paolo Cavara, Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi) [doc]
- Planets Against Us (I pianeti contro di noi) (1962; Romano Ferrara) [co-France]
- Passport for a Corpse (Lasciapassare per il morto) (1962; Mario Gariazzo)
- Witch's Curse, The (Maciste all'inferno) (1962; Riccardo Freda)

- Black Sabbath (I tre volti della paura) (1963; Mario Bava) [co-France, USA]
- Blancheville Monster, The (Horror) (1963; Alberto De Martino) [co-Spain]
- Bluebeard (Landru) (1963; Claude Chabrol) [co-France]
- Demon, The (Il demonio) (1963; Brunello Rondi) [co-France]
- Ghost, The (Lo spettro) (1963; Riccardo Freda)
- Girl Who Knew Too Much, The (La ragazza che sapeva troppo) (1963; Mario Bava) [co-USA]
- Horror Castle (La vergine di Norimberga) (1963; Antonio Margheriti)
- Katarsis (Sfida al diavolo) (1963; Giuseppe Veggezzi)
- Mondo Cane 2 (Mondo cane n. 2) (1963; Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi) [doc]
- Taboos of the World (I tabù) (Romolo Marcellini) [doc]
- Tomb of Torture (Metempsyco) (1963; Antonio Boccaci)
- Whip and the Body, The (La frusta e il corpo) (1963; Mario Bava) [co-France] ▼


- Blood and Black Lace (Sei donne per l'assassino) (1964; Mario Bava) [co-France, Monaco, West Germany]
- Castle of Blood (Danza macabra) (1964; Antonio Margheriti) [co-France]
- Castle of the Living Dead (Il castello dei morti vivi) (1964; Luciano Ricci) [co-France]
- Death on the Fourposter (Delitto allo specchio) (1964; Jean Josipovici, Ambrogio Molteni) [co-France]
- Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse, The (Die Todesstrahlen des Dr. Mabuse) (1964; Hugo Fregonese, Victor De Santis) [co-France, West Germany]
- Hyena of London (La jena di Londra) (1964; Gino Mangini)
- Last Man on Earth, The (1964; Sidney Salkow) [co-USA] ▼
- Long Hair of Death, The (I lunghi capelli della morte) (1964; Antonio Margheriti)
- Monster of the Opera, The (Il mostro dell'opera) (1964; Renato Polselli)
- Slaughter of the Vampires (La strage dei vampiri) (1964; Roberto Mauri)
- Snake Hunter Strangler (I misteri della giungla nera) (1964; Luigi Capuano) [co-Monaco, West Germany]
- Terror in the Crypt (La cripta e l'incubo) (1964; Camillo Mastrocinque) [co-Spain]
- War of the Zombies (Roma contro Roma) (1964; Giuseppe Vari)


- Bloody Pit of Horror, The (Il boia scarlatto) (1965; Massimo Pupillo) [co-USA]
- Embalmer, The (Il mostro di Venezia) (1965; Dino Tavella)
- Fists in the Pocket (I pugni in tasca) (1965; Marco Bellocchio)
- Lady Morgan's Vengeance (La vendetta di Lady Morgan) (1965; Massimo Pupillo)
- Lady of the Lake, The (La donna del lago) (1965; Luigi Bazzoni, Franco Rossellini)
- Libido (1965; Ernesto Gastaldi, Vittorio Salerno)
- Nightmare Castle (Amanti d'oltretomba) (1965; Mario Caiano)
- Planet of the Vampires (Terrore nello spazio) (1965; Mario Bava) [co-Spain, USA]
- Secret Killer, The (Le vampire de Düsseldorf) (1965; Robert Hossein) [co-France, Spain]
- Seventh Grave, The (La settima tomba) (1965; Garibaldi Serra Caracciolo)
- Terror-Creatures from the Grave (5 tomb per un medium) (1965; Massimo Pupillo) [co-USA]


- Africa: Blood and Guts (Africa addio) (1966; Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi) [doc]
- Angel for Satan, An (Un angelo per Satana) (1966; Camillo Mastrocinque)
- But You Were Dead (La lunga notte di Veronique) (1966; Gianni Vernuccio)
- Kill, Baby... Kill! (Operazione paura) (1966; Mario Bava)
- Murder Clinic, The (La lama nel corpo) (1966; Elio Scardamaglia) [co-France]
- She Beast, The (Il sorella di Satana) (1966; Michael Reeves) [co-UK]
- Third Eye, The (Il terzo occhio) (1966; Mino Guerrini)
- Wild, Wild Planet, The (I criminali della galassia) (1968; Antonio Margheriti)
- Witch, The (La strega in amore; The Witch in Love) (1966; Damiano Damiani)

- Curse of Belphergor, The (La malédiction de Belphégor) (1967; Georges Combret) [co-France]
Django, Kill! (If You Live Shoot!) (Se sei vivo spara) (1967; Giulio Questi) [co-Spain]
- Snow Devils (La morte viene dal pianeta Aytin) (1967; Antonio Margheriti)


- Green Slime, The (1968; Kinji Fukasaku) [co-Japan, USA]
- Deadly Inheritance (Omicidio per vocazione) (1968; Vittorio Sindoni)
- Death Laid an Egg (La morte ha fatto l'uovo) (1968; Giulio Questi) [co-France]
- Killer Without a Face (Assassino senza volto) (1968; Angelo Dorigo)
- King of Kong Island (Eva, la venere selvaggia) (1968; Roberto Mauri)
- Run, Psycho, Run (Più tardi Claire, più tardi...) (1968; Brunello Rondi)
- Satanik (1968; Piero Vivarelli) [co-Spain]
- School Girl Killer (Naked You Die; Nude... si muore) (1968; Antonio Margheriti)
- Spirits of the Dead (Histoires extraordinaires) (1968; Federico Fellini, Louis Malle, Roger Vadim) [co-France]
- Sweet Body of Deborah, The (Il dolce corpo di Deborah) (1968; Romolo Guerrieri) [co-France]


- Castle of Fu Manchu, The (1969; Jesus Franco) [co-Liechtenstein, Spain, UK, West Germany]
- Double Face (A doppia faccia) (1969; Riccardo Freda) [co-West Germany]
- Fangs of the Living Dead (Malenka) (1969; Amando de Ossorio) [co-Spain]
- Frightened Woman, The (Femina ridens) (1969; Piero Schivazappa)
- Marquis de Sade: Justine (1969; Jesus Franco) [co-Liechtenstein, USA, West Germany]
- Paranoia (Orgasmo) (1969; Umberto Lenzi) [co-France]
- Perversion Story (Una sull'altra) (1969; Lucio Fulci) [co-France, Spain]
- Psychout for Murder (Salvare la faccia) (1969; Rossano Brazzi) [co-Argentina]
- Quiet Place in the Country, A (Un tranquillo posto di campagna) (1969; Elio Petri) [co-France]
- Satan's Doll (La bambola di Satana) (1969; Ferruccio Casapinta)
- Screams in the Night (Schreie in der Nacht) (1969; Antonio Margheriti) [co-W. Germany]
- So Sweet... So Perverse (Così dolce... così perversa) (1969; Umberto Lenzi) [co-France, WG]
Transplantation, Consumption and Death of Franco Brocani (Trapianto, consunzione e morte di Franco Brocani) (1969; Mario Schifano)
- Venus in Furs (Paroxismus) (1969; Jesus Franco) [co-UK, West Germany] ▼



1970s

- And God Said to Cain... (E Dio disse a Caino...) (1970; Antonio Margheriti) [co-WG]
- Assignment Terror (Los monstruos del terror) (1970; Tulio Demicheli) [co-Spain, WG]
- Balsamus, the Man of Satan (Balsamus l'uomo di Satana) (1970; Pupi Avati)
- Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The (L'uccello dalla piume di cristallo) (1970; Dario Argento) [co-West Germany]
- Bloody Judge, The (Il trono di fuoco) (1970; Jesus Franco) [Liechtenstein, Spain, WG]
- Brain Transplant, The (Trasplante de un cerebro) (1970; Juan Logar) [co-Spain]
- Butcher, The (Le boucher) (1970; Claude Chabrol) [co-France]
- Carnivorous Females (Femmine carnivore) (1970; Zbynek Brynych) [co-West Germany]
- Count Dracula (Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht) (1970; Jesus Franco) [co-Liechtenstein, Spain, UK, West Germany]
- Dead of Summer (Ondata di calore) (1970; Nelo Risi) [co-France]
- Dorian Gray (Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray) (1970; Massimo Dallamano) [co-UK, West Germany] ▼


- Five Dolls for an August Moon (5 bambole per la luna d'agosto) (1970; Mario Bava)
- Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion (Le foto proibite di una signora per bene) (1970; Luciano Ercoli) [co-Spain]
- Hatchet for the Honeymoon, A (Il rosso segno della follia) (1970; Mario Bava) [co-Spain]
- In the Folds of the Flesh (Nelle pieghe della carne) (1970; Sergio Bergonzelli) [co-Spain]
- La tzira (1970; Gianfranco Callegari) [23m. short]
- Necropolis (1970; Franco Brocani) [co-UK]
- Queens of Evil (Le regine) (1970; Tonino Cervi) [co-France]
- Quiet Place to Kill, A (Paranoia) (1970; Umberto Lenzi) [co-France, Spain]
- Robin Hood and the Demons of Death (Una spada per Brando) (1970; Alfio Caltabiano)
- Scream of the Demon Lover (Il castello dalle porte di fuoco) (1970; José Luis Merino) [co-Spain]
- Shadow of Illusion (Ombre roventi) (1970; Mario Caiano)
- Snake God, The (Il dio serpente) (1970; Piero Vivarelli) [co-Venezuela]
- Thomas and the Bewitched (Thomas e gli indemoniati) (1970; Pupi Avati)
- Weekend Murders, The (Concerto per pistola solista) (1970; Michele Lupo)
- Witchcraft '70 (Angeli bianchi... angeli neri) (1970; Luigi Scattini) [doc]
- Your Sweet Body to Kill (Il tuo dolce corpo da uccidere) (1970; Alfonso Brescia) [co-Spain]


- Bay of Blood (Reazione a catena) (1971; Mario Bava) ▲
- Black Belly of the Tarantula (La tarantola dal ventre nego) (1971; Paolo Cavara) [co-France]
- Bloodstained Butterfly, The (Una farfalla con le ali insanguinate) (1971; Duccio Tessari)
- Case of the Scorpion's Tail (La coda dello scorpione) (1971; Sergio Martino) [co-Spain]
- Cat O' Nine Tails, The (Il gatto a nove code) (1971; Dario Argento) [co-France, WG]
- Cold Eyes of Fear (Gli occhi freddi della paura) (1971; Enzo G. Castellari) [co-Spain]
- Cross Current (Un omicidio perfetto a termine di legge) (1971; Tonino Ricci) [co-Spain]
- Death Walks on High Heels (La morte cammina con i tacchi alti) (1971; Luciano Ercoli) [co-Spain]
- Devil's Nightmare, The (La plus longue nuit du diable) (1971; Jean Brismée) [co-Belgium] ▼


- Feast of Satan, The (Las amantes del diablo) (1971; José María Elorrieta) [co-Spain]
- Fifth Cord, The (Giornata nera per l'ariete) (1971; Luigi Bazzoni)
- Four Flies on Grey Velvet (4 mosche di velluto grigio) (1971; Dario Argento) [co-France]
Fourth Victim, The (La última señora Anderson) (1970; Eugenio Martín) [co-Spain]
- Game for Evelyn, A (Un gioco per Eveline) (1971; Marcello Avallone)
- Goodbye Uncle Tom (Addio zio Tom) (1971; Gualtiero Jacopetti, Franco Prosperi)
- Hours of Terror (Ore di terrore) (1971; Guido Leoni) [co-West Germany]
- Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, The (L'iguana dalla lingua di fuoco) (1971; Riccardo Freda) [co-France, West Germany]
- Lady Frankenstein (La figlia di Frankenstein) (1971; Mel Welles)
- Lizard in a Woman's Skin, A (Schizoid; Una lucertola con la pelle di donna) (1971; Lucio Fulci) [co-France, Spain]
- Mad Butcher, The (Lo strangolatore di Vienna) (1971; Guido Zurli) [co-West Germany]
- Madness (Madness - Gli occhi della luna) (1971; Cesare Rau)
- Man with the Transplanted Brain (L'homme au cerveau greffé) (1971; Jacques Doniol-Valcroze) [co-France, West Germany]
- Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, The (La notte che Evelyn uscì dalla tomba) (1971; Emilio Miraglia)
- Night of the Damned (La notte dei dannati) (1971; Filippo Walter Ratti)
- Oasis of Fear (Un posto ideale per uccidere) (1971; Umberto Lenzi) [co-France]
- Sex of the Devil (Il sesso del diavolo) (1971; Oscar Brazzi)
- Short Night of the Glass Dolls (La corta notte delle bambole di vetro) (1971; Aldo Lado) [co-West Germany, Yugoslavia]
- Slaughter Hotel (La bestia uccide a sangue freddo) (1971; Fernando Di Leo)


- Something Creeping in the Dark (Qualcosa striscia nel buio) (1971; Mario Colucci)
- Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, The (Lo strano vizio della signora Wardh) (1971; Sergio Martino) [co-Austria, Spain]
- They Have Changed Their Face (Hanno cambiato faccia) (1971; Corrado Farina)
- Web of the Spider (Nella stretta morsa del ragno) (1971; Antonio Margheriti) [co-France, West Germany]

- A.A.A. Masseuse, Good-Looking, Offers Her Services (A.A.A. Massaggiatrice bella presenza offresi...) (1972; Demofilo Fidani)
- All the Colors of the Dark (Tutti i colori del buio) (1972; Sergio Martino) [co-Spain]
- Amuck (Alla ricera del piacere) (1972; Silvio Amadio)
- Arcana (1972; Giulio Questi)
- Baron Blood (Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga) (1972; Mario Bava) [co-West Germany]
- Blood (Eye in the Labyrinth; L'occhio nel labirinto) (1972; Mario Caiano)
- Bluebeard (1972; Edward Dmytryk) [co-France, West Germany]
- Byleth: Demon of Incest (Byleth (Il demone dell'incesto) (1972; Leopoldo Savona)


- Case of the Bloody Iris, The (Perché quelle strane gocce di sangue sul corpo di Jennifer?) (1972; Giuliano Carnimeo)
- Crimes of the Black Cat (Sette scialli di seta gialla) (1972; Sergio Pastore)
- Cut-Throats Nine (Condenados a vivir) (1972; Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent) [co-Spain]
- Dead Are Alive, The (L'etrusco uccide ancora) (1972; Armando Crispino) [co-West Germany, Yugoslavia)


- Death Walks at Midnight (La morte accarezza a mezzanotte) (1972; Luciano Ercoli) [co-Spain]
- Delirium (Death at the Villa; Delirio caldo) (1972; Renato Polselli)
- Devil in the Brain (Il diavolo nel cervello) (1972; Sergio Sollima) [co-France]
- Devil's Lover, The (L'amante del demonio) (1972; Paolo Lombardo)
- Don't Torture a Duckling (Non si sevizia un paperino) (1972; Lucio Fulci)
- Frankenstein '80 (Frankenstein 2000) (1972; Mario Mancini)
- French Sex Murders (Casa d'appuntamento) (1972; Ferdianndo Merighi) [co-France, WG]
- House of the Living Dead, The (La casa de las muertas vivientes) (1972; Alfonso Balcázar) [co-Spain]
- Killer Is on the Phone, The (L'assassino... è al telefono) (1972; Alberto De Martino) [co-Belgium]
- Kill the Poker Player (Hai sbagliato... dovevi uccidermi subito!) (1972; Mario Bianchi) [co-Spain]
- Knife of Ice (Il coltello di ghiaccio) (1972; Umberto Lenzi) [co-Spain]
- Justine de Sade (1972; Claude Pierson) [co-Canada, France]
- Love and Death in the Garden of the Gods (Amore e morte nel giardino degli dei) (1972; Sauro Scavolini)
- Man from Deep River (Il paese del sesso selvaggio) (1972; Umberto Lenzi)
- Master and Margaret, The (Il maestro e Margherita) (1972; Aleksandar Petrovic) [co-Yugoslavia]
- Monk, The (Le moine) (1972; Adonis Kyrou) [co-France, West Germany]
- Murder Mansion, The (La mansión de la niebla) (1972; Francisco Lara Polop) [co-Spain]
- My Dear Killer (Mio caro assassino) (1972; Tonino Valerii) [co-Spain]
- Naked Girl Killed in the Park (Ragazza tutta nuda assassinata nel parco) (1972; Alfonso Brescia) [co-Spain]
- Night of the Devils (La notte dei diavoli) (1972; Giorgio Ferroni) [co-Spain]
- Red Headed Corpse, The (La rossa dalla pelle che scotta) (1972; Renzo Russo)
- Red Queen Kills Seven Times, The (La dama rossa uccide sette volte) (1972; Emilio Miraglia) [co-Monaco, West Germany]
- Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso) (1972; Umberto Lenzi) [co-West Germany]
- Seven Murders for Scotland Yard (Jack el destripador de Londres) (1972; José Luis Madrid) [co-Spain]
- Shadows Unseen (Abuso di potere) (1972; Camillo Bazzoni) [co-France, West Germany]
- Slasher, The (Rivelazioni di un maniaco sessuale al capo della squadra mobile) (1972; Roberto Bianchi Montero)
- Smile Before Death (Il sorriso della iena) (1972; Silvio Amadio)
- Spirits of Death (Un bianco vestito per Marialé) (1972; Romano Scavolini)
- Tragic Ceremony (Estratto dagli archivi segreti della polizia di una capitale europea) (1972; Riccardo Freda) [co-Spain]
- Truth According to Satan, The (La verità secondo Satana) (1972; Renato Polselli)
- Tropic of Cancer (Al tropico del cancro) (1972; Giampaolo Lomi, Edoardo Mulargia)
- Two Faces of Fear, The (Coartada en disco rojo) (1972; Tulio Demicheli) [co-Spain]
- Weapon, the Hour and the Motive, The (1972; L'arma, l'ora, il movente) (1972; Francesco Mazzei)
- What Have You Done to Solange? (Cosa avete fatto a Solange?) (1972; Massimo Dallamano) [co-West Germany]
- What the Peeper Saw (Diabólica malicia) (1972; James Kelley) [co-Spain, UK, WG]
- Who Saw Her Die? (Chi l'ha vista morire?) (1972; Aldo Lado)
- Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave) (1972; Sergio Martino)


- Bloodstained Lawn, The (Il prato macchiato di rosso) (1973; Riccardo Ghione)
- Death Smiles on a Murderer (La morte ha sorriso all'assassino) (1973; Joe D'Amato)
- Devil's Wedding Night, The (Il plenilunio delle vergini) (1973; Luigi Batzella)
- Doll, The (La porta sul buio: La bambola) (1973; Mario Foglietti) [TV]
- Don't Look Now (1973; Nicolas Roeg) [co-UK]
- Expulsion of the Devil (Au rendez-vous de la mort joyeuse) (1973; Juan Luis Buñuel) [co-France]
- Eyewitness (La porta sul buio: Testimone oculare) (1973; Roberto Pariante) [TV]
- Flesh for Frankenstein (1973; Paul Morrissey) [co-France, USA]
- Flower with the Deadly Sting, The (Il fiore dai petali d'acciaio) (1973; Gianfranco Piccioli) [co-Spain]
- Hanging Woman, The (La orgía de los muertos) (1973; José Luis Merino) [co-Spain]
- Kiss Me Kill Me (Baba Yaga; The Devil Witch) (1973; Corrado Farina) [co-France]
- Legend of Blood Castle, The (Ceremonia sangrienta) (1973; Jorge Grau) [co-Spain]
- Lisa and the Devil (Lisa e il diavolo) (1973; Mario Bava) [co-Spain, West Germany]
- Neighbor, The (La porta sul buio: Il vicino di casa) (1973; Luigi Cozzi) [TV]
- No, the Case Is Happily Resolved (No il caso è felicemente risolto) (1973; Vittorio Salerno)
- Nun and the Devil, The (Le monache di Sant'Arcangelo) (1973; Domenico Paolella) [co-France]
- Reincarnation of Isabel, The (Riti, magie nere e segrete orge nel trecento...) (1973; Renato Polselli)
- Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye (La morte negli occhi del gatto) (1973; Antonio Margheriti) [co-France, West Germany]
- Sex of the Witch (Il sesso della strega) (1973; Angelo Pannacciò)
- Shock Treatment (Traitement de choc) (1973; Alain Jessua) [co-France]
- Tormentor, The (Passi di danza su una lama di rasoio) (1973; Maurizio Pradeaux) [co-Spain]
- Torso (I corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale) (1973; Sergio Martino)
- Tram, The (La porta sul buio: Il tram) (1973; Dario Argento) [TV]
- Uncertain Death, The (La muerte incierta) (1973; José Ramón Larraz) [co-Spain]
- Virgin Among the Living Dead, A (La nuit des étoiles filantes) (1973; Jesus Franco) [co-Belgium, France, Liechtenstein]


- Almost Human (Milano odia: la polizia non può sparare) (1974; Umberto Lenzi)
- Antichrist, The (L'anticristo; The Tempter) (1974; Alberto De Martino)
- Beyond the Door (Chi sei?) (1974; Ovidio G. Assonitis, Robert Barrett) [co-USA]
- Black Ribbon for Deborah, A (Un fiocco nero per Deborah) (1974; Marcello Andrei)
- Blood for Dracula (1974; Paul Morrissey) [co-France, USA] ▲
- Clap, You're Dead (Ciak si muore) (1974; Mario Moroni)
- Eerie Midnight Horror Show, The (Enter the Devil; L'ossessa) (1974; Mario Gariazzo)
- Five Women for the Killer (5 donne per l'assassino) (1974; Stelvio Massi) [co-France]
- Flavia the Heretic (Flavia, la monaca musulmana) (1974; Gianfranco Mingozzi) [co-France]
- Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks (Terror! Il castello delle donne maledette) (1974; Dick Randall)
- Girl in Room 2A, The (La casa della paura) (1974; William Rose) [co-USA]
- Hand That Feeds the Dead, The (La mano che nutre la morte) (1974; Sergio Garrone) [co-Turkey]
- Infernal Trio, The (Le trio infernal) (1974; Francis Girod) [co-France, West Germany]
- Killer Reserved Nine Seats, The (L'assassino ha riservato nove poltrone) (1974; Giuseppe Bennati)
- Killer Wore Gloves, The (La muerte llama a las 10) (1974; Juan Bosch) [co-Spain]


- Kiss of a Dead Woman (Il bacio di una morta) (1974; Carlo Infascelli)
- Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti) (1974; Jorge Grau) [co-Spain]
- Lover of the Monster (Le amanti del mostro) (1974; Sergio Garrone)
- Mania (1974; Renato Polselli)
- Man Without a Memory (L'uomo senza memoria; Puzzle) (1974; Duccio Tessari)
- Nude for Satan (Nuda per Satana) (1974; Luigi Batzella)
- Perfume of the Lady in Black (Il profumo della signora in nero) (1974; Francesco Barilli)
- Rabid Dogs (Cani arrabbiati) (1974; Mario Bava) [co-USA]
- Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine (Le scomunicate di San Valentino) (1974; Sergio Grieco)
- Spasmo (The Death Dealer) (1974; Umberto Lenzi)
- Ten Little Indians (1974; Peter Collinson) [co-France, Spain, UK, West Germany]
- Violent Blood Bath (Pena de muerte) (1974; Jorge Grau) [co-Spain]
- What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (The Coed Murders; La polizia chiede aiuto) (1974; Massimo Dallamano)
- Witness to Murder (Un par de zapatos del '32) (1974; Rafael Romero Marchent) [co-Spain]


- Autopsy (Macchie solari; The Victim) (1975; Armando Crispino)
- Bloodsucker Leads the Dance, The (La sanguisuga conduce la danza) (1975; Alfredo Rizzo)
- But Who Raped Linda? (Les nuits brûlantes de Linda) (1975; Jesus Franco) [co-France]
- C.I.A. Secret Story (Faccia di spia) (1975; Giuseppe Ferrara)
- Deep Red (Profondo rosso) (1975; Dario Argento)
- Dracula in the Provinces (Il cav. Costante Nicosia demoniaco, ovvero: Dracula in Brianza) (1975; Lucio Fulci)
- Emanuelle's Revenge (Emanuelle e Françoise) (1975; Joe D'Amato)
- Erotic Games of a Respectable Family (Giochi erotici di una famiglia per bene) (1975; Francesco Degli Espinosa)
- Evil Eye (Malocchio) (1975; Mario Siciliano) [co-Mexico, Spain]
- Exorcist: Italian Style, The (L'esorciccio) (1975; Ciccio Ingrassia)
- Eyeball (Gatti rossi in un labirinto di vetro) (1975; Umberto Lenzi) [co-Spain]
- Flower in His Mouth, The (Gente di rispetto) (1975; Luigi Zampa)
- Frankenstein: Italian Style (Frankenstein all'italiana) (1975; Armando Crispino)
- Green Trail, The (La traccia verde) (1975; Silvio Maestranzi) [TV]
- House of Exorcism, The (1975; Mario Bava, Alfredo Leone) [co-Spain, West Germany]
- Killer Must Kill Again, The (L'assassino è costretto ad uccidere ancora) (1975; Luigi Cozzi) [co-France]
- Leonor (1975; Juan Luis Buñuel) [co-France, Spain]
- Maniac Responsible, The (...a tutte le auto della polizia) (1975; Mario Caiano)
- Mondo Magic (Magia nuda) (1975; Alfredo & Angelo Castiglioni, Guido Guerrasio) [doc]
- Night Child, The (Il medaglione insanguinato) (1975; Massimo Dallamano)


- Night Train Murders (L'ultimo treno della notte) (1975; Aldo Lado)
- Police Are Blundering in the Dark, The (La polizia brancola nel buio) (1975; Elio Palumbo)
- Possessor, The (Un urlo dalle tenebre) (Franco Lo Cascio, Angelo Pannacciò)
- Primal Impulse (Footprints on the Moon; Le orme) (1975; Luigi Bazzoni)
- Reflections in Black (Il vizio ha le calze nere) (1975; Tano Cimarosa)
- Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma) (1975; Pier Paolo Pasolini) [co-France]
- Sex, Demons and Death (Diabolicamente... Letizia) (1975; Salvatore Bugnatelli)
- Skin Under the Claws, The (La pelle sotto gli artigli) (1975; Alessandro Santini)
- Strip Nude for Your Killer (Nude per l'assassino) (1975; Andrea Bianchi)
- Suspected Death of a Minor (Morte sospetta di una minorenne) (1975; Sergio Martino)
- Voodoo Sexy (Il pavone nero) (1975; Osvaldo Civirani) [X] [co-Dominican Republic]
- Waves of Lust (Una ondata di piacere) (1975; Ruggero Deodato)

- Bestiality (Bestialità) (1976; Peter Skerl)
- House with Laughing Windows, The (La casa dalle finestre che ridono) (1976; Pupi Avati)
- Naked Massacre (Die Hinrichtung) (1976; Denis Héroux) [co-Canada, France, West Germany]
- Plot of Fear (E tanta paura) (1976; Paolo Cavara)
- SS Experiment Camp (Lager SSadis Kastrat Kommandantur) (1976; Sergio Garrone)
- Werewolf Woman (La lupa mannara) (1976; Rino Di Silvestro)
- Whisper in the Dark, A (Un sussurro nel buio) (1976; Marcello Aliprandi)


- Anima persa (1977; Dino Risi) [co-France]
- Beast in Heat, The (La bestia in calore) (1977; Luigi Batzella)
- Crazy Desires of a Murderer (I vizi morbosi di una governante) (1977; Filippo Walter Ratti)
- Death Steps in the Dark (Passi di morte perduti nel buio) (1977; Maurizio Pradeaux) [co-Greece]
- Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (Emanuelle e gli ultimi cannibali) (1977; Joe D'Amato)
- Emanuelle Around the World (Emanuelle - Perché violenza alle donne?) (1977; Joe D'Amato)
- Emanuelle in America (1977; Joe D'Amato)
- Eyes Behind the Wall (L'occhio dietro la parete) (1977; Giuliano Petrelli)
- Gestapo's Last Orgy, The (L'ultima orgia del III Reich) (1977; Cesare Canevari)
- Hitch-Hike (Autostop rosso sangue) (1977; Pasquale Festa Campanile)
- Holocaust 2000 (The Chosen; Rain of Fire) (1977; Alberto De Martino) [co-UK]
- Hotel Fear (Pensione paura) (1977; Francesco Barilli) [co-Spain]
- In the Highest of Skies (Nel più alto dei cieli) (1977; Silvano Agosti)
- Jungle Holocaust (Ultimo mondo cannibale) (1977; Ruggero Deodato)
- Man, Woman and Beast (L'uomo, la donna e la bestia) (1977; Alberto Cavallone)
- Nine Guests for a Crime (Nove ospiti per un delitto) (1977; Ferdinando Baldi)
- Orca (1977; Michael Anderson) [co-Netherlands, UK, USA]
- Psychic, The (Sette note in nero) (1977; Lucio Fulci)
- Pyjama Girl Case, The (La ragazza dal pigiama giallo) (1977; Flavio Mogherini)
- Shock (Beyond the Door II; Schock) (1977; Mario Bava)
- SS Camp 5: Women's Hell (SS Lager 5: L'inferno delle donne) (1977; Sergio Garrone)
- SS Girls (Casa privata per le SS) (1977; Bruno Mattei)
- Suspiria (1977; Dario Argento) ▼
- Tentacles (Tentacoli) (1977; Ovidio G. Assonitis) [co-USA]
- Watch Me When I Kill (Il gatto dagli occhi di giada) (1977; Antonio Bido)
- Women's Camp 119 (KZ9 - Lager di sterminio) (1977; Bruno Mattei)
- Yeti (Yeti - Il gigante del 20° secolo) (1977; Gianfranco Parolini)


- Bermuda Triangle, The (Il triangolo delle Bermude) (1978; René Cardona Jr.) [co-Mexico]
- Bloodstained Shadow, The (Solamente nero) (1978; Antonio Bido)
- Blue Movie (1978; Alberto Cavallone)
- Cursed City, The (La ciudad maldita) (1978; Juan Bosch) [co-Spain]
- Damned in Venice (Nero veneziano) (1978; Ugo Liberatore)
- Dawn of the Dead (1978; George A. Romero) [co-USA]
- Eyes Behind the Stars (Occhi dalle stelle) (1978; Mario Gariazzo)
- Last House on the Beach (La settima donna) (1978; Franco Prosperi)
- Mountain of the Cannibal God (La montagna del dio cannibale) (1978; Sergio Martino)
- Obscene Desire (L'osceno desiderio) (1978; Giulio Petroni) [co-Spain]
- Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals (Papaya dei Caraibi) (1978; Joe D'Amato)
- Shark's Cave (Bermude: la fossa maledetta) (1978; Tonino Ricci) [co-Mexico, Spain]
- Sister of Ursula, The (La sorella di Ursula) (1978; Enzo Milioni)
- Terror Storm (Cyclone) (1978; René Cardona Jr.) [co-Mexico]
- To Be Twenty (Avere vent'anni; Being Twenty) (1978; Fernando Di Leo)
- Trauma (Enigma rosso) (1978; Alberto Negrin) [co-Spain, West Germany]
Zoltan, Hound of Dracula (Dracula's Dog) (1978; Albert Band) [co-USA]


- Beyond the Darkness (Buio Omega; Buried Alive) (1979; Joe D'Amato)
- Black Journal (Gran bollito) (1979; Mauro Bolognini)
- Dr. Jekyll Likes Them Hot (Dottor Jekyll e gentile signora) (1979; Steno)
- Dracula Blows His Cool (Graf Dracula in Oberbayern) (1979; Carl Schenkel) [co-West Germany]
- Giallo in Venice (Giallo a Venezia) (1979; Mario Landi)
- Great Alligator, The (Il fiume del grande caimano) (1979; Sergio Martino)


- Hell in the Jungle (Infierno en la selvaSavana violenza carnale) (1979; Roberto Bianchi Montero, Jorge Gaitán) [co-Colombia, Spain]
- House by the Edge of the Lake (Sensitività) (1979; Enzo G. Castellari) [co-Spain]
- Images in a Convent (Immagini di un convento) (1979; Joe D'Amato)
- I'm a Zombie, You're a Zombie, She's a Zombie (Io zombo, tu zombi, lei zomba) (1979; Nello Rossati)
- Island of the Fishmen (L'isola degli uomini pesce) (1979; Sergio Martino)
- Killer Fish (1979; Antonio Margheriti) [co-Brazil, UK, USA]
- Killer Nun, The (Suor Omicidi) (1979; Giulio Berruti)
- Lust (Libidine) (1979; Raniero di Giovanbattista)
- Malabimba (Possession of a Teenager) (1979; Andrea Bianchi) [X]
- Midnight Blue (La domenica del diavolo) (1979; Raimondo Del Balzo)
- Play Motel (1979; Mario Gariazzo)
- Ring of Darkness (Un'ombra nell'ombra) (1979; Pier Carpi) [co-UK]
- Venus of Ille (La Venere d'ille) (1979; Lamberto Bava, Mario Bava) [TV]
- Visitor, The (Stridulum) (1979; Giulio Paradisi) [co-USA]
- Zombie (Zombi 2) (1979; Lucio Fulci)



1980s

- Alien 2: On Earth (Alien 2 - Sulla Terra; Strangers) (1980; Ciro Ippolito)
- Alien Contamination (Contamination) (1980; Luigi Cozzi) [co-West Germany]
- Beast in Space (La bestia nello spazio) (1980; Alfonso Brescia) [X]
- Blow Job (1980; Alberto Cavallone)
- Cannibal Apocalypse (Apocalypse domani) (1980; Antonio Margheriti) [co-Spain]
- Cannibal Holocaust (1980; Ruggero Deodato)
- City of the Living Dead (Paura nella città dei morti viventi) (1980; Lucio Fulci)
Crime in Via Teulada (Delitto in Via Teulada) (1980; Aldo Lado) [TV]
- Eaten Alive! (The Emerald Jungle; Mangiati vivi!) (1980; Umberto Lenzi)
- Erotic Nights of the Living Dead (Le notti erotiche dei morti viventi) (1980; Joe D'Amato) [X]
- Escape from Hell (Femmine infernali) (1980; Edoardo Mulargia) [co-Spain]
- Frozen Terror (Macabre; Macabro) (1980; Lamberto Bava)
- Grim Reaper, The (Antropophagus) (1980; Joe D'Amato)
- Hard Sensation (1980; Joe D'Amato) [X]
- Hell of the Living Dead (Virus) (1980; Bruno Mattei) [co-Spain]
- Hotel Paradise (Orinoco: Prigioniere del sesso) (1980; Edoardo Mulargia) [co-Spain]
- House on the Edge of the Park (La casa sperduta nel parco) (1980; Ruggero Deodato)
- Inferno (1980; Dario Argento)
- Medium, The (Il medium) (1980; Silvio Amadio) [co-France]
- Nightmare City (Incubo sulla città contaminata) (1980; Umberto Lenzi) [co-Mexico, Spain]
- Patrick Still Lives (Patrick vive ancora) (1980; Mario Landi)
- Pumaman, The (L'uomo puma) (1980; Alberto De Martino)
- Screamers (Something Waits in the Dark) (1980; Miller Drake; Sergio Martino) [co-USA]
- Sex and Black Magic (Orgasmo nero) (1980; Joe D'Amato) [X] [co-Dominican Republic]
- Shadows (Ombre) (1980; Mario Caiano, Giorgio Cavedon)
- Stigma (Estigma) (1980; José Ramón Larraz) [co-Spain]
- Terror Express (La ragazza del vagone letto) (1980; Ferdinando Baldi)
- Trhauma (Trauma) (1980; Gianni Martucci)
- Vacation for a Massacre (Vacanze per un massacro) (1980; Fernando Di Leo)
- White Cannibal Queen (Mondo cannibale) (1980; Jesus Franco) [co-France, Spain]
- Zombie Holocaust (Doctor Butcher, M.D.) (1980; Marino Girolami)


- Beyond, The (...E tu vivrai nel terrore! L'aldilà) (1981; Lucio Fulci)
- Black Cat, The (Black Cat (Gatto nero)) (1981; Lucio Fulci)
- Burial Ground (Le notti del terrore) (1981; Andrea Bianchi)
- Cannibal Ferox (Make Them Die Slowly) (1981; Umberto Lenzi)
- Force of Evil, The (Notturno con grida) (1981; Ernesto Gastaldi, Vittorio Salerno)
- Funny Frankenstein (Agnese E...) (1981; Mario Bianchi) [X]
- Ghost of Love (Fantasma d'amore) (1981; Dino Risi) [co-France, West Germany]
- Hot Spirits (Bollenti spiriti) (1981; Giorgio Capitani)
- House by the Cemetery, The (Quella villa accanto al cimitero) (1981; Lucio Fulci)
- Last Shark, The (Great White; L'ultimo squalo) (1981; Enzo G. Castellari) [co-USA] ▼


- Madhouse (1981; Ovidio G. Assonitis) [co-USA]
- Monster Hunter (Rosso sangue) (1981; Joe D'Amato)
- Murder Obsession (Fear; Murder Syndrome) (1981; Riccardo Freda) [co-France]
- Other Hell, The (L'altro inferno) (1981; Bruno Mattei)
- Piranha Part Two: The Spawning (1981; James Cameron, Ovidio G. Assonitis) [co-Netherlands, USA]
- Porno Holocaust (1981; Joe D'Amato) [X]
- Reborn (Renancer) (1981; Bigas Luna) [co-Spain, USA]
- Secret of Seagull Island, The (Seagull Island) (1981; Nestore Ungaro) [TV] [co-UK]

- Being Captured (Baby Sitter; Il nano erotico) (1982; Alberto Cavallone) [X]
- Blood Link (1982; Alberto De Martino) [co-USA, West Germany]
- Caligula: The Untold Story (Caligola: La storia mai reccontata) (1982; Joe D'Amato)
- Don't Look in the Attic (La villa delle anime maledette) (1982; Carlo Ausino)
- Manhattan Baby (1982; Lucio Fulci)
- New York Ripper, The (Lo squartatore di New York) (1982; Lucio Fulci)
- No Thanks, Coffee Makes Me Nervous (No grazie, il caffè mi rende nervoso) (1982; Lodovico Gasparini)
- Panic (Bakterion) (1982; Tonino Ricci) [co-Spain]
- Satan's Baby Doll (La bimba di Satana) (1982; Mario Bianchi)
- Scorpion with Two Tails (Assassino al cimitero etrsuco) (1982; Sergio Martino) [co-France]
- Silver Key, The (La chiave d'argento) (1982; Ciriaco Tiso) [TV]
- Tenebrae (TenebreUnsane) (1982; Dario Argento)


- Adam and Eve vs. the Cannibals (Adamo ed Eva, la prima storia d'amore) (1983; Enzo Doria, Luigi Russo) [co-France]
- After the Fall of New York (2019 - Dopo la caduta di New York) (1983; Sergio Martino) [co-France]
- Blade in the Dark, A (La casa con la scala nel buio) (1983; Lamberto Bava)
- Conquest (1983; Lucio Fulci) [co-Mexico, Spain]
- Endgame (Endgame - Bronx lotta finale) (1983; Joe D'Amato)
- House of the Yellow Carpet, The (La casa del tappeto giallo) (1983; Carlo Lizzani)
- Killing of the Flesh (Delitto carnale) (1983; Cesare Canevari)
- Sweet and Savage (Dolce e selvaggio) (1983;Antonio Climati, Mario Morra) [doc]
- Zeder (Revenge of the Dead) (1983; Pupi Avati)

- Chaos (Kaos) (1984; Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani) 
- Devil Fish (Shark: Rosso nell'oceano) (1984; Lamberto Bava) [co-France]
- Murderock (Murderock - Uccide a passo di danza) (1984; Lucio Fulci)
- Rats: Night of Terror (Rats - Notte di terrore) (1984; Bruno Mattei) [co-France]
- Scream for Help (1984; Michael Winner) [co-UK, USA]
- Wild Beasts, The (Wild beasts - Belve feroci) (1984; Franco Prosperi)


- Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story (Schiave bianche - Violenza in Amazzonia) (1985; Mario Gariazzo)
- Collector's Item (Dead Fright; La gabbia) (1985; Giuseppe Patroni Griffi) [co-Spain]
- Cut and Run (Inferno in diretta) (1985; Ruggero Deodato)
- Dario Argento's World of Horror (1985; Michele Soavi) [doc]


- Demons (Dèmoni) (1985; Lamberto Bava) ▲
Formula for a Murder (7, Hyden Park: la casa maledetta) (1985; Alberto De Martino)
Fracchia vs. Dracula (Fracchia contro Dracula) (1985; Neri Parenti)
- Massacre in Dinosaur Valley (Nudo e selvaggio) (1985; Michele Massimo Tarantini) [co-Brazil]
- Miami Horror (Miami Golem) (1985; Alberto De Martino) [co-USA]
- Phenomena (Creepers) (1985; Dario Argento)
- Savage Island (1985; Edoardo Mulargia, Ted Nicolaou) [co-Spain, USA]

- Anemia (1986; Alberto Abruzzese, Achille Pisanti) [TV]
- Body Count (Camping del terror) (1986; Ruggero Deodato) [co-USA]
- Convent of Sinners (La monaca del peccato) (1986; Joe D'Amato)
- Crawlspace (1986; David Schmoeller) [co-USA]
- Dangerous Obsession (Il miele del diavolo) (1986; Lucio Fulci) [co-Spain]
- Demons 2 (Dèmoni 2... l'incubo ritorna) (1986; Lamberto Bava)
- House of the Blue Shadows (La casa del buon ritorno) (1986; Beppe Cino)
- Killer Is Still Among Us, The (L'assassino è ancora tra noi) (1986; Camillo Teti)
- Midnight Killer (Morirai a mezzanotte; Midnight Ripper) (1986; Lamberto Bava)
- Monster of Florence, The (Il mostro di Firenze; Night Ripper) (1986; Cesare Ferrario)
- Nothing Underneath (Sotto il vestito niente) (1986; Carlo Vanzina)
- Troll (1986; John Carl Buechler) [co-USA]


- Aenigma (1987; Lucio Fulci) [co-Yugoslavia]
- Beyond (Oltretomba) (1987; Fabio Salerno) [short]
- Crimes (Delitti) (1987; Giovanna Lenzi)
- Cross of the Seven Jewels (La croce dalle 7 pietre) (1987; Marco Antonio Andolfi)
- Curse, The (1987; David Keith) [co-USA]
- Dangerous Women (Le diaboliche) (1987; Luigi Rossi)
- Delirium (Le foto di Gioia; Photos of Joy) (1987; Lamberto Bava)
- Distant Lights (Luci lontane) (1987; Aurelio Chiesa)
Dolls (1987; Stuart Gordon) [co-USA]
Freckled Max and the Spooks (Pehavý Max a strasidlá) (1987; Juraj Jakubisko) [co-Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, Spain, West Germany]
- Graveyard Disturbance (Una notte nel cimitero) (1987; Lamberto Bava) [TV]
- Harpies (Arpie) (1987; Fabio Salerno) [short]
- Opera (Terror at the Opera) (1987; Dario Argento)
- Specters (Spettri) (1987; Marcello Avallone)
- Stage Fright (Deliria) (1987; Michele Soavi) ▼


- Sweets from a Stranger (Caramello da uno sconosciuto) (1987; Franco Ferrini)
- Transgression (La trasgressione) (1987; Fabrizio Rampelli)
- Until Death (Changeling 2: The Return; Per sempre) (1987; Lamberto Bava) [TV]
- Zombie 5: Killing Birds (Killing Birds: Raptors) (1987; Claudio Lattanzi)

- Blood Delirium (Delirio di sangue) (1988; Sergio Bergonzelli)
- Curse IV: The Ultimate Sacrifice (Catacombs) (1988; David Schmoeller) [co-USA]
- Dial: Help (Minaccia d'amore) (1988; Ruggero Deodato)
- Dinner with a Vampire (A cena con il vampiro) (1988; Lamberto Bava) [TV]
- Evil Clutch (Il bosco 1) (1988; Andreas Marfori)
- Fair Game (Mamba) (1988; Mario Orfini)
- Ghosthouse (La casa 3) (1988; Umberto Lenzi)
- Ghosts of Sodom, The (Il fantasma di Sodoma) (1988; Lucio Fulci) [TV]
- Graveyard Disturbance (Una notte nel cimitero) (1988; Lamberto Bava) [TV]
- Green Inferno, The (Paradiso infernale) (1988; Antonio Climati)
- Man Who Didn't Want to Die, The (L'uomo che non voleva morire) (1988; L. Bava) [TV]
- Murder Secret, The (Non aver paura della zia Marta) (1988; Mario Bianchi)
- My Lovely Burnt Brother and His Squashed Brain (1988; Giovanni Arduino, Andrea Lioy)
- Night of the Sharks (La notte degli squali) (1988; Tonino Ricci) [co-Mexico, Spain]
- Obsession: A Taste for Fear (Pathos - Segreta inquietudine) (1988; Piccio Raffanini)
- Ogre, The (Demons III; La casa dell'orco) (1988; Lamberto Bava) [TV]
- Phantom of Death (Un delitto poco comune) (1988; Ruggero Deodato)
- Primal Rage (Rage - Furia primitiva) (1988; Vittorio Rambaldi) [co-USA]
- Prince of Terror, The (Il maestro del terrore) (1988; Lamberto Bava) [TV]
- Pulse Pounders (1988; Charles Band) [co-USA]
- Rat Man (Quella villa in fondo al parco; Terror House) (1988; Giuliano Carnimeo)
- Red Monks, The (I frati rossi) (1988; Gianni Martucci)
- Robowar (Robowar - Robot da guerra) (1988; Bruno Mattei)
- Spider Labyrinth, The (Il nido del ragno) (1988; Gianfranco Giagni) ▼


- Too Beautiful to Die (Sotto il vestito niente II) (1988; Dario Piana)
- Top Line (Alien Terminator) (1988; Nello Rossati)
- Touch of Death (Quando Alice ruppe lo specchio) (1988; Lucio Fulci) [TV]
- Vampire in Venice (Nosferatu a Venezia) (1988; Augusto Caminito, Mario Caiano, Luigi Cozzi, Klaus Kinski, Mauricio Lucidi, Pasquale Squitieri)
- Witchery (Evil Encounters; La casa 4 (Witchcraft)) (1988; Fabrizio Laurenti)
- Witches Sabbath (La visione del sabba) (1988; Marco Bellocchio) [co-France]
- Zombie 3 (Zombi 3) (1988; Claudio Fragasso, Lucio Fulci, Bruno Mattei)

- Alien from the Deep (Alien degli abissi) (1989; Antonio Margheriti)
- Arabella, the Black Angel (Arabella l'angelo nero) (1989; Stelvio Massi)
- Ballet (Etoile) (1989; Peter Del Monte)
- Beyond the Door III (Amok Train) (1989; Jeff Kwitny) [co-USA, Yugoslavia]
- Black Cat (Demons 6: De Profundis; Il gatto nero) (1989; Luigi Cozzi)
- Bloody Psycho (1989; Leandro Lucchetti)
- Church, The (La chiesa) (1989; Michele Soavi)
- Curse II: The Bite (1989; Frederico Prosperi) [co-Japan, USA]
- Dinner with a Vampire (A cena con il vampiro) (1989; Lamberto Bava) [TV]
- Escape from Death (Luna di sangue) (1989; Enzo Milioni)
- Hell's Gate (Le porte dell'inferno) (1989; Umberto Lenzi)
- Hitcher in the Dark (Paura nel buio) (1989; Umberto Lenzi) [co-USA]
- Hot Voodoo Afternoon (Pomeriggio caldo) (1989; Joe D'Amato)
- House of Clocks, The (La casa nel tempo) (1989; Lucio Fulci) [TV]
- House of Lost Souls (La casa delle anime erranti) (1989; Umberto Lenzi)
- House of Witchcraft, The (La casa del sortilegio) (1989; Umberto Lenzi)


- Killer Crocodile (1989; Fabrizio De Angelis)
- Leviathan (1989; George P. Cosmatos) [co-USA]
- Massacre (Massacro) (1989; Andrea Bianchi)
- Maya (1989; Marcello Avallone)
- Nightmare Beach (Welcome to Spring Break) (1989; James Justice, U. Lenzi) [co-USA]
- Ogre, The (Demons III: The Ogre; La casa dell'orco) (1989; Lamberto Bava) [TV]
- Paganini Horror (The Killing Violin) (1989; Luigi Cozzi)
- Santa sangre (1989; Alejandro Jodorowsky) [co-Mexico]
- School of Fear (Il gioko) (1989; Lamberto Bava) [TV]
- Shocking Dark (Terminator II) (1989; Bruno Mattei)
- Sweet House of Horrors, The (La dolce casa degli orrori) (1989; Lucio Fulci) [TV]
- Witch Story (Streghe; Superstition 2) (1989; Alessandro Capone)
- Zombie 4: After Death (After Death (Oltre la morte)) (1989; Claudio Fragasso)

- American Tiger (American risciò) (1990; Sergio Martino)
- Beyond Darkness (La casa 5) (1990; Claudio Fragasso)
- Cat in the Brain, A (Nightmare Concert; Un gatto nel cervello) (1990; Lucio Fulci)
- Club Extinction (Dr. M) (1990; Claude Chabrol) [co-France, Germany]
- Deep Blood (Sangue negli abissi) (1990; Joe D'Amato, Raffaele Donato)
- Demonia (1990; Lucio Fulci)
- Demons 5: The Devil's Veil (La maschera del demonio) (1990; Lamberto Bava) [co-France, Portugal, Spain, West Germany]


- Eyewitness (Testimone oculare) (1990; Lamberto Bava) [TV]
- Hansel and Gretel (Hansel e Gretel) (1990; Giovanni Simonelli) [TV]
- Killer Crocodile 2 (1990; Giannetto De Rossi)
- Metamorphosis (DNA formula letale; Regenerator) (1990; George Eastman) [co-USA]
- Night Killer (Non aprite quella porta 3) (1990; Claudio Fragasso)
- Phantom of the Opera, The (1990; Tony Richardson) [TV] [co-France, Germany, USA]
- Troll 2 (1990; Claudio Fragasso)
- Two Evil Eyes (Due occhi diabolici) (1990; Dario Argento, George A. Romero) [co-USA]

- Crawlers, The (Contamination.7) (1993 [filmed in 1990]; Fabrizio Laurenti)
- Sect, The (La setta; The Devil's Daughter) (1991 [filmed in 1990]; Michele Soavi)



NOTES:

- Because I watched a lot of Italian films prior to adding screen caps and longer plot synopses here, a number of the reviews are shorter. I plan on eventually replacing those with longer, more detailed write-ups with accompanying screen caps / posters.
- I've actually seen quite a few more of these than I've written reviews for, as well. Either I just haven't gotten around to doing a write-up or I want to re-watch the film before I do.
- I include certain films on my horror lists that others may not. These include exploitation films with a lot of gore, true crime films involving serial killers, documentaries / mondo films designed solely to shock through violence / gore / death and women-in-prison films if their whole reason for existing is to show women being tortured for an hour and a half (they're usually classified as merely "action," which I find kind of silly).
- Made-for-TV movies, standalone shorts and miniseries' are all included. Plus I include TV episodes if they fit two criteria. 1. They're self-contained films running at least feature length. 2. If they were released as separate features on home video or DVD. Some examples of acceptable "episodes" are La porta sui buio (1973), Brivido giallo (1987) and Alta tensione (1989).
- I have a feeling I'm missing a decent amount of Italian TV movies that may qualify for the list, most especially ones from the 1970s.

4 comments:

Lord Crayak said...

"L'assassino è ancora tra noi"

I watched this about a year ago (my first Italian film in a while).

It started off promising, but then it became fairly dull outside of the infamous ending sequence that's insanely gory and then nonsensically meta.

I think the director also did that animated Titanic film with the rapping dog and/or the giant octopus.

The Bloody Pit of Horror said...

I have a copy of that one here somewhere. I haven't been in a big hurry to watch it due to numerous comments like yours.

I've always wanted to watch that Titanic abomination ever since I read a review where someone called it the only Titanic movie where the iceberg is the hero! lol

Don Anelli said...

Italy made better genre films than the US. My top 3 of all-time, six of my Top 10 and nine of my Top 15 are all Italian.

The Bloody Pit of Horror said...

Definitely one of my favorite countries but I'm not sure who'd be #1. I've been toying with the idea of making a Top 100 list on here for years. Maybe I should.

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