Joe D'Amato

Joe D'Amato
Born
Aristide Massaccesi

(1936-12-15)15 December 1936
Rome, Kingdom of Italy
Died23 January 1999(1999-01-23) (aged 62)
Other namesSee below
Occupations
  • Film director
  • film producer
  • cinematographer
  • screenwriter
  • actor
Years active1961–1999
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)

Aristide Massaccesi (15 December 1936 – 23 January 1999), known professionally as Joe D'Amato, was an Italian film director, producer, cinematographer, and screenwriter who worked in many genres (westerns, decamerotici, peplum, war films, swashbuckler, comedy, fantasy, postapocalyptic film, and erotic thriller) but is best known for his horror, erotic and adult films.

D'Amato worked in the 1950s as electric and set photographer, in the 1960s as camera operator, and from 1969 onwards as cinematographer. Starting in 1972, he directed and co-directed around 200 films under numerous pseudonyms, regularly acting as cinematographer as well.[citation needed] Starting in the early 1980s, D'Amato produced many of his own and other directors' genre films through the companies he founded or co-founded, the best known being Filmirage. From 1979 to 1982 and from 1993 to 1999, D'Amato also produced and directed about 120 adult films.

Among his best known erotic films are his five entries into the Black Emanuelle series of films starring Laura Gemser (1976–1978) and his horror/pornography crossover films Erotic Nights of the Living Dead and Porno Holocaust (both shot in Santo Domingo in 1979). In the horror genre, he is above all remembered for his films Beyond the Darkness (1979) and Antropophagus (1980), which have gained cult status, as well as Absurd (1981).

Biography

Early life and work (1936–1969)

Joe D'Amato was born on 15 December 1936 in Rome, Italy. His father was Renato Massaccesi, who after an incident on a ship had been declared a war invalid and had started to work at the Istituto Luce in Rome first as electrician, fixing power generators left by the United States army at Cinecittà, and then as chief photographic technician. In 1950, at the age of 14, D'Amato joined his father at work together with his brothers Carlo and Fernando (called Nando). Being the most enterprising of the three sons, D'Amato took on the task of delivering the movie cameras his father sold. D'Amato also assisted in the dubbing of Italian film productions and designed title and end credits with Eugenio Bava, cutting the letters out by hand. In 1952, D'Amato worked as a still photographer on the set of The Golden Coach, later as electric. In the 1960s, D'Amato eventually moved on to work as a camera operator on numerous films including Mario Bava's Hercules in the Haunted World.

First work as cinematographer and director (1969–1975)

In 1969, Piero Livi's Pelle di bandito and Silvio Amadio's No Man's Island (Italian: L'Isola delle Svedesi) were D'Amato's first films as cinematographer. In the next few years, D'Amato continued to work as cinematographer on Italian productions such as Umberto Lenzi's A Quiet Place to Kill, Massimo Dallamano's What Have You Done to Solange? and some of Demofilo Fidani's low-budget Spaghetti Westerns.

D'Amato took on the role of director for the first time in 1972. He started out with a number of small western films (Go Away! Trinity Has Arrived in Eldorado and A Bounty Killer in Trinity) and decamerotici (More Sexy Canterbury Tales and Novelle licenziose di vergini vogliose) which he partly directed, partly co-directed before going on to direct the gothic horror film Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973) and the war film Heroes in Hell (1974), both starring Klaus Kinski. D'Amato briefly relinquished directing and reverted to cinematography in films such as Luigi Batzella's The Devil's Wedding Night, Steve Carver's The Arena and five films directed by Alberto De Martino: Crime Boss, The Killer Is on the Phone, Counselor at Crime, The Antichrist, and – two years later – Strange Shadows in an Empty Room. When D'Amato was in Canada shooting a sleigh ride sequence for Lucio Fulci's Challenge to White Fang, the film's producer Ermanno Donati asked him to stay and direct the adventure film Red Coats for him, in which D'Amato used the pseudonym "Joe D'Amato" for the first time. It turned a good profit, and D'Amato later considered it his best film in this period.

First films with Laura Gemser and the Black Emanuelle series (1975–1977)

D'Amato's next film Emanuelle's Revenge (1975), which he co-directed with Bruno Mattei (who remains uncredited because D'Amato was a "rising name"), was one of several films at the time whose titles alluded to the successful French erotic film Emmanuelle (1974). In retrospect, it was a kind of turning point in D'Amato's career, being his first pornographic film – though still softcore.

In his next film, the commedia sexy Voto di castità (1976, scripted by George Eastman), D'Amato met Laura Gemser, who would star in many of his films and in the 1980s and early 1990s would also regularly work as costume designer for his productions. In this first film, she only played the small part of a French maid, but it was during the shoot that D'Amato got the idea to use her as star in his next film.

Eva nera was the exotic erotic drama which D'Amato directed starring Gemser as topless snake dancer alongside Jack Palance and Gabriele Tinti – her future husband. The film was produced by Harry Alan Towers and Lucio Fulcisano and shot both on location in Hong Kong and at the Elios Studios near Rome.

Gemser, who had previously starred in Bitto Albertini's Black Emanuelle (1975), went on to shoot the following five films of the Black Emanuelle series under D'Amato's direction. (Albertini, on the other hand, had to find a new actress for his own Black Emanuelle 2 (1976) – a sequel only in name.) Although the main character's name in the Black Emanuelle series alluded to the original French Emmanuelle, it was spelled slightly differently in order to avoid a plagiarism lawsuit. Also, the character itself is different: Black Emanuelle is an international reporter and photographer who travels to exotic locations. D'Amato added some violence and horror to the series such as the fake snuff film footage in Emanuelle in America, a gang rape scene in Emanuelle Around the World (1977), and gore scenes in the cannibal film Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals. As D'Amato later remembered, this "was a very good period in my life. Movie business was very good. We travelled round the world, finding new and fascinating locations for our movies."

The Caribbean phase (1978–1979)

Of the 12 films D'Amato directed in 1978 and 1979, 9 were shot in the Dominican Republic. In a 1982 interview, he said that once the trip was paid for, the costs were low and the setting suggestive ("the Caribbean... all for free"; Italian: "i Caraibi... tutto gratis").

The first time D'Amato went to Santo Domingo was in May 1978 for the erotic horror film Papaya, Love Goddess of the Cannibals. He returned there in September to shoot the mercenaries-at-war film Tough to Kill.

In mid-October 1978, back in Italy, D'Amato started shooting the nunsploitation film Images in a Convent, and in early 1979, which was to become a particularly productive year, he directed the violent erotic thriller Il porno shop della settima strada (The Pleasure Shop on Seventh Avenue) on location in New York, both films produced by Franco Gaudenzi's company Kristal Film. From late June to early July 1979, D'Amato went to South Tyrol to shoot and direct the horror film Buio Omega starring Kieran Canter and Cinzia Monreale, a remake of Mino Guerrini's The Third Eye produced by Dario Rossetti and Ermanno Donati with music by Goblin.

Immediately afterwards, D'Amato went back to Santo Domingo to film Paradiso blu, an Italian counterpart to The Blue Lagoon starring Anna Bergman and Lucia Ramirez, and the voodoo-themed Orgasmo nero (Sex and Black Magic) starring Ramirez, Susan Scott and Richard Harrison, before directing two films combining hardcore pornography and horror – Porno Holocaust and Le notti erotiche dei morti viventi (Erotic Nights of the Living Dead) – as well as three adult thrillers: Hard Sensation, Porno Esotic Love and Sesso Nero. For Porno Esotic Love, D'Amato reused material from Eva nera (1976), especially those scenes D'Amato had shot with Laura Gemser in Hong Kong. (Eva nera had done very poorly at the Italian box office and therefore was still relatively unknown.)

First work as producer (1979–1982)

The voodoo-themed Sesso nero, written by George Eastman, was the last film D'Amato shot in the Caribbean, at the end of 1979, and the first film D'Amato produced on his own, through his newly founded company, P.C.M. (Produzioni Cinematografiche Massaccesi). Of the Caribbean group of films it received the earliest theatrical release – the films only being released gradually throughout 1980 and 1981.

After his return from the Caribbean, D'Amato also co-founded Filmirage and used the companies to produce and direct the gore film Antropophagus (1980, produced through P.C.M. and Filmirage) and its follow-up, the slasher film Absurd (1981, co-produced by Filmirage and Metaxa), both of which starred George Eastman and later became cult films for fans of extreme cinema.

D'Amato also founded and co-founded two further production companies "Cinema 80" and "M.A.D." (an acronym for [Aristide] Massaccesi, Alessandroni, and [Donatella] Donati) on 15 January 1980 and 9 January 1981, respectively. For M.A.D., Alessandroni, an engineer, provided the funding, while his son acted as producer on set. Donatella Donati, the daughter of Ermanno Donati, became D'Amato's assistant and constant collaborator, usually acting as production secretary and assistant director.

The two companies were the main vehicles for D'Amato's film production of this period. From 1980 until 1982, D'Amato produced 14 hardcore pornographic films through both companies (Cinema 80: 9 films, M.A.D.: 5), 10 of which he directed and lensed himself, while 3 of the films (Blue erotic climax, Labbra vogliose and Le porno investigatrici) were directed by Claudio Bernabei. Officially, Bernabei was both executive manager and director, his pseudonym Alexander (or Alexandre) Borsky being used for almost all directorial credits although the films were for the most part directed by D'Amato personally, who was only given credit in the non-committal phrase "a Joe D'Amato film" (Italian: un film di Joe D'Amato) used for marketing purposes. The reason for this lay in avoiding one of two criminal charges per film since the state only charged the executive manager of the company and the director; them being the same person, only one charge was brought forth. One notable exception was Porno video (1981; sometimes: Pornovideo), which was directed entirely by Giuliana Gamba (under the pseudonym Therese Dunn); it was the first film D'Amato produced for another director – a practice he would start expanding six years later in his Filmirage period. Il succo del sesso (1982; a punning title which can mean both "The Essence of Sex" and "The Juice of Sex") was the only film of this period that was directed but not produced by D'Amato, being a "Promo Film" production of Giovanni Perrucci's.

The average Cinema 80 or M.A.D. film cost 55 million lire, was shot in 10 days, edited over a period of two months, and had a generic title such as Super climax, Super hard love or Voglia di sesso (literally: Lust for Sex). A group of three films produced through Cinema 80 stands out. In 1981, building on Tinto Brass's Caligula (1979), D'Amato produced, shot and directed Caligula... The Untold Story in both a hardcore and a softcore version, starring David Brandon, Laura Gemser and Gabriele Tinti. It recounted the final days of the Roman Emperor Caligula and was followed by two purely hardcore pornographic films – Una vergine per l'impero romano and Messalina orgasmo imperiale – in which D'Amato reused sets and costumes from the first film, albeit on a significantly lower budget. The three films were signed by D'Amato as director under different pseudonyms and released separately in December 1982, May 1983 and July 1983. They have been called his "porno-peplum trilogy".

Messalina orgasmo imperiale (shot in 1982) also happened to be the last film of this period. Another hardcore film that D'Amato originally intended to shoot himself for producer Riccardo Billy in co-production with a Chinese company, Love in Hong Kong (1983, starring Mark Shannon and Marianne Aubert), ended up being entirely delegated to his assistant Bernabei for lack of time, who directed the film on location in Hong Kong. It survives only in a truncated softcore version.

The Filmirage years (1982–1993)

In 1980, D'Amato had taken over a company from producer Ermanno Donati. D'Amato had renamed the company to "Filmirage" and used it to produce his own and, from 1987 onwards, also other directors' films for the international market.

In 1982, D'Amato used Filmirage to produce, shoot and direct the first film of the Ator series: Ator l'invincibile (Ator, the Fighting Eagle) starring Miles O'Keeffe and Sabrina Siani, which was directly inspired by Conan the Barbarian. It was followed by Ator 2 - L'invincibile Orion (English titles: The Blade Master and Cave Dwellers) the following year, in which O'Keefe was flanked by Lisa Foster.

In 1983 and 1984, D'Amato produced and shot the post-apocalyptic action films Endgame (1983) starring Al Cliver, George Eastman, Laura Gemser and Gordon Mitchell, which D'Amato directed alone, and 2020 Texas Gladiators (1984) starring Al Cliver and Sabrina Siani, which D'Amato co-directed with George Eastman. The films follow the success of Mad Max (1979) and Mad Max 2 (1981).

In 1984 and early 1985, D'Amato briefly reactivated his company M.A.D. to produce 10 hardcore pornographic films, all of which were directed by Luca Damiano and starred Marina Hedman. D'Amato is reported to have collaborated on some of these himself as well, although it remains speculative in which function and on which ones. Later in 1985 D'Amato left hardcore pornography behind and for a period of eight years exclusively shot softcore and horror films. According to an interview D'Amato gave in 1990, hardcore, as opposed to softcore, had only been profitable the first four years in the late 1970s and early 1980s while the novelty and controversy lasted.

D'Amato began this hardcore-free period by directing four softcore dramas set during fascism in Italy and starring Lilli Carati and Laura Gemser: L'alcova (The Alcove), Il piacere (The Pleasure), Lussuria (A Lustful Mind), and Voglia di guardare (Midnight Gigolo). The four films recall the style and themes of Tinto Brass's La chiave (The Key) while their plots and characters are not interconnected in any way.

Together with Harry Alan Towers, D'Amato co-produced Warrior Queen (working title: Pompeii), shot in 1985 at the Elios Studios near Rome to cash in on the success of the miniseries The Last Days of Pompeii (1984). It was a sword-and-sandal film starring Sybil Danning, Donald Pleasence and David Brandon and was directed by Chuck Vincent. In an interview, Larry Revene, Vincent's usual cinematographer, remembered that he worked on the sync sound for this film instead, because "Aristide shot it. He wasn't only a director/producer, he was also a cameraman." In the United States, the film had a brief theatrical run in a cut R rated version before being released in a longer version on video.

There followed a phase in which D'Amato directed softcore films predominantly in the United States, often takes on popular American films. First, he went to New Orleans to produce and shoot two films starring Jessica Moore as the novelist Sarah Asproon: 11 Days, 11 Nights (1987) and Top Model (1988). 11 Days, 11 Nights was inspired by Adrian Lyne's film 9½ Weeks but reversed the roles with the woman being the dissolute character; it was a commercial success. In 1989, D'Amato's main actress was Valentine Demy with whom he produced and directed Afternoon and Dirty Love, the latter reminiscent of another of Adrian Lyne's films, Flashdance. After these, D'Amato produced and directed two erotic dramas with Tara Buckman: Blue Angel Cafe and High Finance Woman.

Beyond producing his own softcore films, D'Amato also used Filmirage to produce other directors' films: Michele Soavi's debut Stage Fright (which was also the debut of D'Amato's son Daniele Massaccesi as assistant cameraman), Deran Serafian's Interzone, Umberto Lenzi's Ghosthouse (La casa 3) and Hitcher In The Dark, Fabrizio Laurenti's Witchery (La casa 4) and The Crawlers (Troll 3), George Eastman's Metamorphosis, Claudio Fragasso's Troll 2 and Beyond Darkness (La casa 5), Franco Molé's The Room of Words, and Lucio Fulci's Door to Silence. D'Amato not only produced, but also partially directed the horror film Killing Birds and but for the first scene directed the sharksploitation drama Deep Blood.

At the beginning of the 1990s, D'Amato revisited his Ator series with a concluding entry entitled Quest for the Mighty Sword, featuring the Son of Ator. Then, he revived the character of Sarah Asproon in 11 Days, 11 Nights 2, this time played by Kristine Rose and again set in New Orleans. With Rose as protagonist, D'Amato also directed Passion's Flower, a remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice, before shooting two softcore films starring Carmen di Pietro in 1991, both with a more violent angle than the preceding ones: Devil in the Flesh follows a group of mercenaries who encounter some nurses at an isolated hospital, and Dangerous Obsession tells of a woman who turns the tables on her assailant. After these, D'Amato directed Frankenstein 2000 (1992), his last horror film, which combined a modern take on the traditional Frankenstein story with elements of the rape and revenge film.

In 1993, inspired by the success of the Chinese erotic comedy Sex and Zen (1991), D'Amato then went to the Philippines to shoot a number of Asian themed softcore films, for which he often used Chinese pseudonyms. Among them are such diverse films as Chinese Kamasutra, China and Sex and I racconti della camera rossa (translation: The Tales of the Red Chamber; named after China's classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber), the latter two structurally and thematically reminiscent of Italian decamerotici.

Later work and death (1993–1999)

Later in 1993, D'Amato went back to predominantly producing and directing hardcore pornography. In order to return to adult filmmaking more easily, D'Amato initially teamed up with Luca Damiano, with whom he shot roughly 20 films before continuing on his own. Although video had become the standard for adult films, D'Amato continued to shoot on 35mm film for a few years before finally transitioning to video for his last productions in 1997 and 1998 – a development which he saw critically: When shooting on video, there was little difference between the individual films in terms of profit, which helped minimise production risk, but the overall profit and hence the quality of the individual productions that were shot on video were lower compared to productions shot on film. The crew on an early 35mm shoot such as Juliet & Romeo had been much larger, including lighting staff, camera assistants, make-up artists, and set decorators; dubbing was done in post-production.

Among D'Amato's best known films from this late hardcore period are his collaborations with Rocco Siffredi (Tarzan X – Shame of Jane, Marco Polo, Marquis de Sade, Torero) and Kelly Trump (Messalina, Kamasutra, Lolita), his pornographic versions of Shakespearean drama (Juliet & Romeo, Anthony and Cleopatra, Othello 2000), westerns (Outlaws, Calamity Jane), swashbucklers (Raiders), the Bible (Sodom & Gamorra), Greco-Roman mythology (Olympus, Amor & Psyche, Ulysses, Hercules – A Sex Adventure), Roman emperors (Nero – Orgy of Fire, Caligula – The Deviant Emperor) and other famous people (Robin Hood, Goya, Amadeus Mozart, Thief of Love – Giacomo Casanova, Rudy – Valentino's story, Scarface). Two recurring actresses in his films from 1996 to 1999 were Selen (Raw & Naked, Queen of the Elephants, Sahara, and Selen the Girl from Treasure Island) and Éva Henger, with whom he shot the time travel films Experiences and Experiences 2, a trilogy on the capital sins, Phantom (using footage from the silent film The Phantom of the Opera), and Showgirl. Whereas D'Amato's adult films were very rarely without a plot entirely, D'Amato stated in a 1997 interview that one had used to include more plot whereas now the only thing they wanted was porn – and very hard one at that: "double, triple, quadruple penetrations, anal ...".

In between shooting adult films from 1994 to 1999, D'Amato also made efforts at returning to genre films, four of which came to fruition. In 1995, he directed the erotic drama Provocation set in the Italian countryside of the 1930s starring Erika Savastani, and in 1997 the erotic comedy Top Girl set in and around an American TV station and the erotic thriller The Hyena starring Cinzia Roccaforte, which received a limited theatrical release in Italy. In 1998, D'Amato directed the swashbuckler I predatori delle Antille (aka Sexy Pirates), starring Anita Rinaldi.

On 23 January 1999, Joe D'Amato died of a heart attack in Monterotondo, a comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. According to Luigi Cozzi, his death happened unexpectedly while he was busy preparing a new film. His last film was the adult film Showgirl (1999), a take on Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls (1995).

Names under which D'Amato is credited

Birthname

Throughout his career, D'Amato used his birthname Aristide Massaccesi only once for a directorial credit, namely for Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973). However, it was regularly used for other credits. For his first work as camera operator, it was the only name he was credited with, and as cinematographer, writer of stories and scriptwriter, he credited himself or was credited with it regularly until the early 1980s.

Pseudonyms

The first pseudonyms used by Aristide Massaccesi were his actor's credits in the Spaghetti Westerns Straniero... fatti il segno della croce! (1968) and Dead Men Don't Make Shadows (1970), for which he used puns on his birthname: Ariston Massachusetts and Arizona Massachusset, respectively.

His best known pseudonym is the anglicized Joe D'Amato, which he first adopted as director of Giubbe Rosse (1975). In 1991, D'Amato stated he had discovered the name in some calendar and chosen to use it because it sounded promising: In its mixture of American and Italian, it was similar to those of Brian de Palma and Martin Scorsese. Joe D'Amato became the name Massaccesi was most associated with, even more than his birth name. D'Amato used this main pseudonym of his exclusively for credits as producer and director and not for credits as cinematographer or writer.[citation needed]

The pseudonym Federiko Slonisko, sometimes also spelled Federico Slonisco or any mixture of these two spellings (including the short form Fred and several other mis- or variant spellings), was regularly used for D'Amato's work as cinematographer starting in 1982.

The pseudonyms Federico Slonisco Jr. and Dan Slonisko (including variant spellings) are also sometimes considered to belong to D'Amato. However, D'Amato's son Daniele, a camera operator and cinematographer, started his career working for his father.

The pseudonym Michael Wotruba was used as D'Amato's directorial credit on:

This pseudonym is also to be found as directorial credit for Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973) in the entry at Public Cinematographic Register, but was later changed to D'Amato's birthname for the release.

David Hills was used by D'Amato as directorial pseudonym on the following films:

David Hills was also used as directorial credit on an early announcement of Deep Blood (1989), but was exchanged by the allonym Raf Donato for the official release. As producer, D'Amato used this pseudonym on Troll 2 and Interzone.

For the last two films of D'Amato's "porno-peplum trilogy", Una vergine per l'impero and Messalina orgasmo imperiale (both released 1983), D'Amato used Dirk Frey as cinematographer and Robert Hall and O.J. Clarke as director, respectively.

The directorial credit of Il succo del sesso (1983), which D'Amato directed, reads Gilbert Damiano - an allusion to Gerard Damiano.

The pseudonym Peter Newton was used for D'Amato's credit as cinematographer on Paradiso blu (1980) and his directorial credit on Absurd (1981). For the latter, he also used Richard Haller for his credits as cinematographer and co-producer. Kevin Mancuso was used for the directorial credit on 2020 Texas Gladiators (1982); D'Amato co-directed the film with George Eastman so it can be considered a pseudonym for both Eastman and D'Amato. D'Amato used the name Dario Donati as director and editor on Convent of Sinners (1986) and as director on Delizia (1986).

The female pseudonym Joan Russell was used for D'Amato's directorial credit on Una tenera storia (1992). It was also used not for D'Amato, but for Donatella Donati and Antonio Tentori as story and screenwriting credit in Frankenstein 2000 (1992), which D'Amato produced and directed.

For his oriental films of 1993, D'Amato used a number of new pseudo-oriental pseudonyms. For I racconti della camera rossa he used Robert Yip as director, Lim Seng Yee as scenarist and Boy Tan Bien as cinematographer. For Chinese kamasutra he signed with the pseudonyms Chang Lee Sun (director), Fu Shen (scenarist) and Hsu Hsien (cinematographer). And for Il labirinto dei sensi, he signed his scenario with Leslie Wong while using Joe D'Amato and Federico Slonsiko for the directorial and cinematographic credits respectively.

Allonyms

An allonym is distinguished from a pseudonym in that it is the given name or pseudonym of a different person from the one who should be credited.

Romano Gastaldi, the pseudonym of Romano Scandariato, was used for the directorial credit on More Sexy Canterbury Tales (1972), which D'Amato directed while Scandariato was his assistant director, and for Fra' Tazio da Velletri (1973), which D'Amato left after a disagreement soon after the beginning of the shoot; Scandariato, his assistant, finished the film and was credited.

Oskar Faradine, the pseudonym of Oscar Santaniello, was used for the directorial credit on A Bounty Killer in Trinity. The film was reportedly directed by D'Amato and Santaniello was the film's producer. Lupi, however, in his monograph on D'Amato argues on qualitative grounds for Santaniello as actual director.

Anna Bergman's name was also used for the directorial credit on Paradiso blu (1980). Bergman was the main actress, but D'Amato directed the film. Her name was used for the directorial credit because, according to Luigi Cozzi, the producer did not want it to be seen as an erotic film (for which D'Amato was already known at the time).

Alexandre Borsky, sometimes spelled Alexander or Borski, was the pseudonym of Claudio Bernabei. Bernabei stated in an interview that he created it with Walerian Borowczyk's name in mind. The Borsky pseudonym was used as directorial credit for 14 of the 15 films produced by D'Amato's companies M.A.D. and Cinema 80 from 1980 to 1982. Of these 14 films, Bernabei directed 3, D'Amato 11. In 1993 and 1994, D'Amato briefly reactivated this name as directorial credit for a small number of adult films starring Luana Borgia which he directed while transitioning from softcore to hardcore again. According to an interview he gave in 1995, it was to camouflage his return.

Lucky Faar (or Farr) Delly, sometimes wrongly listed as a pseudonym of Joe D'Amato, was in reality the pseudonym of Luciano Fardelli, who acted as administrator of D'Amato's production company M.A.D. in 1984 and 1985. It was used as directorial credit for 10 films directed by Franco Lo Cascio; it is unclear in which of these films D'Amato acted as co-director.

Raf Donato, a variant of Raffaele Donato's name, was used for the directorial credit on Deep Blood (1989). According to D'Amato, Donato had planned to direct the film, but only directed the first scene. D'Amato directed the rest of the film.

Personality

According to the actresses who worked with him, D'Amato was sociable, humorous with a sense of irony, amiable, and supportive; to some he appeared like a father. Both Laura Gemser, with whom he worked together for a long time, and Monica Zanchi pointed out his adventurous and playful approach to filmmaking.

Gemser also remembered that D'Amato rarely got angry, and that when it happened he usually took it with irony; when deeply angered, however, he would shout and curse and become insufferable. She also recalled that, much like herself, D'Amato fell asleep easily and anywhere, even in the breaks between rehearsals. Donatella Donati, his regular assistant since the mid-1970s, recalled this penchant as his biggest flaw; in Cannes, she once found him asleep on the office floor.

Legacy

Screenings

In 1995, Joe D'Amato was a special guest at the London film festival "Eurofest" which took place at the Everyman Cinema, Hampstead, where he gave an onstage interview to Mark Ashworth inbetween screenings of Stage Fright, Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, and Frankenstein 2000 – the latter a world premiere, followed by a signing session. Parts of the interview can be found on the Severin DVD release of Emanuelle in Bangkok.

Posthumously, on 14 April 2006, the Cinémathèque Française in Paris screened a D'Amato double feature from newly acquired theatrical prints under the title Le sang et la chair (translation: The Blood and the Flesh), consisting of Antropophagus and Le sexe noir (both 1980).

The Joe D'Amato Horror Festival, under the art direction of Paolo Ruffini, was held for the first time in Pietrasanta in April 2007. It took place a second time in October and November 2014 in Livorno, moderated by Antonio Tentori. Among the guests was D'Amato's son Daniele Massaccesi, who said that it had been above all the passion for cinema – to never stop making films at any costs – that D'Amato had wanted to pass on to the younger generation of filmmakers.

The "Hofbauer Kongress", which takes place at least once every year since 2010 at the Komm Kino in Nuremberg, Germany, has repeatedly screened D'Amato's films mostly from 35 mm prints, with the 15th and 16th edition of the festival being especially devoted to the filmmaker.

On 1–3 February 2019, honoring the 20th anniversary of D'Amato's death, the Filmarchiv Austria held a "Tribute to Joe D'Amato" at the Metro Kinokulturhaus in Vienna in which 10 films he directed were shown from original 35 mm prints.

Film tributes and dedications

In 1999, Andreas Schnaas shot a remake of, and homage to, D'Amato's Antropophagus entitled Anthropophagous 2000.

The Italian film Hyde's Secret Nightmare (2011, directed by Domiziano Cristopharo) is dedicated to D'Amato.

Filmography

Year Title Worked as Notes Ref(s)
Director Producer Writer Cinematographer Other
1951 È l'amor che mi rovina Yes Still photographer
L'inafferrabile 12 Yes Still photographer
1952 The Golden Coach Yes Still photographer
1953 Madonna delle rose Yes Technician
1961 Hercules in the Haunted World Yes Assistant cameraman
Gold of Rome Yes Assistant cameraman
1962 Il mare Yes Assistant cameraman
1963 Contempt Yes Assistant cameraman
Canzoni in bikini Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
1964 Due mattacchioni al Moulin Rouge Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
Il mito (La violenza e l'amore) Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
Secret of the Sphinx Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
1965 Soldati e caporali Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
1966 Viaggio di nozze all'italiana (translation: Honeymoon Voyage) Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Emilio Foriscot
Lo scippo Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
For One Thousand Dollars Per Day Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Mario Pacheco
Trap for Seven Spies Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: José F. Aguayo
È mezzanotte... butta giù il cadavere (translation: At Midnight, Throw Down the Corpse) Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa[citation needed]
Thompson 1880 Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
The Taming of the Shrew Yes Assistant Cameraman
Maigret a Pigalle Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Giuseppe Ruzzolini
Cinque della vendetta Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Víctor Monreal
Due once di piombo (Il mio nome è Pecos) Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
Master Stroke Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Francisco Sánchez
1967 Red Blood, Yellow Gold Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Francisco Marin
Psychopath Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
Pecos Cleans Up Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
Your Turn to Die Yes Cameraman. Cinematographers: Franco Villa, Stelvio Massi
Straniero ... fatti il segno della croce! Yes Cameraman, assistant director, actor. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
Rose rosse per il führer Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
I'll Sell My Skin Dearly Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Stelvio Massi
Vietnam, guerra senza fronte Yes Yes Second unit cameraman
1968 Shoot Twice Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Francisco Marin
Seven Times Seven Yes Cameraman. Cinematography: Franco Villa
A Woman on Fire Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
Bury Them Deep Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
1969 Una storia d'amore Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Guglielmo Mancori
Orgasmo Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Guglielmo Mancori
Passa Sartana ... è l'ombra della tua morte Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
A Noose for Django Yes Cameraman. Cinematographer: Franco Villa
Pelle di bandito Yes Director: Piero Livi
No Man's Island (L'isola delle svedesi, Twisted Girls) Yes Director: Silvio Amadio
1970 Disperatamente l'estate scorsa Yes Director: Silvio Amadio
Inginocchiati straniero... I cadaveri non fanno ombra! Yes Director: Demofilo Fidani
Arrivano Django e Sartana... è la fine Yes Director: Demofilo Fidani
1971 A Barrel Full of Dollars Yes Director: Demofilo Fidani
A Fistful of Death Yes Director: Demofilo Fidani
Vendetta at Dawn Yes Camera operator. Cinematographer: Guglielmo Mancori
Armiamoci e partite! Yes Director: Nando Cicero
1972 Ben and Charlie Yes Director: Michele Lupo
What Have You Done to Solange? Yes Director: Massimo Dallamano
La gatta in calore Yes Director: Nello Rossati
Crime Boss Yes Director: Alberto De Martino
All'ultimo minuto (TV series, episodes Il rapido delle 13,30 and Dramma in alto mare) Yes Director: Ruggero Deodato
Le notti peccaminose di Pietro l'Aretino Yes Director: Manlio Scarpelli
The Killer Is on the Phone Yes Director: Alberto De Martino
Go Away! Trinity Has Arrived in Eldorado ?a Yes
Bounty hunter in Trinity Yesf Yes Yes
More Sexy Canterbury Tales Yesg Yes Yes
1973 Fra' Tazio da Velletri Yesh Directed a third of the film.
The Devil's Wedding Night Yes Yes Only directed some scenes. Director: Luigi Batzella
Novelle licenziose di vergini vogliose Yes Yes Yes Yes Editor
Counselor at Crime Yes Director: Alberto De Martino
Mean Frank and Crazy Tony Yes Cinematography with Aldo Tonti. Director: Michele Lupo
Death Smiles on a Murderer Yes Yes Yes Yes Camera operator, story author
Pugni, pirati e karaté Yes Yes Yes
1974 Brigitte, Laura, Ursula, Monica, Raquel, Liz, Maria, Florinda, Barbara, Claudia e Sofia, le chiamo tutte... anima mia Yes Director: Mauro O. Ivaldi
Heroes in Hell Yes Yes Yes
The Arena Yes Yes 2nd unit director. Director: Steve Carver
Diary of a Roman Virgin Yes Yes Yes
Professore venga accompagnato dai suoi genitori Yes Director: Mino Guerrini
Il colonnello Buttiglione diventa generale Yes Director: Mino Guerrini
The Antichrist Yes Director: Alberto De Martino
Challenge to White Fang Yes Director: Lucio Fulci
1975 Cormack of the Mounties (aka Red Coats) Yes Yes Yes
Cassiodoro il più duro del Pretorio Yes Director: Oreste Coltellacci
Scandal in the Family Yes Director: Bruno Gaburro
Buttiglione diventa capo del servizio segreto Yes Director: Mino Guerrini
Emanuelle's Revenge Yes Yes Yes Yes
1976 Strange Shadows in an Empty Room Yes Director: Alberto De Martino
Voto di castità Yes Yes
Black Cobra Woman Yes Yes Yes
Emanuelle in Bangkok Yes Yes
Emanuelle in America Yes Yes
1977 Emanuelle Around the World Yes Yes
Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals Yes Yes Yes
Il ginecologo della mutua Yes Yes Yes Story
Mondo erotico Yesi
1978 Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade Yes Yes Yes
The Pleasure Shop on 7th Avenue Yes Yes
Sexy Night Report n. 2 Yes Yes
Follie di notte Yes Yes Yes
Papaya, Love Goddess of the Cannibals Yes Yes
Tough to Kill Yes Yes
1979 Images in a Convent Yes Yes
Beyond the Darkness (Buio Omega) Yes Yes
1980 Sesso nero Yes Yes
Erotic Nights of the Living Dead Yes
Porno esotic love Yes Yes
Antropophagus Yes Yes ?j
Blue erotic climax Yes Yes Yes Director: Claudio Bernabei
Porno Holocaust Yes Yes
Super climax Yes Yes Yes Yes
Hard sensation Yes Yes
1981 Paradiso blu Yes Yes
Orgasmo nero Yes Yes Yes
Labbra bagnate Yes Yes Yes
Le ereditiere super porno Yes Yes Yes
Porno video Yes Yes Director: Giuliana Gamba
Bocca golosa Yes Yes Yes
La voglia Yes Yes Yes
Labbra vogliose Yes Yes Yes Director: Claudio Bernabei
Sesso acerbo Yes Yes Yes
Voglia di sesso Yes Yes Yes
Le porno investigatrici Yes Director: Claudio Bernabei
Caldo profumo di vergine Yes Yes Yes
L'ogre de barbarie Yes Director: Pierre Matteuzzi
Absurd Yes Yes Co-produced with Eduard Sarlui
1982 Stretta e bagnata Yes Yes Yes
Il succo del sesso Yes
Super hard love Yes Yes Yes
Il mondo perverso di Beatrice Yes Yes Yes
Ator, the Fighting Eagle Yes Yes Yes
Ator 2 - L'invincibile Orion (aka Blade Master) Yes Yes Yes Yes
Caligula... The Untold Story Yes Yes Yes
1983 Una vergine per l'impero romano Yes Yes Yes
Messalina orgasmo imperiale Yes Yes Yes Yes Actor
2020 Texas Gladiators Yes Yes Yes Co-directed with George Eastman
Endgame Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Editor
Cuando calienta el sol... vamos alla playa Yes Yes Director: Mino Guerrini
1984 Jojami k Yes
Nido d'amore k Yes
Wendee / Wendee, la chiave del piacere k Yes ?l
La chiave del piacere k Yes ?l
Swoosie k Yes
Pin Pon k Yes
Fashion love k Yes
Sesso allo specchio k Yes
1985 Le due bocche ... di Marina k Yes
Le due ... grandi labbra / La voglia di Marina k Yes
The Alcove Yes Yes Yes
The Pleasure Yes Yes Yes
A Lustful Mind Yes Yes Yes Yes Editor
1986 Midnight Gigolo Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Editor
Convent of Sinners Yes Yes Yes Yes Editor
Delizia Yes Yes Yes Yes Editor
1987 Warrior Queen Yes Yes Associate producer
Stage Fright Yes Director: Michele Soavi
Interzone Yes Director: Deran Sarafian
Killing Birds Yes Yes Yes Co-directed with Claudio Lattanzi
Eleven Days, Eleven Nights Yes Yes Yes
1988 Top Model Yes Yes
Ghosthouse (aka La Casa 3) Yes Director: Umberto Lenzi
Witchery (aka La Casa 4) Yes Director: Fabrizio Laurenti
1989 Dirty Love Yes Yes Yes
Blue Angel Cafe Yes Yes Yes
Hitcher In The Dark Yes Director: Umberto Lenzi
Metamorphosis (aka DNA Formula Lethal) Yes Director: George Eastman
1990 Quest for the Mighty Sword Yes Yes Yes Yes The 4th "Ator" film (aka The Hobgoblin)
Body Moves / Hot Steps (Passi caldi) Yes Director: Gerry Lively
Deep Blood Yes Yes Yes
La Casa 5: Beyond Darkness Yes Director: Claudio Fragasso
Troll 2 bc Yes Director: Claudio Fragasso
Contamination .7 (aka Troll 3) Yescd Yes Yes Main director: Fabrizio Laurenti
1991 Eleven Days, Eleven Nights 2 Yes Yes Yes Yes
La stanza delle parole Yes Director: Franco Molè
Door to Silence Yes Director: Lucio Fulci
Dark Tale / Favola crudele Yes Director: Roberto Leoni
Frankenstein 2000 Yes Yes
A Woman's Secret Yes Yes Yes
1992 Lezioni di sesso. 1.: Il vizio infinito. 2.: Donne di piacere. 3.: Così fan tutti. 4.: Dio mio como sono caduta in basso. Yes
Sul filo del rasoio / Instinct Yes Yes
Una tenera storia Yes Yes
1993 Chinese Kamasutra Yes Yes Yes
I racconti della camera rossa Yes Yes
The Labyrinth of Love Yes Yes Yes
The House of Pleasure Yes Yes
China and Sex Yes Yes
L'Atelier di Rosa Yes
Roxana – Fra le gambe di Luana Yes
Francesca – Goduria anale Yes
Incontri anale nell'autosalone Yes
Tre porcone sul biliardo Yes
1994 Le avventure erotiche di Aladino Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
L'alcova dei piaceri proibiti Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
Amleto – Per amore di Ophelia Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
Le mille e una notte Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
Il barone von Masoch Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
Il colpo dell'an(n)o Yes
Il marchese De Sade Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
Decamerone X Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
Decamerone X 2 Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
Fantasmi al castello Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
Ladri e gentiluomini – Donne, gioielli e culi belli Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
La sexy caccia al tesoro Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
Marco Polo la storia mai raccontata Yes Yes Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
Spiando Simona Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
Il marito guardone – Sesso spiato Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
Tarzan X Yes Yes Yes Yes
Tarzan 2 – il ritorno del figlio della jungla Yes
Anal Paprika Yes
1995 Fuga di mezzanotte aka Fuga all'alba Yes
Homo Erectus Yes
Le intoccabili Yes
Adolescenza Yes
Amadeus Mozart Yes
Giulietta e Romeo Yes
Le bambole del Führer Yes
Le 120 giornate di Sodoma Yes
Malizia italiana Yes
Il monaco Yes
Passione travolgente a Venezia Yes Co-directed with Cameron Grant
Penitenziario femminile Yes
Le perversioni di Scarface Yes
Robin Hood – La leggenda sexy Yes
Saloon Kiss Yes
Il siciliano (Don Salvatore) Yes
Provocation (Vizio e provocazione) Yes
Sogni di una ragazza di campagna Yes
Black Cops...in Budapest Yes
Wild East Yes
Carmen Yes
Scandalo al sole Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
1996 Antonio e Cleopatra Yes
Danno anale Yes
Flamenco extasy Yes
Kamasutra Yes
Istinto fatale Yes
Messalina Yes
Proposta anale indecente Yes
Rudy / Valentino's Story Yes
Scambio di coppie Yes
Il danno Yes
Torero Yes
Lulù Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
Gipsy Seduction Yes Co-directed with Luca Damiano
Aphrodite Yes
Caligula / Caligola follia del potere Yes
Nerone Yes
Lolita – Adolescenza perversa Yes
Selvaggia Yes
Lo stallone italiano Yes
Lo stallone italiano 2 Yes
Rocco last fight Yes
Othello Yes
Striptease – Ragazze Facili Yes
Il diario proibito delle due principesse Yes
Tutte le donne del presidente Yes
Donna Flor e i suoi tre mariti Yes
1997 Top Girl e Yes Yes
The Hyena Yes Yes
Police Department Yes
Police Department 2 Yes
Hercules / Le fatiche erotiche di Ercole Yes
Amore e psiche Yes
Olympus Yes
Sodoma e Gomorra Yes
Ulysses Yes
Experiences 1 Yes
Experiences 2 Yes
La regina degli elefanti Yes
Il vizio del peccato Yes
Peccati di gola Yes
Capriccio anale Yes
I magnifici sette Yes
Calamity Jane Yes
Calamity Jane 2 Yes
Lussuria Yes
Praga amore mio Yes
Il laureato Yes
La figlia del padrino Yes
Desiderio eterno Yes
Sahara Yes
Ercole e Sansone nella terra delle Amazzoni Yes aka Samson in the Amazon's Land
La venexiana Yes
Dolce seduzione Yes
1998 Anita e la maschera di ferro Yes
Selen nell'isola del tesoro Yes
Harem 2000 Yes
Off limits Yes
Blow – Up Yes
Elixir Yes
Goya – La maya desnuda Yes
Raiders / I predatori della verginità perduta Yes
Thief of Love / Ladro d'amore - Giacomo Casanova Yes
Il fantasma Yes
Sexy Pirates Yes
1999 Showgirl Yes
Sono positivo Yes Cameo appearance as "the director of porn films"

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