Upon returning from the first Fantasy Horror Awards in Orvieto, Italy, Federico Zampaglione, director of SHADOW (see exclusive pics below), invited Fango to stay at his Roman penthouse. On entering this wonderful complex, two sights greeted this writer’s eyes that made it clear this was a match made in heaven: Lucio Fulci’s THE BEYOND and poliziotteschi were prominent in Zampaglione’s DVD collection, and a welcoming pizzeria was situated across the road. The filmmaker then sat down to discuss SHADOW, which opens theatrically in Italy this Friday, May 14, and give us the scoop on his new project.

Also the founder of Tiromancino, a cult folk/electronic band with nine albums released so far, Zampaglione (pictured above with SHADOW co-star Karina Testa) is a genuinely nice guy who loves the genre. “SHADOW is a film made by a horror fan for horror fans,” he tells Fango. “In other words, I have made a film that I would like to watch. In this sense, I was not interested by the business part of moviemaking, as my goal was to have fun doing it. With SHADOW, I wanted the audience to feel really uncomfortable and to lose their sense of direction throughout the entire movie. It was to be truly suspenseful and unpredictable with some very nasty moments. SHADOW is mean, tricky, tense, unpleasant and a truly malevolent mix. In a nutshell, an exciting film for Fango readers!” he laughs.

Zampaglione admits that he was inspired by Italy’s glorious genre past, intending to craft a modern film that nonetheless plays in the sandbox established by Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino, Umberto Lenzi et al. The result, which he scripted with his brother Domenico and Giacomo Gensini, is the nasty, bloodthirsty and wicked story of David (BORDERLAND’s Jake Muxworthy), a soldier who sets off on a mountain-biking trip through Europe after a tour in Iraq. In the course of his journey, he encounters first the lovely Angeline (Testa, from FRONTIER(S)), and then some significantly less friendly hunters and a grotesque butcher called Mortis (Nuot Arqunit). The movie recently screened at Texas Frightmare Weekend and has two showings set for Cannes this month, in addition to its big-screen play at home. Zampaglione and his team are set to tour the country this month in a special horror bus to support the film—for which more than 150 35mm prints have been struck. That’s one for every city—not bad at all for a native production in a country where the fright genre is considered all but dead.

In the meantime, Zampaglione confirms that he is now writing MOULD, a new horror project with justifiably high expectations. “I want to pay as much attention as possible to the script in order to craft the best story,” Zampaglione says. “Every single detail has to be meaningful and potent. I want to be really scared by my own script! It’s one of the most decadent love stories ever made, and is also going to be really disturbing and emotional. Let the terror play!” Fango can’t wait! You can find out more about SHADOW, for which Jinga Films is handling international sales, at its official website.

 

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