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Movie theaterDeath of Ruggero Deodato, director of “Cannibal Holocaust”
The Italian filmmaker left his mark on horror cinema at the end of the 1970s. He died on December 29 at the age of 83.
Ruggero Deodato’s work has influenced directors like Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth.
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Italian screenwriter and director Ruggero Deodato died on December 29 at the age of 83, the daily Il Post announced. He had shot nearly 25 films, including the sulphurous “Cannibal Holocaust”.
This feature film released in 1980 following a first attempt by Deodato in horror cinema (“The Last Cannibal World”, 1977) was a real shock for an entire generation. “Cannibal Holocaust” recounts the expedition in the Amazon jungle of a team of journalists in search of cannibals. When the troop no longer gives any sign of life, a rescue team is sent. She finds the video cassettes which contain the terrible secret of their disappearance.
The images are extremely violent and allegedly made without special effects. If the animal slaughter scenes are indeed real – and caused the film to be banned in Italy – many believed that the humans killed in the film were also real. Ruggero Deodato was even summoned by the Italian courts to prove that the special effects of “Cannibal Holocaust”, such as the special effects used for the scene of the woman impaled by a piece of wood, were special effects and that the actors were real actors. .
The poster for “Cannibal Holocaust”, a film that has been banned in around 60 countries.
imago images/Everett Collection
He influenced Tarantino and Eli Roth
Ruggero Deodato inherited the nickname “Mister Cannibal”. And his work has influenced directors like Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth. The latter two also paid tribute to him by asking him to play a cameo in “Hostel II” (2007). He played an Italian cannibal there. “The Green Inferno” (2013) by Eli Roth is also a tribute to “Cannibal Holocaust”. It is also the title of the documentary filmed by the film crew in “Cannibal Holocaust”.
Ruggero Deodato began as an assistant to Roberto Rossellini (“Le Général de la Rovere”) or Sergio Corbucci (notably on the famous “Django”). Among his films as a director, we can mention “Amazonia: the white jungle” (1985), “Body Count” (1986) and “The Barbarians” (1987), a real nanar. We also owe him the series “I ragazzi del muretto”, strong of 52 episodes between 1991 and 1996.
His last feature film, “Ballad in Blood”, dates from 2016.