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[Peter Neal]

I'd say it would be smart to release this kind of fare around the time of "(John) Rambo" hitting theatres and bringing the whole 80's-action nostalgia to a peak.

One would believe that this wasn't outside the realms of possibility.

[vigilanteforce]

Yes, it would be great to see Italian explosive action films get released on DVD thanks to Rambo's return. The THUNDER trilogy (as well as the 2 COBRA MISSION films) is already out on very cheap DVDs in Italy but the bad news is all of them are Italian-spoken and fullscreen... At least BLASTFIGHTER got a decent widescreen release over there- now lets see if anybody gives THE RAIDERS OF ATLANTIS and HANDS OF STEEL the treatment they deserve!

[Inspector Tanzi]

now lets see if anybody gives THE RAIDERS OF ATLANTIS and HANDS OF STEEL the treatment they deserve!

 

[vigilanteforce]

I know I keep mentioning these two all the time but I can't help it, I am obsessed   

[Inspector Tanzi]

I know I keep mentioning these two all the time but I can't help it, I am obsessed 

Great films, i sold my ATLANTIS INTERCEPTORS tape and haven't been able to replace it, i've seen the U.K. Medusa tape floating around a few times but it is cut.

All i have to remember this film is this

[vigilanteforce]

I am reading! How much do you want for it? ...........................

[vigilanteforce]

I respect that but please let me know if you ever come across another copy or know somebody who sells one.

[Inspector Tanzi]

I respect that but please let me know if you ever come across another copy or know somebody who sells one.

Don't worry if i come across one you will be the first to know

[Gary B.]

Eyecatcher is releasing an English friendly DVD of this very soon!
Blastfighter DTM

[Canisius]

This movie is extremely entertaining...can't forget the overacting rednecks driving home with their pick-up and the loading zone is basically just one massive pile of deer, that's so politically incorrect, they instantly captured my heart! :'(

[Inspector Tanzi]

One of my favourite Lamberto films

[vigilanteforce]

Can't wait for the Eyecather disc! Now I can trash my fandub 

[Jay]

Here you go! Can't wait for the English language dub of Blastfighter!

LAMBERTO BAVA
Interview by Jay Slater

Lamberto Bava is a warm, jovial and modest man. Armed with a pint of Guinness, chocolate bar and a big smile, Bava states that he doesn’t like to have one of his latest movies, The Torturer, on competition. On meeting Bava at Dublin’s bustling Horrorthon, held at the enchanting Irish Film Institute by director Ed King, one could not help be charmed by Bava’s nonchalant attitude where he simply shrugs his shoulders when praised: refreshingly, the great man lacks ego and self-importance. On introducing myself, I instinctively go for the jugular by greeting him with a handshake and throwing Bava a decidedly dodgy curveball: “I love Blastfighter.” The man is suddenly perplexed but amused, for Bava is in the company of someone who knows his pasta, Peroni and onions, as well as praising the merits of one of his flicks that he actually likes. And, I am told, refused to go at lengths about him basking in the darkness of his late father’s shadow: Mario Bava. Hell, no! Some of Lamberto Bava’s cannon are damned fine: Blastfighter and Demons just being two classic Eighties genre cinema, and make no mistake.

Charmed, Bava agreed to the following interview, the man being in high spirits. After the audience had warmed to him during an introduction to his new movie (as well as showcasing a brand new 35mm print of Demons) as if Bava was their favourite uncle, we both retired for the following interview. The director speaks candidly about his background as a filmmaker and favourite movies as well as nearly being killed on the set of a Ruggero Deodato cannibal film. Which Deodato thought was a laugh riot. And, get this, Bava turned down the opportunity of directing The Beyond, which was passed on to Lucio Fulci… We were on a roll, but I thought it best not to mention anything about his turkey of a horror, Graveyard Disturbance, whilst the going was good!    

Jay Slater: I’ll be straight with you: if it wasn’t for Blastfighter or Demons, I probably wouldn’t have become a journalist.
Lamberto Bava: Really? Wow! I’m so glad to hear that!

Jay Slater: You are known as a director of horror movies: was this a conscious decision or did you feel obliged to follow your father’s path?
Lamberto Bava: First all of all I didn’t want anything to do with cinema or to become a filmmaker. I was very shy: I didn’t think I could get on with people on set as well as deal with the shouting, screaming and swearing. I had decided to become a lawyer but my father wanted me to be a producer than a filmmaker. Thanks to my father, I failed my exams as I went more and more to the cinema and didn’t complete my studies: I didn’t have the time to complete my university course. I became a filmmaker’s assistant and worked with many directors over the years. At the beginning I thought I could be part of the cinema world, thanks to my fathers assistant and name in the Italian film industry, but I did it my own way. I became an assistant to Pupi Avati and we both talked about a film that we wanted to work on together. I was interested in listening to his proposal, but Avati then told me that he wasn’t making the movie. I asked, “Who is then?” He replied, “You are, my dear Lamberto!” (laughs). It’s a funny episode when I am reminded about this after forty years! Four of us worked in Avati’s studio and we wrote a screenplay of only fifteen pages. I then went to New York as an assistant to Dario Argento on Inferno thinking that the fifteen pages would be thrown away. When in New York, I received a telephone call to hear that Medusa Distribution had read the script, all fifteen pages, and wanted to make it. Two months later, we started shooting the movie: it was Macabro/Macabre.

Jay Slater: They wanted to produce a movie based on a fifteen-page synopsis?
Lamberto Bava: No, I had to write more material when I returned to Rome but they green-lit the idea based on those fifteen pages. And after a month, I was on the set. In Italy we say “cooked and eaten.” (laughs).

Jay Slater: What was your father’s reaction to Macabre? Did he give you guidance an advice as a filmmaker?
Lamberto Bava: I told my father that I received the proposal for the film and he replied, “I don’t want nothing to do with it. It’s your problem, not mine!” I got no advice whatsoever but Avati didn’t care, as he trusted me implicitly. After a fortnight’s shooting, I received a telegram from Avati after he had seen the first rushes that read: “Splendid material – go on!” After the film was shot and edited, my father wanted to see Macabre. When we both saw a screening together, he was very quiet and didn’t say a thing; naturally I was very nervous in case he had hated it. As the end credits rolled, he said to me, “I can now die a happy man.” Sadly, he died two months later.  

Jay Slater: And you were the assistant director to Ruggero Deodato on Cannibal Holocaust in 1979.
Lamberto Bava: Well, I didn’t do anything on that movie. Initially there was a problem with the Colombian government over the nationality of the film so the producers flew in three or four Italian technicians to sign paperwork to state that they were working on the film when they weren’t. As I was a friend of Deodato’s – we had made a film together some years previously (Una Ondata di piacere/Waves of Lust) – he asked me to sign a contract. I said that I wanted nothing to do with Cannibal Holocaust but Deodato pleaded me to help him get out of the administrative hell that he was in. He even asked my wife who helped work on the screenplay for no more than a week. I was never on the set.

Jay Slater: That contradicts a rumour where you were on set during the infamous dismemberment of a turtle and walked away into the jungle to be violently sick.
Lamberto Bava: (Lamberto shakes his head). But I was not there! Let’s rewind to 1977 when I worked with Deodato on the screenplay of Ultimo mondo cannibale/Last Cannibal World and was on set in the jungle. We shot a scene where Me Me Lai discovers a skeleton of a man who had been killed and eaten by cannibals. Deodato thought it would be a good idea to have a snake slither out of the skull. In the morning when it came to shoot the scene, an Indian came to the set with a basket containing a lot of snakes. Of course, the producer wanted the scene to be very dramatic, so we had more than one snake to work with. The Indian agreed to put all the snakes into the skeleton’s rib cage and skull, and once the shot was done, he asked, “Who is going to help me put the snakes back into the basket?” There were three of us chasing snakes that had fled into the jungle and, of course, we had filmed the scene three or four times – it was confusing to know where the snakes were at all times! As I moved the skull, I noticed that one of the snakes had hid behind the back of the head. At first, the snakes were very docile, but as filming commenced, they knew what was going on and got more and more lively. While running after the snakes to put them back into the basket, we did not know how to capture them: they must be held by the back of the head so they cannot bite you. Without realising this, I grabbed a snake but it went to bite my finger. In order to defend myself, I caught its tail but it whipped across my leg cutting me. Imagine the scene: me in a jungle holding a snake while covered in blood – Deodato thought I was going to die! (laughs). The Indian had to demonstrate that the snake was not poisonous. I was taken to a local chemist and prescribed lots of pills, and Deodato, who is a funny man, composed a larger than life story of me stumbling out of the jungle covered in blood holding a man-killer snake. That was the real event!

Jay Slater: Blastfighter and Shark rosso nell'oceano/Monster Shark (aka Devouring Waves) featured Michael Sopkiw, an unknown American actor as lead. As director, was it a challenge for you to work with an amateur actor with no previous filming experience in a starring role? And what can you tell me about your experiences with larger than life Italian actor George Eastman aka Luigi Montefiori?
Lamberto Bava: He was a very nice guy. I would ask him to do something and he would do his very best, and according to Sopkiw, he thought he was an actor. And let me tell you, he very nearly died on the set of Monster Shark. We were in Miami by our hotel on the beach where there was a warning sign stating not to go into the water due to highly-poisonous Portuguese Man-of-War jellyfish that had plagued the area. Sopkiw thought that he would be okay and went for a swim despite the film crew warning him not to do so. Needless to say, he got stung by a jellyfish and was in agony. I was unaware of what had happened as I was shooting a scene nearby and was told that Sopkiw had been sent to hospital seriously ill. I went to the hospital to visit Sopkiw and fortunately he received the right treatment. And he seemed happy surrounded by nurses who paid him a great deal of attention! And I remember shooting scenes for Blastfighter in America with Sopkiw in the water rapids. Unknown to us, John Boorman was also shooting scenes for The Emerald Forest at the same time and location, and being a far smaller movie, we had to fight with Boorman’s crew to film! Eastman was great to work with – a giant of a man. He helped write material for Macabre that was inspired by a small newspaper article: the title was “A girl loses her fiancé in a car accident and keeps his head in a freezer.” And it’s true, it actually happened. As for Blastfighter, I was asked to make a Rambo-type film. It was also inspired by a newspaper article that told of hunters who killed bears and dears in order to get parts of their bodies to create potions. Once again, Eastman helped write lines of dialogue: a good actor and writer.

Jay Slater: Was it true that Lucio Fulci was supposed to have made Blastfighter originally?
Lamberto Bava: Lucio Fulci was to have directed a film with the same title and production as Blastfighter – this was back in the days when films were sold on their title alone. When they contacted Fulci to sell him the title, he was already making a movie so the producers offered it me. And here’s a story that not many people know of when Fulci and me made an exchange of films. Where he turned down Blastfighter and gave it to me, Luciano Martino had previously offered me the role of director on E tu vivrai nel terrore – L’aldilà/The Beyond and I was on the contract do so. However, I didn’t want to make The Beyond and gave it Fulci instead.

Jay Slater: Whatever happened to Sopkiw’s super-weapon, the Spas-12 Franchi Assault Shotgun?
Lamberto Bava: That gun was real! It’s a shotgun that was made in Italy and I must confess that I don’t like guns. The production team had the real Spas shotgun and converted it to look more futuristic and, of course, couldn’t be used in the way you see in the movie. As for what happened to the gun, I have no idea – perhaps one of the locals still has it to this day.

[Jay]

Jay Slater: As director, were you pleased with Monster Shark?
Lamberto Bava: The script had already been written and delivered, written by my good friend Luigi Cozzi. Using the same film crew as Blastfighter, Luciano Martino said that he had another movie that he would like me to direct. I have to say that I didn’t like the script, and out of respect to Cozzi, I asked Martino if it would be possible for me to rewrite parts of the script. When I was doing my research, I asked Martino if we could not see the monster for the first half of the movie as it would be seen as the killer, as it’s not a good idea to show the villain too early in a thriller. And then I saw the creature creation that was designed by the special effects team (led by Ovidio Taito) which had already been bought by the producers – it was horrible as it looked fake! It was too big and had no movement to it whatsoever, so I asked the effects team if they could make some much necessary adjustments. The main change was about its conception, because in the original screenplay, we see the monster shark in the first shot; personally, if that happened, the film would have been finished. In my version, the monster had to only appear at the very end, and till then, the audience must have a mental picture of what the creature looked like. I have to say that out of all my films, Monster Shark is my least favourite but I had such a great time making it in Florida and the Miami sea aquarium. It really wasn’t about making a movie but enjoying a great holiday! (laughs). I found it to be a very friendly film to work on, even in the secret American navy base in Key West: the government officials even gave us the passwords to enter the base. We could shoot scenes next to their top-secret equipment and they didn’t care – it was incredible! I did have a falling out with the director of photography (Giancarlo Ferrando) when we shooting in the aquarium, a wonderful place to shoot as it were full of fish and amazing colours. Ferrando refused to use special lamps for the background shots so that all the fish could not be seen when the film was processed; the footage would have looked wonderful! I wasn’t too happy with him.

Jay Slater: With regards to Dèmoni/Demons and the scene where a helicopter crashes through the ceiling of the cinema, what is your interpretation of what happened?
Lamberto Bava: Why? I liked the idea. It was also a good excuse to implement an expensive special effect of the helicopter crashing to the ground as well as a social metaphor in that complex technical machines mean nothing in a world gone back to its primitive roots, hence the invasion of the demons.

Jay Slater: That’s interesting as I have interviewed the lovely black actress Geretta Geretta who played “Rosemary” in the movie. She claimed that the scene is a homage to George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and its final scene where Ken Foree and Gaylen Ross escape from the zombies in a helicopter, but run out of fuel, hence crashing into the cinema as seen in Demons.
Lamberto Bava: Falso, falso, falso! I really don’t think so. We needed a solution to make the film end with a strong finale. For me, it was God who sent the helicopter to help our hero and heroine when they are surrounded by demons. We worked on the script for a long time: four months with four screenwriters. Everything that happened in the movie was precise and well thought-out and researched. When it came to the monsters, Dario Argento gave me maximum liberty to go as far I wanted to with their appearance and actions. Dario expects a lot from everyone but he also gives a lot, too. When you work with Dario you have to sweat blood and tears (laughs).

Jay Slater: With regards to Dèmoni 2/Demons 2, it would appear that both films are barely related to each other: was this an intentional decision on your part?
Lamberto Bava: Producers Dario Argento and Ferdinando Caputo were far more relaxed with the second movie due to the first doing so well and we had a lot more money to play with. Compared to the first, Demons 2 is a totally different film. Demons was very theatrical in content with its actors screaming all the time. I was way too brutal to them during the making of the movie; on set, I would send them running up and down a staircase to have them breathless before shooting. So when we shot an energetic scene and I wanted them to look exhausted, they were actually panting and out of breath! Both movies are like video clips and music is very important. And I refused to do static camera shots: I always went for dolly shots where possible… I wanted Demons to move fast! Also, Demons was the first ever film in Italy to be processed in Dolby Stereo. For the first time, when the music was not screaming, there would be brief interludes of silence, but in the background, there would were sounds of dripping water and other ambience to create atmosphere and anxiety. And I am also proud to have extended the plot from Demons from where the cinema was the birthplace of evil, to the sequel where the monsters used the medium of television as their portal to invade our world.

Jay Slater: I very much enjoyed your “Middle Earth” Fantaghirò adventures that interestingly predate the Peter Jackson The Lord of the Ring movies. Fantaghirò/Cave of the Golden Rose with the beautiful Alessandra Martines is great fun as is Desideria e l’anello del drago/The Dragon Ring. With regards to the latter, what was it like to work with Franco Nero?
Lamberto Bava: Nero is a BIG actor: one of the most important Italian film actors ever. When I first met Franco for coffee, he told me that he had read the script and loved it. However, he didn’t want to play the small part of a father, he must be the lead, the Dragon King. Franco Nero is someone who loves and lives cinema. When he wasn’t acting in front of the camera, he would sit back and watch the film crew go to work. Franco lives and breathes cinema. He loves it!  

Jay Slater: It has to be said, your films often star very attractive young women such as Anna Falchi in The Dragon Ring and Nicoletta Elmi in Demons as the red-haired usherette, a pencil-figured Siren that oozes sex appeal. Is this a conscious decision? A perk of the job to be the man who decides as to what lovely woman will star in your movie?
Lamberto Bava: Yes, yes, of course! (laughs). But seriously, not really. Elmi was a bambino when she first appeared in Italian horror movies – from Argento’s Profondo rosso/Deep Red to my father’s Reazione a catena/A Bay of Blood where she played the part of a very naughty girl! (Lamberto enjoys a generous sip of Guinness)

Jay Slater: One of your most recent horror films is The Torturer. Judging by the opening credits where naked women are subjected to physical degradation and mutilation, would this be your answer to Eli Roth’s Hostel?
Lamberto Bava: No, not all; it’s all my idea. I really wanted to get to grips with the way to shoot movies digitally. For me, The Torturer is a return to the Italian horror films of the early 1980s where there were a lot of emphasis on extreme violence and splatter such as the movies by Lucio Fulci. I see the film as a remake of all those films of the period. That said, perhaps it’s too much…

Jay Slater: So you think you can go too far with the portrayal of explicit violence?
Lamberto Bava: No, no, no, no! You can’t go too far. But for me, the kind of film that I would like to make is Ghost Son: a suspense and thriller movie. It’s a new way of making horror films without giving up the traditional genre elements. It’s a love story that goes on after life and features an international cast. But it’s not a naughty horror. For me, personally, the horror genre had been transformed after I saw The Sixth Sense: it’s a good film. Also, it’s not a naughty film – it doesn’t scare people but is atmospheric, fantastic and gives people hope that there is life after death. I like to think that Ghost Son is like this. But you need a good cast to pull it off. I did have a great cast such as John Hannah, Pete Postlethwaite, Laura Harring and Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni. They’re very good actors. (Lamberto beams with pride, like the cat that got its cream)

Jay Slater: A little birdie tells me that, after the success of the Master of Horror series, we can expect an Italian Masters of Horror.
Lamberto Bava: I am supposed to make one in early 2007. Do you remember my film, La casa con la scala nel buio/A Blade in the Dark? It’s pretty much a remake but set in today’s setting. I am not too sure who are making other episodes, but I have been told that mine is the first in the Italian Masters of Horror series.      

Jay Slater: Lamberto Bava is incarcerated on a desert island: rescue is not an option. With only one of his movies for company to watch over and over again till the end of days, what would it be?
Lamberto Bava: No! Never! I never watch my movies again. I never go back to them. All the filmmakers I know would remake the films they made as they are never happy with the results. Giuseppe Tornatore, director of Nuovo cinema Paradiso/Cinema Paradiso, said the same thing. If I were to remake a film of mine six months after it were completed, it would be very different; for instance, just to change a main lead can make such a difference to the overall picture.

Jay Slater: Fair point. But this leaves you with no movies to watch. I shall grant you any three movies to take with you. What will they be?
Lamberto Bava: One would be Blade Runner – for sure, one of the three. When I think about it, that’ll be the only one I’d take!
END

Jay Slater: As director, were you pleased with Monster Shark?
Lamberto Bava: The script had already been written and delivered, written by my good friend Luigi Cozzi. Using the same film crew as Blastfighter, Luciano Martino said that he had another movie that he would like me to direct. I have to say that I didn’t like the script, and out of respect to Cozzi, I asked Martino if it would be possible for me to rewrite parts of the script. When I was doing my research, I asked Martino if we could not see the monster for the first half of the movie as it would be seen as the killer, as it’s not a good idea to show the villain too early in a thriller. And then I saw the creature creation that was designed by the special effects team (led by Ovidio Taito) which had already been bought by the producers – it was horrible as it looked fake! It was too big and had no movement to it whatsoever, so I asked the effects team if they could make some much necessary adjustments. The main change was about its conception, because in the original screenplay, we see the monster shark in the first shot; personally, if that happened, the film would have been finished. In my version, the monster had to only appear at the very end, and till then, the audience must have a mental picture of what the creature looked like. I have to say that out of all my films, Monster Shark is my least favourite but I had such a great time making it in Florida and the Miami sea aquarium. It really wasn’t about making a movie but enjoying a great holiday! (laughs). I found it to be a very friendly film to work on, even in the secret American navy base in Key West: the government officials even gave us the passwords to enter the base. We could shoot scenes next to their top-secret equipment and they didn’t care – it was incredible! I did have a falling out with the director of photography (Giancarlo Ferrando) when we shooting in the aquarium, a wonderful place to shoot as it were full of fish and amazing colours. Ferrando refused to use special lamps for the background shots so that all the fish could not be seen when the film was processed; the footage would have looked wonderful! I wasn’t too happy with him.

Jay Slater: With regards to Dèmoni/Demons and the scene where a helicopter crashes through the ceiling of the cinema, what is your interpretation of what happened?
Lamberto Bava: Why? I liked the idea. It was also a good excuse to implement an expensive special effect of the helicopter crashing to the ground as well as a social metaphor in that complex technical machines mean nothing in a world gone back to its primitive roots, hence the invasion of the demons.

Jay Slater: That’s interesting as I have interviewed the lovely black actress Geretta Geretta who played “Rosemary” in the movie. She claimed that the scene is a homage to George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and its final scene where Ken Foree and Gaylen Ross escape from the zombies in a helicopter, but run out of fuel, hence crashing into the cinema as seen in Demons.
Lamberto Bava: Falso, falso, falso! I really don’t think so. We needed a solution to make the film end with a strong finale. For me, it was God who sent the helicopter to help our hero and heroine when they are surrounded by demons. We worked on the script for a long time: four months with four screenwriters. Everything that happened in the movie was precise and well thought-out and researched. When it came to the monsters, Dario Argento gave me maximum liberty to go as far I wanted to with their appearance and actions. Dario expects a lot from everyone but he also gives a lot, too. When you work with Dario you have to sweat blood and tears (laughs).

Jay Slater: With regards to Dèmoni 2/Demons 2, it would appear that both films are barely related to each other: was this an intentional decision on your part?
Lamberto Bava: Producers Dario Argento and Ferdinando Caputo were far more relaxed with the second movie due to the first doing so well and we had a lot more money to play with. Compared to the first, Demons 2 is a totally different film. Demons was very theatrical in content with its actors screaming all the time. I was way too brutal to them during the making of the movie; on set, I would send them running up and down a staircase to have them breathless before shooting. So when we shot an energetic scene and I wanted them to look exhausted, they were actually panting and out of breath! Both movies are like video clips and music is very important. And I refused to do static camera shots: I always went for dolly shots where possible… I wanted Demons to move fast! Also, Demons was the first ever film in Italy to be processed in Dolby Stereo. For the first time, when the music was not screaming, there would be brief interludes of silence, but in the background, there would were sounds of dripping water and other ambience to create atmosphere and anxiety. And I am also proud to have extended the plot from Demons from where the cinema was the birthplace of evil, to the sequel where the monsters used the medium of television as their portal to invade our world.

Jay Slater: I very much enjoyed your “Middle Earth” Fantaghirò adventures that interestingly predate the Peter Jackson The Lord of the Ring movies. Fantaghirò/Cave of the Golden Rose with the beautiful Alessandra Martines is great fun as is Desideria e l’anello del drago/The Dragon Ring. With regards to the latter, what was it like to work with Franco Nero?
Lamberto Bava: Nero is a BIG actor: one of the most important Italian film actors ever. When I first met Franco for coffee, he told me that he had read the script and loved it. However, he didn’t want to play the small part of a father, he must be the lead, the Dragon King. Franco Nero is someone who loves and lives cinema. When he wasn’t acting in front of the camera, he would sit back and watch the film crew go to work. Franco lives and breathes cinema. He loves it!  

[Jay]

Jay Slater: It has to be said, your films often star very attractive young women such as Anna Falchi in The Dragon Ring and Nicoletta Elmi in Demons as the red-haired usherette, a pencil-figured Siren that oozes sex appeal. Is this a conscious decision? A perk of the job to be the man who decides as to what lovely woman will star in your movie?
Lamberto Bava: Yes, yes, of course! (laughs). But seriously, not really. Elmi was a bambino when she first appeared in Italian horror movies – from Argento’s Profondo rosso/Deep Red to my father’s Reazione a catena/A Bay of Blood where she played the part of a very naughty girl! (Lamberto enjoys a generous sip of Guinness)

Jay Slater: One of your most recent horror films is The Torturer. Judging by the opening credits where naked women are subjected to physical degradation and mutilation, would this be your answer to Eli Roth’s Hostel?
Lamberto Bava: No, not all; it’s all my idea. I really wanted to get to grips with the way to shoot movies digitally. For me, The Torturer is a return to the Italian horror films of the early 1980s where there were a lot of emphasis on extreme violence and splatter such as the movies by Lucio Fulci. I see the film as a remake of all those films of the period. That said, perhaps it’s too much…

Jay Slater: So you think you can go too far with the portrayal of explicit violence?
Lamberto Bava: No, no, no, no! You can’t go too far. But for me, the kind of film that I would like to make is Ghost Son: a suspense and thriller movie. It’s a new way of making horror films without giving up the traditional genre elements. It’s a love story that goes on after life and features an international cast. But it’s not a naughty horror. For me, personally, the horror genre had been transformed after I saw The Sixth Sense: it’s a good film. Also, it’s not a naughty film – it doesn’t scare people but is atmospheric, fantastic and gives people hope that there is life after death. I like to think that Ghost Son is like this. But you need a good cast to pull it off. I did have a great cast such as John Hannah, Pete Postlethwaite, Laura Harring and Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni. They’re very good actors. (Lamberto beams with pride, like the cat that got its cream)

Jay Slater: A little birdie tells me that, after the success of the Master of Horror series, we can expect an Italian Masters of Horror.
Lamberto Bava: I am supposed to make one in early 2007. Do you remember my film, La casa con la scala nel buio/A Blade in the Dark? It’s pretty much a remake but set in today’s setting. I am not too sure who are making other episodes, but I have been told that mine is the first in the Italian Masters of Horror series.     

Jay Slater: Lamberto Bava is incarcerated on a desert island: rescue is not an option. With only one of his movies for company to watch over and over again till the end of days, what would it be?
Lamberto Bava: No! Never! I never watch my movies again. I never go back to them. All the filmmakers I know would remake the films they made as they are never happy with the results. Giuseppe Tornatore, director of Nuovo cinema Paradiso/Cinema Paradiso, said the same thing. If I were to remake a film of mine six months after it were completed, it would be very different; for instance, just to change a main lead can make such a difference to the overall picture.

Jay Slater: Fair point. But this leaves you with no movies to watch. I shall grant you any three movies to take with you. What will they be?
Lamberto Bava: One would be Blade Runner – for sure, one of the three. When I think about it, that’ll be the only one I’d take!

END