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Massacre Mania

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Massacre Mania
Directed byPaolo Bianchini
Screenplay by
  • Paolo Bianchini
  • Max Caret[1]
Story by
  • Paolo Bianchini
  • Max Caret[1]
Produced byGabriele Crisanti
Starring
CinematographyErico Menczer[1]
Edited byOtello Colangeli[1]
Music byCarlo Savina[1]
Production
company
Cinecris[1]
Release date
  • 1967 (1967) (Italy)
Running time
90 minutes[1]
CountryItaly[1]

Massacre Mania (Italian: Hipnos follia di massacro) is an Italian 1967 science fiction film written and directed by Paolo Bianchini.

Plot

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Cast

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Production

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Massacre Mania was the third and final film directed by Paolo Bianchini for producer Gabriele Crisanti, following The Devil's Man and Superargo and the Faceless Giants.[2] The film was shot in eight weeks in and around Rome between February and March 1967.[2]

Among the cast was Robert Woods.[2] Woods described the script as improvized, stating that "these were nearly always collaborative efforts (where almost everyone involved had input)."[2] Woods spoke positively about working on the film, specifically on how it was a departure from the Westerns and that he "loved the comic book implications" of Massacre Mania.[3]

Style

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In his book about Italian films inspired by comic books and their conventions, Roberto Curti described the film as "often labelled as a spy flick, Massacre Mania is actually a lot closer to the superhero films of the era, of which it represents a darker version, and very Italian too."[4] Curti felt the film was a "strange mixture of science fiction, thriller and comic-book style adventure"[2]

Release and reception

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Massacre Mania was submitted to the Italian board of censors in October 1967, one month after Superargo and the Faceless Giants, but was eventually released earlier than that film.[4] The Italian title for the film is Hipnos follia di massacro and is sometimes misspelled as Hypnos in reference books.[4] Producer Gabriele Crisanti described the film's release as "a flop", acknowledging that he "made the mistake of giving it to a distributor-Vecchioni, the owner of United International Films-who went bankrupt before the film was released."[4]

Director Paolo Bianchini did not have a high opinion of the film, stating that he had been "invited to conventions and film schools concerning [Massacre Mania]. But every time I watch it again, it's such a terrible thing. Perhaps people notice that there's a certain high craft about these pics, as they were literally made out of nothing."[4][5]

See also

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References

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Curti 2016, p. 75.
  2. ^ a b c d e Curti 2016, p. 76.
  3. ^ Curti 2016, p. 77.
  4. ^ a b c d e Curti 2016, p. 78.
  5. ^ Giusti 2010, p. 138.

Sources

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  • Curti, Roberto (2016). Diabolika: Supercriminals, Superheroes and the Comic Book Universe in Italian Cinema. Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1-936168-60-6.
  • Giusti, Marco (2010). 007 all'italiana: dizionario del cinema spionistico italiano con tutte le locandine più belle (in Italian). Isbn Edizioni. ISBN 978-8876381874.
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