17 Facts About Umberto Lenzi

Umberto Lenzi was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and novelist.

Umberto Lenzi followed in suit in the 1970s making giallo films, crime films and making the first Italian cannibal film with Man from the Deep River.

Umberto Lenzi continued making films up until the 1990s and later worked as a novelist writing a series of murder mysteries.

Umberto Lenzi was born on 6 August 1931 in the Massa Marittima province of Italy.

Umberto Lenzi was a film enthusiast as early as grade school.

Umberto Lenzi eventually put off studying law and began pursuing the technical arts of filmmaking.

Umberto Lenzi graduated from Rome's Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in 1956 and made I ragazzi di Trastevere as his final exam, a short film influenced by the writings of Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Umberto Lenzi worked as a journalist for various newspapers and magazines, including Bianco e Nero and, between 1957 and 1960, penned a number of detective novels and adventure stories using a pseudonym.

Umberto Lenzi then turned to making war films such as Desert Commandos and Legion of the Damned and westerns such as Pistol for a Hundred Coffins and All Out.

Umberto Lenzi had box office success in Italy with his erotic thrillers starring Carroll Baker such as Orgasmo, So Sweet.

Umberto Lenzi worked on horror films towards the late 1980s, such as Ghosthouse under the name Humphrey Humbert and the slasher film Nightmare Beach which was credited to Harry Kirkpatrick as Umberto Lenzi refused to sign his name to the film.

Umberto Lenzi reflected on these films saying he made them as if they were designed for theatrical release and that the producers, his colleagues and himself did not consider that television sponsors would not accept horror films.

In 1989, Umberto Lenzi directed the police action film Cop Target in Miami and Santo Domingo, starring Robert Ginty and Charles Napier.

In 1990, using his own company and a low amount of funds, Umberto Lenzi shot two films in Brazil in a period of three months: the horror film Black Demons, which in 1996 he considered to be his masterpiece, and the adventure film Hunt for the Golden Scorpion.

Variety reported in 2006 that Umberto Lenzi was shooting a slasher film in Italy titled Horror Baby.

Umberto Lenzi later embarked on a career as a novelist, writing a series of murder mysteries set in the 1930s and '40s Cinecitta, involving real-life characters of the Italian film industry.

Umberto Lenzi was married to Olga Pehar, who co-wrote some of his films.