Page 134 - Alternative Europe Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945

other directors and had better taste, which finally made him switch from horror to other stuff.
Ha! That says a lot about my taste and what I have chosen to write about...
It seems a bit strange to me that such a refined analysis should be dedicated to a bunch of B-
movies, but by now I learned not to question anymore the reasons for them not to be forgotten!
In the horror films especially, when you are very objectified by the camera, you are very still when
terrible things happen to you. You have to act the impossible. How do you prepare for a drill to go through
your head as in City of the Living Dead?
That is in your eyes and face. There is nothing to do but be very careful - in such instances the
leading actor is the special effects guy.
Did [special effects artist] De Rossi create these particular effects with you in mind— knowingyou would
be in the film? Did he try to make the deaths elaborately violent and graphic?
My relationship with De Rossi was nothing special. I suffered terribly during the creation of my
fake head that was needed for the drill scene in Paura and made clear to him that it was better if he
carefully store the result, because I wasn't going through that ordeal once more. He was a very good
professional, that's for sure. In Cannibal Apocalypse, as a matter of fact, I remember [special effects
assistant] Bombardone (Big Bomb) more than De Rossi, but maybe that's just because Bombardone
was crazy and I was pretty scared to be in his hands. I don't think these scenes imply a great deal of
acting, although Fulci was very impressed in the way I moved my body as Bob, but I refused to wear
the fake hunchback. I did study a way to move my body, for Ricky and for Bob. When I was preparing
Ricky I studied a kind of John Travolta way of walking.
You look very fragile and light in that movie.
He wants to be tough but isn't. As an actor it is always very interesting to study for movies. Even
now I would do horror movies. I like most everything. Of course I prefer Dostoevsky to Fulci!
These films had good people in them, they did the best they could on the budgets available.
The only one I saw over and over was Cannibal Ferox and I can testify I am horrible in that!
My favourite roles you have done are those you have called the neurotic, weak, frail characters - Bob
[City of the Living Dead], Ricky [The House on the Edge of the Park], the characters in Murder in the
Etruscan Cemetery and Deliria. I get uncomfortable that many of your male fans usually like Cannibal
Ferox most but rarely point out the rarity of suffering male bodies in horror, usually focusing on the extreme
images of female mutilation in the film.
I read some commentaries from fans on the internet about how they love Cannibal Ferox so I
wrote something public and published it in the newspaper. I knew it was shit from the beginning.
Lenzi offered me a minor role but I said I wanted the main role.
Compared to some of the other movies in which you have appeared, it's quite a mean film.
At that time I was used to the fact that these movies generally appeared in Rome and Milan for
ten days in September, the lowest point of the season. Vidéocassettes had been invented but in Italy
nobody had one. I thought it was a Weenex movie and if I had known that after twenty years the
movie would be for sale and people would still be watching it I wouldn't have done it.
Is it just that film?
Just that film. The only one, because the others were bearable. Also because it is not rooted in
fantasy. The most stupid and tasteless thing if it is rooted in fantasy is okay. Like the Margheriti film

120