About a year ago, we posted two promo teasers for the upcoming Italian horror movie Morituris.
None of the footage shot for the teasers will be in the actual movie, but it has helped to create quite a buzz behind the scenes.
In early February (thanks to director Raffaele Picchio and producer/screenwriter Gianluigi Perrone) I had the chance to see an early rough-cut of the movie. Obviously there was still a lot of stuff missing, like the prologue, an animated credit sequence (which will be an integral part in some of the characters' backstory), at least two major scenes, some special effect shots and, of course, all of the post-production. But it was enough to get an idea where the movie was going and, to tell the truth, I was totally blown away. You've seen nothing like that coming from Italy in ... well, in a very, very long time.
"Rome. 73 B.C. .Spartacus led the rebellion of 200 gladiators which saw them opposed to the inhumanity which Rome had forced them into. During the riot they resisted for a long time against Roman soldiers. Few against a whole army. Some of them went crazy and started murders, rapes and violence. Spartacus punished them with death. But in those Lands, when blood gets shed, they come back..."
In short, it's a sort of a peplum-slasher (probably the first of its kind), but the approach resembles a lot that of the recent French new wave of horror movies. If you liked those flicks, you will probably like this one too. Sure, there will be some gore, even if not the the ultra-splatter of Martyrs or Frontier(s), but it will have the same dark and grim tone of those movies.
Then in April I got invited to see the last week of shooting (principal photography took place in the Summer of 2008). The actual filming location, called "La Città Morta" (the dead city) is an old abandoned Etruscan site, about 40 minutes from Rome. Now, with this being a week of night shooting the crew started around 7 p.m and continued till morning. And let me say, it gets cold out there in the woods (especially when you're just hanging around, pretending to be on the job), but not as cold as for one of the leading actresses, who was running around naked half of the time.
Anybody who has been on a movie set knows that there are a lot of "dead moments" between takes, therefore I had the chance to talk with some of the crew members and learn a little bit more about how the movie was made. Actually, Morituris is one of the first Italian movies ever to be shot with a Red Digital Camera or Red One (a new technology in high resolution, the same used in Lars Von Trier's Antichrist). I'm not the greatest fan of digital, but seeing the results, I have to admit it looks pretty good and, as I was told, it is easy to work and takes away a lot of trouble in the stages of post-production.
The director of photography and his crew are well-known in Italy for their recent work on Italian Sitcom Boris, a show acclaimed by critics and audience alike. I would even say that it is the best Italian television series ever, but that's me. Anyway, they did some real fine work on Morituris and I think that audiences will be impressed by the result, when the movie hits the screens.
Post-production has just started, so it is likely to be released at the end of 2009.
As soon as there is any more news, you'll be the first to know.
Fasten your seatbelts, my friends, 'cause Italy is finally going to strike back ... with a vengeance.
The Dude abides ...
[Images by paolotangari-imagegarden.it]