''Ombre'' () is a 1980 Italian

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 ...

directed and written by

Giorgio Cavedon Giorgio Cavedon (17 December 1930 – 2001) was an Italian publisher, cartoonist and screenwriter. Cavedon was most associated with his adult comics he wrote with Renzo Barbieri. His first comic, ''Isabella (comics), Isabella'' was Italy's firs ...

Production

Although best known for his erotic ''

fumetto Photo comics are a form of sequential storytelling that uses photographs rather than illustrations for the images, along with the usual comics conventions of narrative text and word balloons containing dialogue. They are sometimes referred to ...

'' comic series ''

Isabella Isabella may refer to: People and fictional characters * Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Isabella (surname), including a list of people Places United States * Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpor ...

'', director and screenwriter

had worked in the film industry making a documentary in 1953 and having some credits in the early 1960s films including directing part of the Italian comedy anthology film ''

I soldi ''I soldi'' is a 1965 Italian anthology comedy film directed by Gianni Puccini. Cast * Sylva Koscina as Leda *Tomas Milian as Bob *Enrico Maria Salerno * Alberto Lionello *Barbara Steele * Agnès Spaak *Andrea Checchi *Carlo Giuffrè * Mari ...

''. Cavedon began work on ''Ombre'' on July 9, 1979. It was filmed on location in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and at Icet-De Paolis Studios in Milan. It was originally developed under the working titles ''Autoritratto'' () and ''Ritratto di fantasma'' (). Some sources have stated that

Mario Caiano Mario Caiano (February 13, 1933 – September 20, 2015) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, producer, art director and second unit director. Career Born in Rome, he directed nearly 50 films between 1961 and 2001 and wrote some 27 f ...

was a co-director on the film. Caiano has never mentioned working on the film and actor

Lou Castel Lou Castel (born Ulv Quarzell; 28 May 1943) is a Swedish actor who became known through his work in Italian films. Life and career The son of a Swedish father and an Irish mother, Castel was born Ulv Quarzell in Bogotá, Colombia, where his fa ...

stated that Cavedon was the film's only director.

Release

''Ombre'' was distributed theatrically in Italy by Eurocopfilms on 26 June 1980. The film reportedly only sold 565 tickets in Italy and closed within a week. The film grossed a total of 1,695,000

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.

Reception

In a contemporary review, Leonard Autera of ''

Corriere della Sera The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015. First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of It ...

'' stated that "Cavedon's direction ..moves among the stories twists and certain inconsistencies in the script with mixed results." and also negatively commented on the story's slow pace.

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0189857 Italian horror films 1980 horror films 1980 films Films shot in Milan 1980s Italian films