"The Renaissance of Italian Horror"

Federico Zampaglione

Federico Zampaglione is, with his band ‘Tiromancino’, one of the most successful singers and musicians in Italy. Their blend of pop-rock has won them platinum selling albums, awards and all manner of critical praise.

Federico is also a life-long horror fan and having already made his directing debut with Nero Bifamiliare, a black comedy decided to indulge his darker passions for his follow-up - Shadow, a sinister and twisted tale which has already caught the eye of Italian horror's greatest masters...

Picture by: Carina Wachsmann

Hi there Federico, thanks for taking the time to speak with us!

Congratulations on Shadow’s success, it has attracted some hugely positive remarks from people like Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava and Ruggero Deodato and even been described as the “renaissance of Italian horror”. That must be pretty gratifying?

FZ: I’m honored and flattered in receiving all this attention. People like Argento, Deodato and Bava are my masters, I grew up with their films. Even the audience’s reaction at Frightfest really surprised me and made me excited and motivated I decided to shoot Shadow being and horror fan, considering it my personal homage to the genre.

Have you always been a horror fan? What horror films would you say have been your biggest influence?

FZ: I really love horror films since I was a child. My biggest influence are all the Italian horror movies from the 70’s and 80’s, but I truly love even the international classics from “Halloween”, “Shining” to “A Nightmare On Elm Street” and many others. I also appreciate the recent European horror features, mainly from France and Spain.

I believe you co-wrote Shadow with your father, that’s a fairly unusual collaboration. How was the experience?

FZ: I have a particular relationship with my father, I consider him my best friend. Before Shadow we wrote together many songs of my own band Tiromancino. He’s a real cool guy, and I truly love working with him. When we were writing the nastiest moments of Shadow, my mom used to look at us as we were monsters.

Where did you draw the story from for Shadow?

FZ: A couple of years ago I was biking with my wife in the woods. Suddenly, right after a turn, she disappeared, I went back and called her until I finally found her peeing behind a bush. I was really shocked and frightened because of this. When I got back home, inspired by this episode I started writing the synopsis.

Shadow has drawn some comparisons to ‘torture’ films like Saw and Hostel, how do you feel about that and was this a deliberate decision on your part?

FZ: I don’t completely agree because even though I putted in the movie a lot of violence, I tried not to completely show the contact between the torture tools and the skin of the victims, but instead I was focused on the results of the injuries. This is an uncommon thing in the torture porn style. I also counted on the suspense and creepy atmospheres, not just gory and gruesome things.

Shadow boasts a great cast and a particularly memorable villain in Nuat Arquint. How did you approach the casting process?

FZ: When I found on the internet Nout Arquint I thought he was potentially an amazing figure to play the villain, he is so creepy and disturbing even without any make-up. I was auditioning actresses for Angeline for a long time, but after I watched “Frontiere’s” I was sure Karina Testa was perfect for the role. Her intensity really captivated me. For the other male roles I found Jake Muxworthy, Ottaviano Blithc and Chris Coppola and they really impressed me because of their talent to get perfectly and naturally in the characters.

Your film has some impressively nasty moments, what moment in the history of horror cinema would you rank as the nastiest?

FZ: Dario shot a lot of real nasty moments, for example the first murder in “Suspiria”. Deodato’s “Cannibal Holocaust” is one of the goriest films ever. I found “Wolf Creek” really nasty too. ”Hostel” is at the same time really gruesome and a bit ridiculous. In the recent times I was really shocked and impressed by the ending of “Martyrs”, it really made me feel bad. I heard “Inside” is really gory too, but I didn’t want to see it yet because my wife is pregnant.

What’s next? Are you remaining in the horror genre for your next film?

FZ: I will definitively remain in the horror field. I’m already writing a story placed in the Medieval times. It will be really bloody and suspenseful.

Your band Tiromancino is also a big success, will you still be continuing the music-making now your film career is hitting off in such a big way?

FZ: Music is my life and I won’t ever stop making it. But I can’t come back from directing either. So in these days I keep thinking about it. Because at the age of 41, after a long and successful musical career, this new turn in my life was completely unexpected.

Thank you once again Federico!

Interview By Matt Compton

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