Umberto Lenzi

Addio to one of the great Italian genre auteurs - Umberto Lenzi. 

From the sublime (his gialli), to some of the most indefensible trash the Italian film industry ever produced (CANNIBAL FEROX), he tried his hand at just about every genre you can think of, and left his mark on all of them.

During the course of his prolific career, Lenzi lent his talents to sword & sandal epics, westerns, war movies, violent crime, espionage, sex comedies, thrillers and zombies. Along the way he managed to kick off the cannibal cycle with MAN FROM DEEP RIVER, and make one of the most hilariously goofy of the Italian DAWN OF THE DEAD knock-offs in NIGHTMARE CITY.

Like his peer Lucio Fulci, Lenzi epitomised the artistic elasticity that was so essential in keeping the Italian genre industry vital and vibrant throughout its golden years.

Enzo Sciotti

Fulci, Argento, Martino, Soavi, Lenzi, D'Amato, Cozzi and Lamberto Bava.

Enzo Sciotti's violent and carnal paintings have graced the movie posters of all these Italian horror/exploitation giants and more. Although he's best known for the slickly airbrushed, lurid imagery of his 1980s exploitation one sheets, this era represents just a small part of a long career that has produced a staggering 3,000+ posters. His work spans every conceivable genre, and includes artwork for the likes of David Lynch, George Romero and the Coen brothers. The gallery below is a pretty thorough collection of all my faves.

GREEN INFERNO in red

Feast your eyes on Dan Mumford's killer alternate poster for Eli Roth's long-delayed cannibal flick! 

Although an Australian release date is yet to be announced, I'm happy to note that our scissor-happy censors have passed it uncut with an R. Violent horror films rarely get an R here, our most common rating for movies slapped with an R in the States being MA15+. Our R is equivalent to the MPAA's NC-17 (both restricted to 18 and over), and is usually reserved for sexually explicit movies like von Trier's Antichrist.

I love the Italian cannibal cycle, personal faves being Deodato's Last Cannibal World and Cannibal Holocaust (natch); Lenzi's Eaten Alive!; Sergio Martino's slightly softer, more jungle adventure-oriented (albeit with pig fucking) The Mountain of the Cannibal God; and Marino Girolami's deliriously nutty zombie/cannibal hybrid Zombi Holocaust. 

While waiting for Roth's modern gut-muncher to finally splatter across our screens, here's a few more morsels of fresh, still-warm long pig for you to gnaw on. My picks for coolest original one-sheets for each of the aforementioned Italian sickies:

Don't forget to visit Wrong Side of the Art for your fix of original horror, sci-fi and exploitation posters. The most beautiful high-quality scans anywhere on the net!