Michele Soavi

Bio:

Born in Milan in 1957, Michele Soavi (pronounced me-káy-lay so-áh-vee) started his career as an actor in such Italian cult-classics as the late Lucio Fulci's "Gates of Hell". Later Dario Argento gave Soavi opportunities to work as second assistant director on his film "Tenebrae", then as first assistant on "Creepers", and as second unit director on "Opera". Add to this a documentary Soavi directed with the self-explanatory title "Dario Argento's World of Horror", and Soavi was finally offered his first chance to direct his own feature—1987's "Stage Fright".

Flash forward nearly a decade and Michele Soavi is the hottest director on the Italian horror scene, and with October Films' current release of his fourth feature, "Cemetery Man", on the United States art-house/repertory theater circuit he is poised to break onto the American scene where he already enjoys a solid cult following. While this film (originally titled "Dellamorte, Dellamore") is unquestionably Soavi's most visionary film, his other three genre features—all available on video in the States—powerfully demonstrate the evolution of his unique perspective.

Soavi has made clear his desire to keep breaking new ground with each film rather than repeating himself through endless sequels. Yet it is equally clear that all of his films cling to a definite thematic thread, and while this thread is one of the oldest in narrative film—ordinary people responding to extraordinary circumstances—Soavi winds it through the fantastic settings and situations in his films to weave a unique and glittering cinematic cloth. These may seem strangely pretty descriptive terms for horror films, but Soavi stands among the few genre directors who truly lives up to such a standard of beauty, as well as one of terror.
 

Soavi's Movies that I own or have watched:

Cemetary Man (aka "Dellamorte, Dellamore")