Claudio Fragasso
Claudio Fragasso (born 2 October 1951) is a film director and screenwriter. Fragasso first attempted to make art films in the early 1970s, then became a screenwriter in the Italian film industry in the mid-1970s. Fragasso met director Bruno Mattei, which led to a ten-year partnership from 1980 to 1990 during which the two worked together closely on films, with Fragasso's contributions often going uncredited. Fragasso's wife Rossella Drudi was also a screenwriter and collaborated with him on a number of projects. Fragasso would later go on to write and direct his own films in the 1980s, including Monster Dog with rock musician Alice Cooper and After Death. Fragasso directed Troll 2 in 1989, which was later the topic of Best Worst Movie, a documentary film that discussed Troll 2s fandom. Filmmaking Claudio Fragasso was born on 2 October 1951. Prior to directing, Claudio Fragasso worked as a screenwriter beginning in the mid-1970s. Fragasso had originally planned to make art films, and initially shot his films on Super8 such as Passaggi (1977) and its follow-up Difendimi dalla Notte, with Fragasso noting "In Italy, to be considered important, you must shoot something like that." According to Fragasso, the screenplay for Il Medium was done specifically for director Silvio Amadio in 1975. The film however did not start production until 1979. Fragasso worked on the screenplays on several Italian crime thrillers in the 1970s. 1980s Fragasso met director Bruno Mattei when Mattei was still an assistant editor and they immediately got along well with one another as they both enjoyed genre films. In 1980, Mattei began a close collaboration with screenwriter Fragasso, beginning with The True Story of the Nun of Monza (1980) and ending with a comedy called Three For One (1990). The two worked closely together for that ten-year period (collaborating on 15 films) with Fragasso occasionally assuming the role of second unit, or assistant, director. Fragasso has stated he is a fan of splatter films, noting that they were "very important to me. The Italian spirit compels us to exaggerate." Fragasso stated his first films with Mattei were The True Story of the Nun of Monza and The Other Hell, which were filmed simultaneously to save money. The two co-directed the films in a real convent and exchanged actors to allow them to shoot the two films simultaneously. While the films were being processed, Mattei and Fragasso were hired to finish the film Perverse Sex, Violent World which was completed in two weeks using stock footage. Their next film Hell of the Living Dead was written by Fragasso and his wife Rosella Drudi. Fragasso also assisted in directing the film. Mattei however maintained that on all the films Fragasso claims to have co-directed, he was really just Mattei's assistant director. Following Hell of the Living Dead, producers suggested another two-film deal which led to Women's Prison Massacre and Violence in a Women's Prison, both starring Laura Gemser. Violence in a Women's Prison was written by Fragasso and Drudi. Fragasso