''Il medium'' () is a 1980 Italian film directed by

Silvio Amadio Silvio Amadio (8 August 1926 – 19 August 1995) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He directed 24 films between 1957 and 1981. His film ''Wolves of the Deep'' was entered into the 9th Berlin International Film Festival. He is kno ...

Production

''Il medium'' was developed due to director

's interest in the

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

, which he learned through his friend

Demofilo Fidani Demofilo Fidani (born 8 February 1914 on a steamship bound for Cagliari; died 4 April 1994) was an Italian film director (24 films), set designer (more than 200 films), painter, and a regarded spiritual medium, medium and author. As director, Fi ...

. Fidani was a filmmaker who prominently worked on low budget Italian Westerns, and by the 1980s had become more known for his work in

esoterism Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...

, including writing some novels on the subject. Amadio and Fidani had discussed their mutual interest in the topic since the 1970s. Among the screenwriters was

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 Matte ...

, who said he was approached by the director along with a

psychic medium Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...

who told him that "the dead had told them eshould write this script." Fragasso also stated that this was the first script he had worked on, even before ''

Meet Him and Die ''Meet Him and Die'' ( it, Pronto ad uccidere) is a 1976 film directed by Franco Prosperi and starring Ray Lovelock, Martin Balsam and Elke Sommer. Cast * Ray Lovelock - Massimo Torlani * Martin Balsam - Giulianelli * Elke Sommer - Secretary ...

''. A film scenario with the same title was in Rome SIAE offices that were dated from October 17, 1975. Filming on ''Il medium'' took place much later, starting on May 7, 1979. Among the cast was

Martine Brochard Martine Brochard (born 2 April 1944) is a French actress and writer. Life and career Born in Paris, Brochard debuted in 1968 in a minor role in François Truffaut's '' Baisers volés''. In 1970, she moved to Italy, where she became a minor s ...

, who had little recollection about the making of the film, declaring "I only remember that it all seemed very homemade, and I had a very cold relationship with Amadio. I did my stuff and 'Thanks and goodbye'."

Style

Film historian and critic Roberto Curti stated that despite the film often being labelled a

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

, it was a supernatural drama that involved ghosts, and some such gothic stapes such as a

haunted house A haunted house, spook house or ghost house in ghostlore is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were otherwise connected with the prope ...

. Curti noted the film's horrific bits are limited to a dog attack, a burning painting that emits laughter and voices recorded from unknown sources on an audio tape.

Release

''Il medium'' was distributed regionally in Italy on 10 March 1980. The film grossed a total of 15 million

Italian lire The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually f ...

domestically on its release.

References

Footnotes

Sources

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Medium 1980 films Supernatural drama films Italian drama films 1980s Italian films