How did you get into Italian Horror

[Keeth Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Keeth]

I found Italian horror & exploitation movies by renting every vhs tape I could find with interesting cover art then when I discovered zines & vhs trading, I found more obscure films in weird languages subtitled with more weird languages (an Italian language film with Japanese subtitles!).

I remember seeing the ad's in the local paper for Fulci's ZOMBIE & GATES OF HELL. I was obsessed with the imagery but no way in hell were my parents going to take me to see them.

[Scyther Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Scyther]

I remember catching Suspiria late on TV one night and getting a second hand copy of Anchor Bay's Zombie VHS from a friend. Those were early entries for me, but it probably wasn't until the early days of Netflix where I rented Deep Red and Cannibal Holocaust where I really fell hard for Italian horror. It's been all gloriously downhill since then!

[Marshall Crist Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Marshall Crist]

As a kid, I remember seeing THE VIRGIN OF NUREMBERG on local TV, possibly under the title TERROR CASTLE. It was pretty nasty for its day, and left an impression. BARON BLOOD was another good one, but randomly catching the last half of DEEP RED on Channel 9 (they were probably ALL on Channel 9) definitely sealed the deal.

[bgart13 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bgart13]

Seeing someone mention Gates Of Hell above helped me recall seeing that when my brother rented it when I was quite young. Talk about traumatizing!

[Johnny Stickman Way Out Hep Cat Find all posts View Profile Close Johnny Stickman]

a few years later around the late 90's I find a website called houseofhorrors.com and they're praising Fulci, Zombie, The Beyond, etc.

I used to love that site, that's where I was introduced to Italian horror. The first Italian flick I watched was Lisa and the Devil, I found a copy at a library. My first exposure to Argento came from a Showtime doc, Masters of Horror where clips from Suspiria were shown. The first Argento I watched was Inferno followed by Deep Red. The film that solidified my love for Italian horror flicks was Cemetery Man. It was there that I felt there was a lot out there to explore and that I needed to see more work by Italian filmmakers. Thanks to the internet and interacting with knowledgeable fans, I was able to narrow down directors and titles to keep track of. Still have a lot of watching to do. On an end note, City of the Living Dead was my first Fulci.

[killer must kill again Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close killer must kill again]

my starting point was dawn of the dead remake (2004) actually! I had to check out "the original" from romero and that's were I became aware of argento (argento cut). saw suspiria and deep red for the first time and became hooked! fulcis zombie and the beyond was the final step into italian horror soon after.

[stinty Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close stinty]

My brother showed me Fulci's Zombi 2 (as Zombie Flesh Eaters) when I was about 12 or 13. Thus starting my interest in all things euro. StageFright came soon after. Zombi is still my favourite Italian horror, probably because it was the first I saw.

[Scott Intellectual Carrot Find all posts View Profile Close Scott]

In the mid 80's I rented REVENGE OF THE DEAD from a mom and pop shop. I was only about 7 years old at the time. I was mostly bored by it, not really understanding it, and the poster showing zombies bursting out the streets completely misrepresented it. But the tone, that feeling of dread stuck with me. I didn't find out until much later that the movie was actually ZEDER.

In junior high me and my friend rented DEMONS, and I loved every second of it.

In highschool me and my mother rented SUSPERIA and it scared the shit out of both of us.

In college me and another friend rented GATES OF HELL, ZOMBI and we saw THE BEYOND during it's first revival. This was the late '90s.

Then after college I had a friend who introduced me to DEEP RED. That was the one where all the pieces started coming together. It was at that point that I began to actively pursue Italian genre movies. Around the same time I saw CANNIBAL FEROX. Another friend introduced me to Herzog's NOSFERATU and the Spanish film TIE ME UP TIE ME DOWN. It all started to gel. This was around 2001.

[Gav M Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gav M]

Picking up Lisa And The Devil and Deep Red on Redemption VHS from the big London Oxford Street HMV back in the early 90's and being hooked. I know a lot of people hated the Redemption sleeves but i've always liked them and found them striking, especially all together in one place like the big horror section that the aforementioned HMV used to have. That got me looking for more Argento and Bava films on tape from film fairs and Camden Market etc and once DVD started and the ease of picking up films online it escalated even more

[George Barry Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close George Barry]

Oh my. Right after the dinosaurs died and the earth cooled I caught a little flick called CASTLE OF BLOOD on tv (1968 or 1969). Just loved it but had no idea it was Italian (I was 9 or 10 at the time).

Gary,
A couple/three years before in the mid 1960s, when the ground remained a bit steamy and you would still bump into a pterodactyl or two, I caught Castle of Blood, Black Sabbath and Blood and Black Lace (horror?) at the theaters. On TV I saw Horrible Dr Hichcock, What! (Whip and the Body) and perhaps the most frightening of all, Uncle Was A Vampire. Actually, the most frightening was The Drop of Water story in Black Sabbath. Just got Roberto Curti's book, Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957-1969. I've only read a few pages so far, it appears to be well researched.

[woodenheart Deadbeat Posting At Dawn Find all posts View Profile Close woodenheart]

It was introduced to me on a message board similar to this; upcominghorrormovies.com. : )

Great conversations and fantastic films were discovered. Good times.

[Derrick King Waterfall Puncher Find all posts View Profile Close Derrick King]

I think my first exposure was TWO EVIL EYES, which I caught on Showtime in the mid-90s. But I don't think I really got into Italian horror films until I blind bought the first Anchor Bay PHENOMENA DVD. I went back to Best Buy the next week and picked up TENEBRAE. After those two, I was hooked.

[JLG Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JLG]

i caught some tv show that did a piece on Tom Savini. lots of behind the scenes stuff from Day of the Dead were in there. that is where it all started for me. not too long after that i saw Suspiria and Demons on VHS. Demons grabbed me right away and Suspiria got me into Goblin big time. Blackest Hearts and Graveside catalogs followed and were major helpers for me before the internet took over that job. Fangoria gets a nod too cuz it was in there i found info for the catalogs but enough good stuff came up cuz i read that magazine.

Tom Savini gets the trophy tho

[Gary Banks Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gary Banks]

Gary,
A couple/three years before in the mid 1960s, when the ground remained a bit steamy and you would still bump into a pterodactyl or two, I caught Castle of Blood, Black Sabbath and Blood and Black Lace (horror?) at the theaters. On TV I saw Horrible Dr Hichcock, What! (Whip and the Body) and perhaps the most frightening of all, Uncle Was A Vampire. Actually, the most frightening was The Drop of Water story in Black Sabbath. Just got Roberto Curti's book, Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957-1969. I've only read a few pages so far, it appears to be well researched.

George you'll like the book. I picked it up earlier this year and it hits the sweet spot though it tends to be a little dry at times.

[George Barry Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close George Barry]

Gary,
I hear you asking, "Why doesn't this thread have an Italian Horror dance number?"

So here it is: The Vampire and the Ballerina (1960)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_YYG6s-8-0