BEATRICE CENCI (1969) Lucio Fulci's tale of Sex & Torture
1778DVD
Lucio
Fulci's Controversial Story of
Rape, Torture and Religious Hypocrisy in 16th Century Italy
director: Lucio Fulci
starring: Adrienne La Russa · Tomas Milian · George Wilson
· Raymond Pellegrin · Mavi
Based
on a true story, the film tells the story of a young woman accused of
murdering her sexually abusive father amid superstition in 16th Century
Italy. Beatrice Cenci is the teenage daughter of the crazed nobleman
Francesco Cenci who keeps his daughter in the dungeon of his castle
and sexually abuses and tortures her. Beatrice plots with her stepmother
and a local bandit named Catalano to kill her father and escape the
torment.
BEATRICE
CENCI was
Lucio Fulci's dream project. It was a film he wanted to make to express
his passionate hatred for the Catholic Church. He knew the film would
have some negative impact on his career, but he was willing to risk
that danger. As it turned out, the fallout was more intense than Fulci
had originally thought it would be. His film found much difficulty with
distribution (it remains unseen in much of the world today) and Fulci,
himself, was forced off numerous other projects. He promised to leave
his ideologies on the back burner and he managed to secure work with
a studio specializing in more commercial ventures. But he simply couldn't
leave well enough alone. One of those new productions, DON'T
TORTURE A DUCKLING, dealt with psychotic religious zealots and
child killing. Fulci was blacklisted for his "portrayal of perverted
Catholicism" and his career derailed. He survived by helming a
few comedies and a couple Spaghetti Westerns. In 1979, he was offered
a shot at the sequel to DAWN
OF THE DEAD (called ZOMBI in Europe). That film changed his
life. The International success of ZOMBIE
2 (ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS) made Fulci the new "Godfather of
Gore" worldwide and - as a result - one of the top Italian boxoffice
directors.
Fulci
had been suffering with diabetes most of his life. On March 13, he went
to bed without taking his insulin. Some say this was suicide; others,
an accident. Mr Lucio Fulci died in March of 1996 at age 68.
An
Italian production in English language; widescreen format, totally uncut
version (91 min.), DVD encoded for ALL REGION NTSC, playable on any American
machine. Extras include trailers.
Graphic
Violence/Nudity/Rape/Sexual Brutality/Religious Blasphemy:
For
Adult Audiences
