Page 131 - Alternative Europe Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945

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MALE M A S O C H I S M , M A L E M O N S T E R S : A N I N T E R V I E W W I T H
GIOVANNI L O M B A R D O R A D I C E

Interview by Patricia MacCormack

Giovanni Lombardo Radice is an extraordinary figure in the Italian horror canon. Because of his
repetitive, elaborate suffering in many of the films in which he appeared, he is something of a pariah
within the horror tradition. This is because his work conttadicts many of the dominant norms of the
genre, where the camera often fixates around images of female suffering. Radice is tortured across
many films, and thus he is recognisable as much for his gruesome ends as for his acting and unusual
look. Far from his neurotic, skinny and often lithe image of the early 1980s, Radice is an imposing
figure, far taller than he appears in the films and now bald, like an Italian Foucault without the
glasses! His extensive experience as a theatre actor and director is evident in his cultured, learned
demeanour.
Radices walls are lined with books and original art. He is a great mimic and performs other people
during the interview with a hilarious clarity. His humour invades each response and he is altogether
precisely opposite to creepy Bob of City of the Living Dead or crazed, racist, sexist and generally

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