Private Project

That's la Morte: Italian Cult Cinema and the Years of Lead

'That’s la Morte: Italian Cult Cinema and the Years of Lead' is a new 80 minute documentary that considers how cult and horror film cycles came to reflect wider anxieties within 1970s Italy.

The documentary links such populist releases to the wider social, historical and political tensions within the 'anni di piombo' (or ‘years of lead’). Here, a decade of violent revolt, terrorist activity and militant sexual politics created a context of trauma that impacted on the Italian collective and cinematic consciousness. Some of the memorable markers in this decade included the 1969 Piazza Fontana (Milan) and 1980 (Bologna) bombings by clandestine fascist groups, as well as sustained violent activity by leftist collectives such as The Red Brigades (including their spectacularly tragic kidnapping and murder of Christian Democrat Premier Aldo Moro in 1978). These atrocities (compounded by over 14,000 additional terrorist attacks upon Italian citizens between 1969 and 1983) were systematically reproduced in the popular film templates of the giallo (thriller), rogue cop films and sex comedy cycles that the documentary explores.

'That’s la Morte' combines exclusive interviews with leading Italian filmmakers, performers, composers and screenwriters associated with the years of lead, whilst also containing a range of film and archival materials from this prolific period of production.

  • Xavier Mendik
    Director
    'Tax Shelter Terrors' (2017), 'The Long Road Back From Hell: Reclaiming Cannibal Holocaust' (2010), 'Fear at 400 Degrees: The Cine-Excess of Suspiria' (2009)
  • Alex Marlow-Mann & Xavier Mendik
    Writer
  • Federica Martino
    Producer
  • Guido De Angelis
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Dario Argento
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Barbara Bouchet
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Enzo G. Castellari
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Ruggero Deodato
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Edwige Fenech
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Ernesto Gastaldi
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Massimo Antonio Geleng
    Key Cast
    "As Self"
  • Dr Ruth Glynn
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • George Hilton
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Umberto Lenzi
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Mino Loy
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Dania Martino
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Federica Martino
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Lea Martino
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Sergio Martino
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Claudio Simmonetti
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Michele Massimo Tarantini
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Alvaro Vitali
    Key Cast
    "As Self "
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Cult Film, Horror Cinema, Historical Survey
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 20 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 18, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    22,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    Italy, United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Cine-Excess International Film Festival
    Birmingham
    United Kingdom
    November 8, 2018
    UK Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Wayne State University Popular Culture Conference 2019
    Detroit
    United States
    March 1, 2019
    US Premiere
    Academic Conference Selection
  • Underground Indie Film Festival
    Florida
    United States
    June 22, 2019
    USA Official Festival premiere
    Best Documentary Feature
Distribution Information
  • Cine-Excess
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Xavier Mendik

Xavier Mendik is Professor of Cult Cinema Studies at Birmingham City University, from where he also runs the Cine-Excess International Film Festival (www.cine-excess.co.uk). He is the author/editor/co-editor of nine volumes on cult cinema traditions, including 'Bodies of Desire and Bodies in Distress: The Golden Age of Italian Cult Cinema' (2015), 'Peep Shows: Cult Film and the Cine-Erotic' (2012) and 'The Cult Film Reader' (2008).

Beyond this publication record, Xavier Mendik also has an established profile as a documentary filmmaker, and has created a number of films that explore the social and historical factors behind the cult image. Some of these documentary titles include 'Cabin Fever: Fear Today, Horror Tomorrow' (2004), 'Menstrual Monsters: The Ginger Snaps Trilogy' (2005), 'Fear at 400 Degrees: The Cine-Excess of Suspiria' (2009), 'The Long Road Back From Hell: Reclaiming Cannibal Holocaust' (2010), 'Tax Shelter Terrors: The Real Story of Canadian Cult Cinema' (2017) and 'That’s La Morte: Italian Cult Cinema and the Years of Lead' (2018).

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

One of the things that has always fascinated me as a filmmaker, is the way in which cult film traditions act as a mirror to wider social and historical tensions. Despite their often marginal and maverick status, the cult film canon is now widely acknowledged as being an important historical document that can explore social discontents in a far more radical and challenging way than mainstream films could ever dare. From 1950s American science-fiction movies that charted cold war fears, to apocalyptical 1970s horror films that reflected the counter-cultural clash between differing generations, the concept of ‘taking trash seriously’ has motivated all of the documentary films I have created. Ultimately, it was the need to tell the story of Italy's history of cult cinema, as well as the social and political tensions that spawned a decade of such unsettling movies that drew me to direct the documentary 'That's la Morte'.