Bruno Mattei

Known for DirectingBorn 1931-07-30Died 2007-05-21Rome, Lazio, Italy

Bruno Mattei (30 July 1931 – 21 May 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor who directed exploitation films in many genres, including women in prison, nunsploitation, zombie, mondo, cannibal, and Nazisploitation films. Born in 1931, Bruno Mattei grew up in Rome, Italy, where his father owned a small film editing studio. Mattei made his debut as a director with the drama Armida, il dramma di una sposa(1970) under the alias "Jordon B. Matthews". He eventually had more pseudonyms than any working director in the world. He returned to editing before making another comeback in 1976 with two low-budget Nazi exploitation films, Women's Camp 119 (1977) (aka "Women's Camp 119") and Casa privata per le SS (1977) (aka "SS Girls"). Mattei followed these taboo-breaking films with excursions into porno films and mondo "shockumentaries", all directed under his many pseudonyms, concentrating on "shock value" with films such as Mondo erotico (1973), "Libiodomania" and "Libidomania 2". Always on the lookout for new exploitation avenues, Mattei followed with "nunsploitation", with the softcore sex film La vera storia della monaca di Monza (1980) and the violent sex thriller The Other Hell (1981). Both films involved a partnership with writer/director Claudio Fragasso, who helped him write and direct the back-to-back productions. Using yet another alias, "Vincent Dawn", Mattei directed Hell of the Living Dead (1980) (aka "Hell of the Living Dead"), a low-budged zombie picture inspired by other zombie cannibal movies such as Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2 (1979). "Virus" was filmed in Spain and used jungle footage from New Guinea and a patch soundtrack from Goblins "Dawn of the Dead" soundtrack, which was a minor hit in Italy and abroad. After directing two women's prison films starring Laura Gemser, Mattei moved to directing sword-and-sorcery flicks, starting with I sette magnifici gladiatori (1983). Both Mattei and Fragasso collaborated on the sci-fi/horror flick Rats - Notte di terrore (1984), inspired by the futuristic movies of the early 1980s. Mattei considers this his best work, despite his still having to work with a very low budget. He worked relentlessly through the 1980s, directing a pair of "spaghetti westerns", some action flicks and about half of Zombi 3 (1988) after Lucio Fulci was taken off the production, though Mattei was not credited with it. In the early 1990s Mattei directed a series of erotic thrillers and a made-for-TV movie, Cruel Jaws (1995) (TV), which was inspired by Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975). Mattei continued making films, with more than 50 to his credit by the 200s. In early 2007 his health becan to decline rapidly after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Despite his doctor's warnings, he went through with a surgical operation to have the tumor removed in May of that year. After the surgery he fell into a coma from complications, and died a few days later on May 21, 2007 at age 75.Read more

Movies & web series

Appointment in Trieste

Gocce d'amore

Non è vero... ma ci credo!

The Films of Bruno Mattei

Armida, the Tragedy of a Wife

Mondo caldo di notte

Un giudice di rispetto

Sortis de route

Inconsolable Widows Are Looking For Distractions

The Jail: The Women's Hell

La sposa

La provinciale a lezione di sesso

Agent 3S3, Massacre in the Sun

The Magnificent Tony Carrera

Tua per la vita

Figaro, il barbiere di Siviglia

Giovanna

Legittima vendetta

Target Frankie

Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered - Volume 1

Born to Fight

Uno storico pasticcio

Triumph of the Ten Gladiators

Island of the Living Dead

Scalps

Revenge of the Black Knight

Count Dracula

The Violent Patriot

Violence in a Women's Prison

Goldface, the Fantastic Superman

Night of the Zombies

99 Women

The Nights of Lucretia Borgia

Madness

Zombie Flesh Eaters 2

Private House of the SS

Libidomania

Emanuelle and Françoise

Love Sacrifice

Night Killer

Emanuelle and the Porno Nights of the World N. 2

The Other Hell

Strike Commando

Lesbo

White Apache

Rats: Night of Terror

The French Sex Murders

Yellow: The Cousins