Massimo Pupillo
Directing
Biography
Domenico Massimo Pupillo (born 1922) is an Italian film director. Puplillo was born in Rodi Garganico, Apulia in 1922. He started his career in film through his acquaintance Fernandel as Marcel Pagnol's assistant. He claims to have made over 250 short films before the release of his film Gli amichi dell'Isola, a feature film set in Sardinia with unprofessional actors. After directing Terror-Creatures from the Grave, he went on two direct two more horror films in a row: Bloody Pit of Horror and La vendetta di Lady Morgan. After making these horror films, Pupillo stated that he originally made them to get out of making documentary films and enter the commercial film market. After making La vendetta di Lady Morgan he declared he was finished with making horror films with his following directorial work becoming scarce. His follow-ups included the Western Django Kills Softly released in 1967 and the mondo film Love: The Great Unknown. Pupillo also wrote a few mondo films prior to directing including Primitive Love and Sweden: Heaven and Hell which were both directed by Luigi Scattini and Taboos of the World by Romolo Marcellini. Pupillo later described himself as "disgusted" by the type of cinema he was making and primarily worked in television during the 1970s. His last feature film was Sa Jana which was shot in Sardinia. According to Merrill Aldighieri and Lucas Balbo's documentary Mondo Pupillo - Une conversation avec Massimo Pupillo, it is likely that Pupillo died on December 29, 1999, but no evidence has been found to confirm this.
Known For
A photographer and his models go to an old, abandoned castle for a photo shoot. Unbeknownst to them, the castle is inhabited by a lunatic who believes himself to be the reincarnated spirit of a 17th-century executioner whose job it is to protect the castle against intruders.
Bloody Pit of Horror
A young woman is psychologically manipulated and tortured by her treacherous husband while her lost fiancé is missing, presumed dead, and only the ghosts of the castle can tell the tale.
Lady Morgan's Vengeance
An attorney arrives at a castle to settle the estate of its recently deceased owner. The owner's wife and daughter reveal that he was someone who was able to summon the souls of ancient plague victims and, in fact, his spirit was roaming the castle at that very moment. Soon occupants of the castle begin to die off in gruesome, violent ways.
Terror-Creatures from the Grave
Django arrives in the town of Santa Anna at the behest of a man named Sanders who'd been trying to buy safe passage for his cargo from a Mexican bandit named El Santo. Django finds that Sanders has been killed and that his rival, a man named Thompson, is now trying to deal with El Santo. Django, after a brief involvement with a beautiful young widow named Linda -- who has information on a lost gold mine -- becomes entangled in this situation by agreeing to escort a shipment through El Santo's territory.
Django Kills Softly
Luigi Batzella directed this spaghetti western under the pseudonym "Paolo Solvay." Gioffredo Scarciofolo stars (using his standard alias, "Jeff Cameron") as Tom Carter, whose brother was murdered and robbed by the evil Ringo Brown (William Mayor) shortly after taking all his money out of the bank to marry Cora (Krista Nell), a local saloon girl. Tom is suspicious of Cora, but she helps him unmask the real killer.
Paid in Blood
"Doctor" Jayne Mansfield is in Italy to show a peer her documentary about mating customs from around the world while at the same time having to deal with two bellhops who have an idea or two about mating with Jayne.
Primitive Love
A featurette on the Italian gothic classic "Terror Creatures from the Grave" by writer/director Massimo Pupillo.
Vengeance from Beyond
A newly edited 1993 interview with Italian filmmaker Massimo Pupillo.
The Pupillo Tapes
Italian mondo movie exploring themes of love, sex, eroticism, and perversion.