Bruno Mattei

Bruno Mattei (30 July 1931 – 21 May 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor who directed exploitation films in many genres, including women in prison, nunsploitation, zombie, mondo, cannibal, and Nazisploitation films. Mattei's films often followed popular genre trends of the era. Mattei continued work as a director primarily in the Philippines until his death in 2007, just before he was to enter production on his fifth Zombie film.

Bruno Mattei
Born
Bruno Mattei

(1931-07-30)30 July 1931
Rome, Italy
Died21 May 2007(2007-05-21) (aged 75)
Rome, Italy
Other namesVincent Dawn, Pierre Le Blanc, Stefan Oblowsky, Gilbert Roussel, David Hunt, William Snyder, Jordan B. Matthews, Jimmy Matheus, Michael Cardoso
Years active1956–2007

Biography

Bruno Mattei was born on 30 July 1931 in Rome, Italy.[1] Mattei grew up around films as his father owned a film editing studio. He studied at the Centro Sperimentale Centrale, the national film school, and graduated in 1951.[1] Mattei initially worked as a screenwriter and claimed to have worked on over 100 films as an editor, a claim that film historian Louis Paul stated was "difficult to verify".[1] Some of the earliest films Mattei worked on included Lulu and Tua per la vita.[2] Early film work started in 1956 on Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, after which Mattei worked on several peplum and Eurospy films.[1]

His first film as a director was Armida, il Dramma di Una Sposa (1970),[1] after which he directed Cuginetta...Amore Mio!, an exploitation film starring Rita De Simone.[1] Then followed his Nazi-themed exploitation films such as SS Girls and KZ9 Lager di Sterminio,[1] some mondo documentary films starring Laura Gemser, Le Notti Porno nel Mondo and Emanuelle le Porno Notti del Mondo N. 2,[1] and nunsploitation films such as The True Story of the Nun of Monza[3] and The Other Hell.[4]

Mattei continued working in various other exploitation-themed genres in the 1980s such as zombie films, sex films, peplums, and Vietnam War-themed productions.[4][5] In 1982, Mattei filmed two "women in prison" films, Women's Prison Massacre and Violence in a Women's Prison. The liner notes for the Women's Prison Massacre DVD release state "Mattei, using the moniker Gilbert Roussel, shot Women's Prison Massacre back-to-back with his Violence in a Women's Prison. It has basically the same cast, but both films are completely different."[6]

In 1980, Mattei began collaborating with screenwriter Claudio Fragasso, beginning with The True Story of the Nun of Monza (1980) and ending with a comedy called Three For One (1990).[3] The two worked closely together for that ten-year period (collaborating on 15 films),[3] with Fragasso occasionally assuming the role of second unit director.[3]

Mattei was initially attached to direct an adaptation of Hercules from a screenplay by Ricardo Ghione.[7] Principal photography was scheduled to begin May 1982 in Rome, Italy while The Hollywood Reporter naming Fragasso as screenwriter, and Ennio Morricone as music composer and conductor.[7] Neither Mattei, Fragasso, or Morricone appear in onscreen credits.[7] The Hollywood Reporter later stated that principal photography on Hercules began in August 1982 in Italy under the direction of Luigi Cozzi.[7] Mattei later directed Lou Ferrigno in The Seven Magnificent Gladiators.[8])

Mattei replaced Lucio Fulci as the director of Zombi 3 in the Philippines after Fulci left the project unfinished, then co-produced Zombie 4: After Death immediately afterwards with Fragasso in the director's chair, using the same sets and some of the same cast members.[9] Mattei's other late-1980s films included Robowar[10] and Shocking Dark - Terminator II[11] (which incorporated elements of other popular science fiction films of the time such as The Terminator and Alien).[12] As the 1980s ended, most of Mattei's work was released direct to video or to Italian television such as his Appuntamento a Trieste, a 1987 6-hour-long Italian TV mini-series.[5][9] Many of Mattei's films from the 1990s became harder to find as export releases or home video releases.[12]

From 1993 onward, Mattei worked as a director almost exclusively for Italian producer Giovanni Paolucci, a working arrangement that jump-started Mattei's career after he and Fragasso had gone their own ways in 1990.[13] Paolucci produced most of Mattei's later films, beginning with Dangerous Attraction and ending with Mattei's final film, Zombies: The Beginning.[14] Mattei continued directing films right up until his death. Mattei died in Rome, Italy in a hospital after complications from brain tumour surgery[15] on May 21, 2007, at age 75.[2]

He is survived by a son Dario Mattei.

Style

Jason Buchanan described Bruno Mattei's films as "low budget, gore-drenched efforts" and that "B-movie lovers can argue his importance in the realm of film until the world ends, few will deny that his films rarely fail to entertain on terms of sleaze and gratuitous violence alone -- if that's your kind of thing".

Louis Paul, in his analysis of Italian horror film directors, stated that Mattei's career consisted of him being a "director of copy-cat movies. Whenever a film or a genre became popular, he directed his own (unsanctioned) remake or unofficial sequel."[12] Daniel Budnik, an author of a book on 1980s action films, described Mattei as "no stranger to simply ripping stuff off", noting his use of Goblin's music for Hell of the Living Dead, stock footage from documentaries on South African tribes, and shark attack footage for his Cruel Jaws, ultimately describing him as "the best of all possible rip-off artists [...] Bruno just really did his own thing and went his own way" which involved "ripping everyone off, but you can't have everything".[16]

Mattei used several aliases throughout his career, including Jordan B. Matthews, Jimmy Matheus, Gilbert Roussel, Axel Berger, Michael Cardoso, David Hunt, Werner Knox, Pierre Le Blanc, Stefan Oblowsky and most famously Vincent Dawn.[2][12]

Selected filmography
Note: The films listed as N/A are not necessarily chronological.
TitleYearCredited asNotesRef(s)
DirectorWriterEditorOther
The Pirate of the Black Hawk 1958 Yes Assistant film editor [17]
The Mighty Crusaders — Yes Assistant film editor [18]
The Loves of Salammbo 1960 Yes Assistant film editor [19]
Sexy 1962 Yes [20]
Caesar Against the Pirates Yes Sound mixer [21]
Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules Yes Sound editor [22][23]
Triumph of the Ten Gladiators 1964 Yes Assistant film editor [24]
Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators Yes [25][26]
Agent 3S3: Passport to Hell 1965 Yes [27]
Misión en Ginebra 1967 Yes [28]
Goldface, the Fantastic Superman Yes [29]
El magnifico Tony Carrera 1968 Yes [30]
Die Nichten der Frau Oberst Yes [31]
99 Women 1969 Yes [32]
Yellow: le cugine Yes [33]
Count Dracula 1970 Yes [34]
Armida, il Dramma di Una Sposa — Yes [10]
Emanuelle's Revenge 1975 Yes Yes uncredited co-director[35] [36][37]
Cuginetta, amore mio! — Yes Yes [38][39]
SS Girls 1977 Yes Yes [40][41][10]
Women's Camp 119 1977 Yes Yes [42][43][10]
Sexy Night Report — Yes Yes [44]
Emanuelle e le Porno Notti nel Mondo N.2 1978 Yes [44]
Cicciolina amore mio — Yes [10]
Sexual Aberration: Sesso Perverso — Yes [38]
Sesso perverso, mondo violento 1980 Yes [38]
La provinciale a lezione di sesso 1980 Yes [45]
The True Story of the Nun of Monza 1980 Yes [46][3]
Hell of the Living Dead 1980 Yes [47][48]
The Other Hell 1981 Yes Yes [10][49]
Caligula and Messalina 1981 Yes Yes Yes [50][51][10]
Nero and Poppea - An Orgy of Power 1982 Yes [10]
Violence in a Women's Prison 1982 Yes [10]
Women's Prison Massacre 1983 Yes [10][10]
The Seven Magnificent Gladiators 1983 Yes Yes [8]
Rats: Night of Terror 1984 Yes Yes [52][53][54]
Hanna D. - The Girl from Vondel Park 1984 Yes Yes co-director [55] [56]
White Apache 1986 Yes Yes [57][10][58]
Scalps 1987 Yes Yes [52][10][58]
Strike Commando 1987 Yes Yes [10][59][60]
Double Target 1987 Yes Yes [10][61][62]
Zombi 3 1988 Yes Yes [63]
Appointment in Trieste — Yes Made for television [52][64]
Strike Commando 2 — Yes [10]
Robowar — Yes [52][10]
Cop Game — Yes [10]
After Death — Yes As co-producer [9]
Born to Fight — Yes co-directed with Claudio Fragasso [65][59]
Shocking Dark - Terminator II 1989 Yes [52][10]
Desire — Yes [10]
Three For One — Yes [10]
Dangerous Attraction — Yes Yes [66][67][68]
Madness 1994 Yes Yes Yes [69][67][68][70][71]
Omicidio al telefono — Yes Yes Yes [72][73]
Legitimate Vendetta — Yes Yes [74][62]
Cruel Jaws 1995 Yes Yes Yes [75]
Ljuba: Body and Soul — Yes [75]
A Respectable Judge — Yes [75]
Belle da morire: Killing Striptease — Yes [75]
The Other Woman — Yes [75]
Venetian Caprice — Yes [75]
Snuff Trap — Yes [76]
Mondo Cannibale: Cannibal World — Yes [75]
In the Land of the Cannibals — Yes [75]
The Tomb — Yes Yes [75]
Killing Striptease II — Yes [77]
A Shudder on the Skin — Yes [75]
Secrets of a Woman — Yes [75]
Secrets of a Woman II — Yes [75]
Orient Escape — Yes [75]
The Jail: The Women's Hell — Yes Yes [75]
Island of the Living Dead — Yes Yes
Zombies: The Beginning 2007 Yes Yes [75]

References
  1. Paul 2005, p. 210.
  2. Lentz III 2008, p. 241.
  3. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 32.
  4. Paul 2005, p. 211.
  5. Paul 2005, p. 212.
  6. Liner Notes. Women's Prison Massacre dvd release. Distributed by Shock-O-Rama Cinema. 12/16/04.
  7. "Hercules". American Film Institute. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  8. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 204.
  9. Paul 2005, p. 213.
  10. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 155.
  11. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 75.
  12. Paul 2005, p. 214.
  13. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 83.
  14. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 125.
  15. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 10.
  16. Budnik 2017, p. 233.
  17. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 129.
  18. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 119.
  19. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 110.
  20. "Sexy" (in French). Bifi.fr. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  21. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 30.
  22. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 56.
  23. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 58.
  24. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 179.
  25. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 163.
  26. Kinnard & Crnkovich 2017, p. 164.
  27. "Agente 3.S.3, Passaporto per L'inferno". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 33, no. 384. British Film Institute. 1966. p. 140.
  28. "Feuer frei auf Frankie" (in German). Filmportal.de. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  29. Curti 2016, p. 68.
  30. "Samtpfötchen dreht sein letztes Ding" (in German). Filmportal.de. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  31. "Die Nichten der Frau Oberst" (in German). Filmportal.de. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  32. "Der heiße Tod" (in German). Filmportal.de. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  33. Howarth 2015a, p. 113.
  34. "Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht" (in German). Filmportal.de. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  35. Giusti, Marco (1999). dizionario dei film italiani STRACULT [sic]. Cles: Sterling & Kupfer. pg. 253. ISBN 88-200-2919-7.
  36. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 13.
  37. "Emanuelle's Revenge". Mubi.com. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  38. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 18.
  39. "Cuginetta... Amore Mio! (1976)". Archived from the original on 15 June 2017.
  40. Lupi, Gordiano; Gazzarrini, Ivo (2013). Bruno Mattei: L'ultimo artigiano (in Italian). ISBN 9788876064609. page 216.
  41. Curti 2013, p. 114.
  42. Lupi, Gordiano; Gazzarrini, Ivo (2013). Bruno Mattei: L'ultimo artigiano (in Italian). ISBN 9788876064609. page 217.
  43. Curti 2013, p. 51.
  44. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 16.
  45. "La provinciale a lezione di sesso (1980) | FilmTV.it".
  46. La vera storia della Monaca di Monza = The true story of the nun of Monza. WorldCat. OCLC 614071565. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  47. Curti 2019, p. 50.
  48. Jenkins, Steve (1982). "Inferno dei morti-viventi (Zombie Creeping Flesh)". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 49, no. 576. British Film Institute. p. 229.
  49. Curti 2019, p. 52.
  50. Paul 2005, p. 217.
  51. Smith 2009, p. 284.
  52. Paul 2005, p. 218.
  53. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 55.
  54. Alexander, Chris (2014). "The Rats are Coming...Geretta Geretta is Here!". Delirium. No. 3. Charles Band. p. 28.
  55. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 217.
  56. Russell Campbell. Marked Women: Prostitutes and Prostitution in the Cinema. Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2006. ISBN 9780299212537.
  57. Paul 2005, p. 155.
  58. Grant 2011, p. 468.
  59. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 218.
  60. Klain, Jane, ed. (1989). International Motion Picture Almanac for 1989 (60 ed.). Quigley Publishing Company, Inc. p. 404. ISBN 0-900610-40-9.
  61. Hayward 1988, p. 155.
  62. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 216.
  63. Cortini & Nutman 1989, p. 45.
  64. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 65.
  65. Curti 2016, p. 180.
  66. Howarth 2015a, p. 169.
  67. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 79.
  68. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 215.
  69. Curti 2016, p. 195.
  70. Curti 2022, p. 392.
  71. Curti 2022, p. 9.
  72. Howarth 2015b, p. 169.
  73. Howarth 2015b, p. 172.
  74. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 82.
  75. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 156.
  76. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 91.
  77. Lupi & Gazzarrini 2013, p. 87.

Bibliography
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  • Curti, Roberto (2019). Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1980-1989. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476672434.
  • Curti, Roberto (2013). Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786469765.
  • Curti, Roberto (2016). Diabolika: Supercriminals, Superheroes and the Comic Book Universe in Italian Cinema. Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1-936168-60-6.
  • Curti, Roberto (2022). Italian Giallo in Film and Television. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-8248-8.
  • Grant, Kevin (2011). Any Gun Can Play. Fab Press. ISBN 9781903254615.
  • Hayward, Anthony (1988). "Video Releases". Film Review 1988-9. Columbus Books Limited. ISBN 0-86287-939-6.
  • Howarth, Troy (2015a). So Deadly, So Perverse. Vol. 1. Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1936168507.
  • Howarth, Troy (2015b). So Deadly, So Perverse. Vol. 2. Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1936168583.
  • Kinnard, Roy; Crnkovich, Tony (2017). Italian Sword and Sandal Films, 1908-1990. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476662916.
  • Lentz III, Harris M. (2008). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2007. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786451913.
  • Lupi, Gordiano; Gazzarrini, Ivo (2013). Bruno Mattei: L'ultimo artigiano (in Italian). Il foglio. ISBN 978-8876064609.
  • Cortini, Mario; Nutman, Philip (January 1989). "Pastaland Splatter Roundup". Gorezone. No. 5. O'Quinn Studios, Inc.
  • Paul, Louis (2005). Italian Horror Film Directors. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-8749-3.
  • Shipka, Danny (2011). Perverse Titillation: The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France, 1960–1980. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-4888-3.
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