Lamberto Bava Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Lamberto Bava
Directing
Biography
Lamberto Bava was born in Rome, Italy, and was the first of a third generation of Italian filmmakers. His grandfather, Eugenio Bava (1886-1966), was a cameraman and optics effects artist during the early days of Italian silent cinema. His father, Mario Bava (1914-1980), was a legendary cinematographer, special effects designer and director. Lamberto entered the cinema as his father's personal assistant, starting with "Planet of the Vampires" (1965). Bit by bit he gained experience from his father, who made him the assistant director for most of the rest of his films. He even co-wrote the screenplay for "Shock" (1977), Mario's last theatrical film where, in poor health during the shoot, Mario often feigned illness so Lamberto could direct a few scenes, uncredited, to gain further experience. Both Lamberto and Mario directed the made-for-TV drama "I giochi del diavolo: La Venere d'Ille" (1979). Both worked on the Dario Argento horror flick "Inferno" (1980), for which Mario designed some of the color set pieces, including the underwater ballroom, and created all the visual special effects, while Lamberto worked as Argento's assistant director. Late in 1979 Lamberto made his solo directorial debut with "Macabre" (1980), a tense drama-horror flick loosely based on a 1977 incident in New Orleans about a woman who keeps her lover's severed head in her freezer. According to Lamberto, the project started by chance when producer Pupi Avati approached him to direct as well as write the screenplay, which took just six weeks to write and direct. "Macabre" was released in Italy in February 1980 to mixed reviews, but won him recognition by his father Mario. Just two months later Mario Bava died, and an era in Italian film making came to a close. "Macabre" was not a box-office hit and, as a result, Lamberto went back to assistant directing. He worked with Dario Argento again in 1982 with "Tenebrae" (1982). In 1983 Lamberto was offered the opportunity to direct another film, titled "A Blade in the Dark" (1983), which was a violent mystery thriller shot in only three weeks on a tight budget and filmed almost entirely in a producer friend's house. Next he directed the action-flick "Blastfighter" (1984), which was filmed in the state of Georgia, and immediately afterwards directed the "Jaws" (1975)-like thriller "Devil Fish" (1984), which was shot in Florida. On both films Lamberto was purely a director for hire and had nothing to do with the script or production end. He used the pseudonym of 'John Old Jr.' for this latter film, which was a tribute to his father Mario, who often used the pseudonym 'John M. Old'. He enjoyed his best commercial success to date with "Demons" (1985), produced by Dario Argento, co-written by Dardano Sacchetti and filmed in West Berlin. This film's international success allowed him to co-write, produce and direct a sequel, "Demons 2" (1986). Lamberto returned to giallo thrillers with "Delirium" (1987). In the late 1980s the Italian cinema turned moribund. Lamberto, like most of his colleagues, turned to making films for Italian television. He also directed a remake of his father's "Black Sunday" (1960), which was titled "La maschera del demonio" (1990). Nowadays Lamberto Bava continues to divide his time between TV work and a few movies, acknowledging his inspiration from his late father, Mario.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Of Fire And Darkness
Various crew members talk about the making of Dario Argento's Inferno.
Graveyard Disturbance
Five teenage thieves are challenged by a local bartender to stay overnight in the supposedly haunted catacombs of a nearby cemetery, who promises them a rare treasure if they can make it through the night.
Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered - Volume 1
This documentary examines the life and legacy of controversial Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci through interviews with his colleagues, each of whom answers the question, "What is your fondest memory of Lucio Fulci?". The responses are as varied as the people who knew the late writer-director, providing a nuanced look at the man behind such gory grindhouse classics as City of the Living Dead and The House by the Cemetery.
The Three Faces of Terror
In the first story two grave robbers, thieving from an ancient Etruscan burial ground, gets in trouble when one of them tries out a ring which passes a werewolf curse to him! The second one is about a woman who wants to look like her best friend and goes to a plastic surgeon, which is the biggest mistake she's done. The third story is about three friends and a very dangerous sea monster eating its way through their camping site! The wrap-around story is set on a train where John Phillip Law plays a mystical hypnotist who claims that he can see the past of the passengers...
Hanging Shadows
Offers a critical appreciation of Italian horror cinema, pioneered by directors such as Dario Argento and Mario Bava, a genre that influenced filmmakers from Quentin Tarantino to Takashi Miike.
Il mistero della cattedrale
A retrospective look at the making of Michele Soavi's "The Church" including interviews with cast and crew.
Dario Argento: Panico
This documentary about the great master of European horror and fantastic films offers an immersive exploration into the life and legacy of the director of Suspiria. Using the writing process of his next film as a starting point, Dario Argento Panico immerses us in the mind of the Italian genius, and offers testimonials from other filmmakers who love his work, all key names in today's world of cinema including Gaspar Noé and Guillermo Del Toro.
Dream Time
Spaghetti westerns, giallo, mondo... are the legacy of a golden age in Italian genre filmmaking, which began in the sixties and came to an end in the eighties, but not without leaving behind a few final masterpieces. This film explores, a few decades later, what became of those filmmakers and their films. A number of the most famous survivors of Italian horror movies will help to shed light on what happened.
I Tarantiniani
Tarantino reveres them, and for good reason. Welcome to the world of the kings of the Italian B-Movie.
Blood on Méliès' Moon
France, 1890. Inventor Louis Le Prince vanishes under mysterious circumstances right after he created a device that, five years later, the Lumière Brothers will call The Cinematographer. What if they had stolen Le Prince’s idea and wacked him afterwards? The mystery remains for more than a century, until Luigi Cozzi picks up a strange book called “The Roaming Universe” in the horror museum of his pal Dario Argento. The origin of this enigmatic book troubles him. This particular science-fiction novel would have materialized during a spiritual session in modern day Rome. At the session, an old woman revealed that the key to all these mysteries comes from 1895, a time during which the Lumière Brothers had denied lending their camera to Georges Méliès for an obscure movie called "A Trip to the moon". Not only does this film actually exist, but it raises a more intriguing question. Is our world the only one, or are there parallel universes ?
Production
Shock
A couple is terrorized in their new house haunted by the vengeful ghost of the woman's former husband who possesses her young son.
Rabid Dogs
Following a bungled robbery, three violent criminals take a young woman, a middle-aged man, and a child hostage and force them to drive them outside Rome to help them make a clean getaway.
Graveyard Disturbance
Five teenage thieves are challenged by a local bartender to stay overnight in the supposedly haunted catacombs of a nearby cemetery, who promises them a rare treasure if they can make it through the night.
Dinner with a Vampire
A camera crew unearths a thousand year old vampire from Mesopotamia. Years after his rise from the grave, the vampire becomes a famous horror film director and holds auditions for his up and coming film. Four young hopefuls are chosen and are invited to spend the night at the vampire's house. At dinner the vampire reveals his true nature to his guests and the real reason why they are there, to kill him before dawn, as he has grown bored with his existence.
Graveyard Disturbance
Five teenage thieves are challenged by a local bartender to stay overnight in the supposedly haunted catacombs of a nearby cemetery, who promises them a rare treasure if they can make it through the night.
Delirium: Photo of Gioia
Gioia is a buxom centerfold working for Pussycat magazine. In such a profession, having an admirer or two is expected, but Gioia's admirer is a vicious killer! He murders her fellow magazine models one at a time, using a variety of twisted implements of death. Gioia is the lucky recipient of a collection of photos, each with murdered bodies arranged around posters of her.
Demons 2
A group of tenants and visitors are trapped in a 10-story high-rise apartment building infested with demons who proceed to hunt the dwindling humans down.
Demons 2
A group of tenants and visitors are trapped in a 10-story high-rise apartment building infested with demons who proceed to hunt the dwindling humans down.
Waves of Lust
A young couple become embroiled with the personal problems of another couple on a yacht moored off Sicily during a turbulent weekend of fun, games, sex games, betrayal, spouse abuse, and murder.
Devil Fish
A marine biologist, a dolphin trainer, a research scientist, and a local sheriff try to hunt down a large sea monster, a shark/octopus hybrid, that is devouring swimmers and fishermen off a south Florida coast.
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