Umberto Lenzi(1931-2017)
- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Born in Massa Marittima, Italy on August 6, 1931, Umberto Lenzi was a
movie enthusiast since his early grade school years. During those
years, he founded various film fan clubs while studying law. Lenzi
started out as a journalist for various local newspapers and magazines.
Lenzi put off his law studies to pursue the technical arts of
filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale de Cinematografia.
After graduation from the school, Lenzi continued working as a writer
and film critic. He found employment as an assistant director before
making his directorial debut with
Queen of the Seas (1961). Other pirate/sword flicks followed, starting with
I pirati della Malesia (1964)
(Pirates of Malaysia), which was part of the height of the career of
fictitious tales of historic legendary characters including Robin Hood,
Catherine the Great, Zorro, Sandokan and Maciste. For the movie
Kriminal (1966), Lenzi turned to the new
wave of adult-oriented comic books (known as fumetti) for fresh
inspiration and initiated a popular trend.
After directing a war film and two "spaghetti westerns," Lenzi turned
to the giallo gene with Paranoia (1969) (originally called "Orgasmo"),
starring Carroll Baker and
Lou Castel, which was the first of his
thrillers and one of his personal favorites. Retitled Paranoia for its
USA release, Orgasmo caused some confusion since Lenzi directed a movie
with the same name, Paranoia, in 1970 also with
Carroll Baker. During the 1970s, Lenzi
directed a number of giallo thrillers among them
So Sweet... So Perverse (1969),
Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972) and
Eyeball (1975). None of them were particularly successful since Lenzi blamed
his tight budgets and poor scripts, which he believed no director could
do well with.
In the late 1970s, Lenzi turned to the police thrillers (polizieschi),
which rejuvenated his confidence and his popularity. Titles like
Almost Human (1974),
Tough Cop (1976)
(Free Hand For a Tough Cop), and
Brothers Till We Die (1978)
(Brothers Till We Die) were the most popular and brutal of the
thrillers. Prior to the polizieschi, Lenzi directed
Sacrifice! (1972)
(Man from Deep River), which was the start of the Italian cannibal
sub-genre. A re-telling of the western
A Man Called Horse (1970),
with a south Asia setting, set the stage for a later group of extremely
gory cannibal sub-genre movies most noteworthy being
Ruggero Deodato's
Last Cannibal World (1977) which featured a potent combination of extreme
violence in a documentary realism. Lenzi responded with two very gory
jungle cannibal features,
Eaten Alive! (1980) and Cannibal Ferox (1981)
(Make Them Die Slowly), which attempted to outdo Deodato's thrillers.
The excess of Cannibal Ferox, which was banned in 31 countries,
made Lenzi distance himself from the cannibal genre.
In between Eaten Alive and Cannibal Ferox, Lenzi directed
Nightmare City (1980), a zombie flick, with Lenzi rejected the slow-moving
zombies of the Romero and Fulci movies for a more type of fast-moving,
weapons toting, super zombies with action and an anti-nuclear message.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Lenzi turned his attention to other
genres: action-adventure, war films and even made-for-TV dramas,
although he directed the occasional thriller most notable in that time
was Ghosthouse (1988). His movie
Le porte dell'inferno (1989) is a seldom-seen horror film, which makes the most of its
low budget. Lenzi claimed to have shot it in three weeks at a cost of
300 million lire, whereas low-budget Italian horror films shot in Italy
or abroad cost an average of a billion lire or more. It represented a
personal challenge for Lenzi since the entire movie takes place in a
cave and the suspense is maintained for the entire 90 minutes.
As his budgets and financing for his films dwindled, so did his output. The 1990s saw Lenzi directing a number of TV productions that were
never broadcast, causing him lament upon the change in Italian film industry. After 40 years and directing over 60 films, Lenzi more or less retired from film directing and left his mark as one of the most creative and inexhaustible cult film directors of Italy.
Umberto Lenzi died on October 19, 2017 at a hospital in the Ostia district of Rome, Italy at age 86.
movie enthusiast since his early grade school years. During those
years, he founded various film fan clubs while studying law. Lenzi
started out as a journalist for various local newspapers and magazines.
Lenzi put off his law studies to pursue the technical arts of
filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale de Cinematografia.
After graduation from the school, Lenzi continued working as a writer
and film critic. He found employment as an assistant director before
making his directorial debut with
Queen of the Seas (1961). Other pirate/sword flicks followed, starting with
I pirati della Malesia (1964)
(Pirates of Malaysia), which was part of the height of the career of
fictitious tales of historic legendary characters including Robin Hood,
Catherine the Great, Zorro, Sandokan and Maciste. For the movie
Kriminal (1966), Lenzi turned to the new
wave of adult-oriented comic books (known as fumetti) for fresh
inspiration and initiated a popular trend.
After directing a war film and two "spaghetti westerns," Lenzi turned
to the giallo gene with Paranoia (1969) (originally called "Orgasmo"),
starring Carroll Baker and
Lou Castel, which was the first of his
thrillers and one of his personal favorites. Retitled Paranoia for its
USA release, Orgasmo caused some confusion since Lenzi directed a movie
with the same name, Paranoia, in 1970 also with
Carroll Baker. During the 1970s, Lenzi
directed a number of giallo thrillers among them
So Sweet... So Perverse (1969),
Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972) and
Eyeball (1975). None of them were particularly successful since Lenzi blamed
his tight budgets and poor scripts, which he believed no director could
do well with.
In the late 1970s, Lenzi turned to the police thrillers (polizieschi),
which rejuvenated his confidence and his popularity. Titles like
Almost Human (1974),
Tough Cop (1976)
(Free Hand For a Tough Cop), and
Brothers Till We Die (1978)
(Brothers Till We Die) were the most popular and brutal of the
thrillers. Prior to the polizieschi, Lenzi directed
Sacrifice! (1972)
(Man from Deep River), which was the start of the Italian cannibal
sub-genre. A re-telling of the western
A Man Called Horse (1970),
with a south Asia setting, set the stage for a later group of extremely
gory cannibal sub-genre movies most noteworthy being
Ruggero Deodato's
Last Cannibal World (1977) which featured a potent combination of extreme
violence in a documentary realism. Lenzi responded with two very gory
jungle cannibal features,
Eaten Alive! (1980) and Cannibal Ferox (1981)
(Make Them Die Slowly), which attempted to outdo Deodato's thrillers.
The excess of Cannibal Ferox, which was banned in 31 countries,
made Lenzi distance himself from the cannibal genre.
In between Eaten Alive and Cannibal Ferox, Lenzi directed
Nightmare City (1980), a zombie flick, with Lenzi rejected the slow-moving
zombies of the Romero and Fulci movies for a more type of fast-moving,
weapons toting, super zombies with action and an anti-nuclear message.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Lenzi turned his attention to other
genres: action-adventure, war films and even made-for-TV dramas,
although he directed the occasional thriller most notable in that time
was Ghosthouse (1988). His movie
Le porte dell'inferno (1989) is a seldom-seen horror film, which makes the most of its
low budget. Lenzi claimed to have shot it in three weeks at a cost of
300 million lire, whereas low-budget Italian horror films shot in Italy
or abroad cost an average of a billion lire or more. It represented a
personal challenge for Lenzi since the entire movie takes place in a
cave and the suspense is maintained for the entire 90 minutes.
As his budgets and financing for his films dwindled, so did his output. The 1990s saw Lenzi directing a number of TV productions that were
never broadcast, causing him lament upon the change in Italian film industry. After 40 years and directing over 60 films, Lenzi more or less retired from film directing and left his mark as one of the most creative and inexhaustible cult film directors of Italy.
Umberto Lenzi died on October 19, 2017 at a hospital in the Ostia district of Rome, Italy at age 86.