Bruno Mattei

Bruno Mattei
Born
Bruno Mattei

(1931-07-30)30 July 1931
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

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.

Biography

Bruno Mattei was born on 30 July 1931 in Rome, Italy. 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. 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". Some of the earliest films Mattei worked on included Lulu and Tua per la vita. Early film work started in 1956 on Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, after which Mattei worked on several peplum and Eurospy films.

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

Mattei continued working in various other exploitation-themed genres in the 1980s such as zombie films, sex films, peplums, and Vietnam War-themed productions. 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."[full citation needed]

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). The two worked closely together for that ten-year period (collaborating on 15 films), with Fragasso occasionally assuming the role of second unit director.

Mattei was initially attached to direct an adaptation of Hercules from a screenplay by Ricardo Ghione. 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. Neither Mattei, Fragasso, or Morricone appear in onscreen credits. The Hollywood Reporter later stated that principal photography on Hercules began in August 1982 in Italy under the direction of Luigi Cozzi. Mattei later directed Lou Ferrigno in The Seven Magnificent Gladiators.)

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. Mattei's other late-1980s films included Robowar and Shocking Dark - Terminator II (which incorporated elements of other popular science fiction films of the time such as The Terminator and Alien). 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. Many of Mattei's films from the 1990s became harder to find as export releases or home video releases.

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. Paolucci produced most of Mattei's later films, beginning with Dangerous Attraction and ending with Mattei's final film, Zombies: The Beginning. Mattei continued directing films right up until his death. Mattei died in Rome, Italy in a hospital after complications from brain tumour surgery on May 21, 2007, at age 75.

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." 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".

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.

Selected filmography

Note: The films listed as N/A are not necessarily chronological.
Title Year Credited as Notes Ref(s)
Director Writer Editor Other
The Pirate of the Black Hawk 1958 Yes Assistant film editor
The Mighty Crusaders Yes Assistant film editor
The Loves of Salammbo 1960 Yes Assistant film editor
Sexy 1962 Yes
Caesar Against the Pirates Yes Sound mixer
Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules Yes Sound editor
Triumph of the Ten Gladiators 1964 Yes Assistant film editor
Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators Yes
Agent 3S3: Passport to Hell 1965 Yes
Misión en Ginebra 1967 Yes
Goldface, the Fantastic Superman Yes
El magnifico Tony Carrera 1968 Yes
Die Nichten der Frau Oberst [de] Yes
99 Women 1969 Yes
Yellow: le cugine Yes
Count Dracula 1970 Yes
Armida, il Dramma di Una Sposa Yes
Emanuelle's Revenge 1975 Yes Yes uncredited co-director
Cuginetta, amore mio! Yes Yes
SS Girls 1977 Yes Yes
Women's Camp 119 1977 Yes Yes
Sexy Night Report Yes Yes
Emanuelle e le Porno Notti nel Mondo N.2 1978 Yes
Cicciolina amore mio Yes
Sexual Aberration: Sesso Perverso Yes
Sesso perverso, mondo violento 1980 Yes
La provinciale a lezione di sesso 1980 Yes
The True Story of the Nun of Monza 1980 Yes
Hell of the Living Dead 1980 Yes
The Other Hell 1981 Yes Yes
Caligula and Messalina 1981 Yes Yes Yes
Nero and Poppea - An Orgy of Power 1982 Yes
Violence in a Women's Prison 1982 Yes
Women's Prison Massacre 1983 Yes
The Seven Magnificent Gladiators 1983 Yes Yes
Rats: Night of Terror 1984 Yes Yes
Hanna D. - The Girl from Vondel Park 1984 Yes Yes co-director
White Apache 1986 Yes Yes
Scalps 1987 Yes Yes
Strike Commando 1987 Yes Yes
Double Target 1987 Yes Yes
Zombi 3 1988 Yes Yes
Appointment in Trieste Yes Made for television
Strike Commando 2 Yes
Robowar Yes
Cop Game Yes
After Death Yes As co-producer
Born to Fight Yes co-directed with Claudio Fragasso
Shocking Dark - Terminator II 1989 Yes
Desire Yes
Three For One Yes
Dangerous Attraction Yes Yes
Madness 1994 Yes Yes Yes
Omicidio al telefono Yes Yes Yes
Legitimate Vendetta Yes Yes
Cruel Jaws 1995 Yes Yes Yes
Ljuba: Body and Soul Yes
A Respectable Judge Yes
Belle da morire: Killing Striptease Yes [clarification needed]
The Other Woman Yes
Venetian Caprice Yes
Snuff Trap Yes
Mondo Cannibale: Cannibal World Yes
In the Land of the Cannibals Yes
The Tomb Yes Yes
Killing Striptease II Yes
A Shudder on the Skin Yes
Secrets of a Woman Yes
Secrets of a Woman II Yes
Orient Escape Yes
The Jail: The Women's Hell Yes Yes
Island of the Living Dead Yes Yes [citation needed]
Zombies: The Beginning 2007 Yes Yes

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