An atypical horror, with interesting facets and contaminations, which encompasses terror, mystery and true emotions. Fourteen years after “Shadow”hailed as an example of the genre’s rebirth in Italy, the Roman singer-songwriter Federico Zampaglione Returns to Horror Cinema with “The Well”his fifth work as director, in theaters from August 1st by Iperuranio Film and CG Entertainment, after being successfully presented at several international festivals.
Written with producer Stefano Masi, the film sees pstarring American actress Lauren LaVera as Lisa Grayan American art restorer called to Sambuci, a small village in the province of Rome, to restore to its former splendor a medieval painting ruined by a fire, in the villa of Duchess Emma Malvisi (Claudia Gerini). The first important assignment for the young woman, which will turn into a nightmare, due to an ancient curse that generates evil creatures, blood and atrocious suffering. A story of terror beyond the classic canons of the genre, as underlined by Zampaglione himself, who on July 29 (at 8:30 pm) will meet the Sicilian public at a preview of the film at the Empire Cinemas in Partinico (Palermo).
“We conceived a story that was multifaceted and would touch a series of emotions,” he told us. “Usually horror cinema moves by style and once it takes a certain direction it stays that way. With “The Well” we have deconstructed the clichés by opening ourselves up to different narrative possibilities: there is the disturbing moment, the dark, mysterious or visually shocking one, but there is also room for romance.” A film that starts from the Italian masters of the genre to take new paths: “There is the Italian Gothic of Mario Bava and Pupi Avati,” he underlines. “I went in that direction by putting in other strings with a modern, unusual, aggressive language, mixing the cards on the table and managing to create twists in the narrative.” But all of “The Well” is an act of love towards a narrative that was already the flagship of Italian cinema in the world, but is little-known today. “It’s desperately romantic not only for some narrative strings, but also for the basic intention which is to bring back to life our horror, marginalized by industry and critics, relegated to something of the past. Wanting to bring it back into fashion, around the world, is in itself a very romantic act, of great love.”
The film has in fact been purchased in 104 countries, including the United States, Great Britain, Germany and Japan, and is preparing to repeat the success of “Shadow”. The cast is fundamental, including Linda Zampaglione (daughter of the director and Claudia Gerini), Lorenzo Renzi, Jonathan Dylan King, Gianluigi Calvani and Giovanni Lombardo Radice, protagonist of cult films such as “Apocalypse Tomorrow” and “Cannibal Ferox”, here in his last appearance (in the role of Lisa’s father).
“I was getting to know him during the work and he was an interesting character, with an intelligent and lively mind. The night he came to shoot, as soon as I saw him enter the set in his costumes, I looked at the monitor and I realized I was in the presence of a legend. He broke the lens and was one of those faces that embody horror, like Vincent Price. When I heard about his passing I was really upset.”
In the Italian version, Lauren LaVera’s voice is by Flavia Altomonte from Reggio Calabriawho already dubbed Esther Garrel in the film “Il grande carro”. «In the room, Federico watched the dubbed scene several times based on his goal – she told us – and it was a fun experience. I really love drama and as an actress I like working on tragedy. I did exactly this work on Lauren LaVera and there were no particular difficulties because she is a very expressive interpreter. As often happens in dubbing, when you dub good actors the work is easier, and I really appreciate the horror genre as a spectator; this made me love the character even more». The music was composed by Zampaglione and his brother Francesco with Oran Loyfer and Luca Chiaravalli.