Lamberto Bava

Lamberto Bava

Lamberto Bava at the 2012 Days of the Dead, Indianapolis, USA.
Born (1944-04-03) 3 April 1944
Rome, Italy
Occupation Film director
Parent(s) Mario Bava (father), Eugenio Bava (grandfather)

Lamberto Bava (born 3 April 1944) is an Italian film director. Born in Rome, Bava began worked as an assistant director on the film's of his father Mario Bava. Bava co-directed the television film La Venere d'Ille with his father and in 1980 directed his first solo feature film Macabre.

Bava continued work in the 1980s and collaborated with Dario Argento on films such as Demons. After 1990, Bava's work was predominantly involved with television, such as the Fantaghirò series.

Biography

Lamberto Bava was born in Rome, Italy on 3 April 1944.[1] Lamberto's father Mario Bava was a film director was primarily known as a director of horror films.[1] Lamberto's film career began working as an assistant director on his father's film Planet of the Vampires.[1] Lamberto would collaborate with his father on several of his projects including Danger: Diabolik (1966), Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971) and Shock (1977)[1] On Shock, Lamberto Bava was credited as a screenwriter as well as an assistant director.[1] Lamberto Bava had a co-direction credit with his father Mario on the television film La Venere d'Ille, which was a film in the Il Giorno del Diavolo film series.[1][2] Outside the work with his father, Lamberto also contributed to the story for films of Italian director Ruggero Deodato on his films Ultimo mondo cannibale (1977) and Cannibal Holocaust (1979).[2]

Early 1980s theatrical films

A meeting with director Pupi Avati led to Bava directing his own feature film Macabre in 1980 which was co-written with Pupi and Antonio Avati.[2] The film stars Bernice Stegers as Jane, a woman who has an affair with a man Stanko Molnar who dies. After his death, Jane keeps his severed head in her a refrigerator and performs erotic acts with the head.[3] According to Lamberto Bava, after witnessing Macabre, Mario told him that "Now, I can die in peace".[2] Mario died later in 1980.[2] Following the release of Macabre, Lamberto Bava worked in advertising and continued to write stories for potential future film projects.[4] After being approached by director Dario Argento to assist him with his giallo film Tenebre (1982) where Bava is credited as an assistant director.[4][5] In 1983, Lamberto Bava shot and released his second featured film as a director, the giallo film A Blade in the Dark.[4] A Blade in the Dark was originally developed as television film shot in four 25-minute segments on a very low budget. The film stars Andrea Occhipinti as the music composer Bruno, a man who becomes involved in a series of murders while staying at his secluded villa.[6]

Bava's next two film projects were in different genre's than his previous giallo and horror film output. Bava was given a script for Blastfighter, a film originally written as a remake of the Australian film Mad Max with the intention of giving it to director Lucio Fulci.[7] Blastfighter starred Michael Sopkiw as Tiger, a detective who had been released from prison for shooting the man who killed his wife. Tiger moves into the woods with his daughter where he is terrorized by a group of thugs.[8] Lamberto's next film, Monster Shark, was a science fiction film about a mutated shark that goes on a killing spree with two marine biologists attempting to track down the creature to stop it.[7]

Late 1980s theatrical and television films

In 1985, Lamberto Bava re-teamed with Dario Argento on the film Demons.[9] Argento co-wrote and produced Bava's film about a theater showing invitation-only screenings of a horror film. In the theater's lobby a young woman is scratched by part of a display in the lobby and transforms into a hideous creature who then attacks other audience members, spreading her demonic infection.[9][10] The film was followed by the sequel Demons 2 in 1986 which had many cast and crew members from Demons.[9] Demons 2 features a television program which causes an outbreak of zombies in an apartment complex.[11] Bava's also made the television film Midnight Killer in the same year.[9] The film is about a series of murderers which are similar to one that was committed 15 years prior, despite that the murderer supposedly had died in a fire.[12] Bava makes a cameo in the film as a photographer at the beginning of the film.[9] While working on Midnight Killer, Bava began preparing his next film, Delirium (1987).[11] Delerium stars Serena Grandi as Gioia, a model for Pussycat magazine. Gioia's co-workers end up murdered through bizarre means including pitchforks and bees and then are posed in front of photos of her, which Gioia receives from the murderer.[13]

Bava returned to television work making several episodes for a series of hour-long film produced by Dario Argento.[14] Bava's works included "E ...di Moda la Morte", "Heavy Metal", "Buona Fine È Migliore Principo", "Giubetto Rosso", "Il Bambino Rapito" and "Babbao Natale".[14] Between 1987 and 1988, Bava directed feature-length films for the Italian television program Brivado Giallo titled Dentro al Cimitero, Per Sempre, La Casa dell'Orco and Cena con il Vampiro.[14] Between 1989 and 1990, Bava continued making television films and two remakes: Testimone Oculare, a remake of television episode of the same name made by Argento in the early 1970s and La Maschera del Demonio a remake of Mario Bava's Black Sunday (1960).[15]

Post-1980s works

In 1992, Bava made the film Body Puzzle, which starred Joanna Pacula, who's learns about her late husband Abe had a lover named Tim Bell. When Tim learns that Abe was an organ donor, Tim begins killing people in order to re-build him.[16][17] Bava also worked in television. In 1991, Bava directed Fantaghiro, a television miniseries that were influenced by films such as Legend, Willow and Ladyhawke.[17] The series is aimed more at family audiences than Bava's previous work and violence is kept to a minimum.[17] The series concluded in 1997 with eight feature-length episodes.[17] Before finishing the series, Bava worked on other television projects included Desideria between 1994 and 1995 and a second fantasy series titled Sorellina e il Principe del Sogno (1996).[17] In the late 1990s, Bava made another television work titled Caraibi.[17] Bava's more recent film work includes L'Impero (2000) and Ghost Son (2006).[17][18]

Filmography

As director

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Paul, 2005. p.66
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Paul, 2005. p.67
  3. Buchanan, Jason. "Macabre (1980)". Allmovie. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 Paul, 2005. p.68
  5. "Tenebre (1982) - Cast and Crew". Allmovie. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  6. Firsching, Robert. "A Blade in the Dark (1983)". Allmovie. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  7. 1 2 Paul, 2005. p.69
  8. "Blastfighter". BFI Film & Television Database. London: British Film Institute. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Paul, 2005. p.71
  10. Binion, Cavett. "Demons". Allmovie. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
  11. 1 2 Paul, 2005. p.72
  12. "Morirai a mezzanotte (1986)". British Film Institute. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  13. Firsching, Robert. "Delerium". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  14. 1 2 3 Paul, 2005. p.74
  15. Paul, 2005. p.75
  16. Paul, 2005. p.76
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Paul, 2005. p.77
  18. Buchanan, Jason. "Ghost Son". Allmovie. All Media Guide. Retrieved July 14, 2014.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.