Let's have a chat with Federico Frusciante, owner of Leghorn video store Videodrome and a well-known web personality, who makes his deep film and music culture available to all.
Through his Facebook page, Federico responds to requests from those who ask for opinions on certain films to direct them to the best viewings. In addition, ours has also become a real point of reference through his Youtube channel with which he publishes video reviews on films but also on entire filmographies of directors.
A: Who is Federico Frusciante? How would you describe yourself?
B: I'm a very normal man-child of more than 40 years old who has found himself, thanks to a passion for music and film, being followed by quite a few people. That's all. If I really have to describe myself, I would say: asshole but good.
A: You are known online for your love of cinema. Many cinephiles contact you to get advice from you about certain titles they intend to view or to get your opinion on them. Over time you have become a reference point, a human film encyclopedia. What do you think about all this?
B: That if movie lovers are "forced" to listen to someone like me it means that we are near the end... heheheheh...
A: Have you ever been afraid of disappointing your fans?
B: No. I honestly don't give a damn about what other people think. I only listen to those who really know me.
A: When you are faced with people who have different opinions than you do about a masterpiece, how do you generally deal with it?
B: I am not at all diplomatic. If someone says that Kubrick's 2001 (just to give a trivial example) is a bad movie I react badly, but I would like to point out that I also don't give a rat's ass about other people's taste. You don't like a work of art because you don't understand it? Your problem, not mine.
A: You are the manager of a video store (Videodrome, 85 Magenta Street, Livorno) named after the famous horror film by David Cronenberg, a Canadian director known for dealing with the theme of mutation of the flesh. Why this choice? What is the connection between this film and your life?
B: When I decided in partnership with my friend Philip to open a video store immediately we agreed to call it Videodrome because we both love Cronenberg's big movie madly. The first five years of business, however, we were forced to call the video store something else because we were part of a franchise. My personal connection to Cronenberg's masterpiece is strong because it is one of the films that made me go deeper into reading the seventh art.
A: What kind of horror films can a customer find in your video store? Can you satisfy the cinematic thirst of even niche movie buffs?
B: All kinds of horror, whether mainstrem or indie makes no difference. Our video library is chock-full of devotees of niche cinema and we try to accommodate them as much as possible, even though Italian distribution is increasingly painful and the best non-blockbuster horror titles come out years late or not at all.
A: What is the rarest piece you have in your video library?
B: I have no idea...
A: You have combined filmmaking passion and work together. Not everyone can reconcile the two. Do you feel lucky?
B: There is no such thing as luck. I feel like someone who has the ability to get his thoughts across even while working. Which is no small thing.
A: What was the first horror film you saw? What was the last one?
B: The first Profondo Rosso, the last Silent Night.
A: You spend a lot of time in your video library. That way you have a 360-degree view of cinema and your customers. What are the most popular horror films? Who is the perfect customer?
B: The most popular horror movies of recent times are those with ghosts or demons (a la Insidious to understand) or even post-Saw movies. The perfect client does not exist unfortunately.
A: What movie would you recommend to a person approaching horror movies for the first time? What is your suggestion based on?
B: Carpenter's The Seed of Madness. The suggestion is based on the idea that it is the best horror film of the last 20 years.
A: What is your favorite horror film decade?
B: Probably from the '60s to the '80s... Let's make it two decades goes...
A: What are your favorite genres and subgenres?
B: The zombies genre, the one with sects of all kinds and finally if there is a movie with devastating alien I like...
A: Your favorite directors. What is the first name that comes to mind?
B: Hitchcock is the first name ... Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci and Fellini for Italy ...
A: What are the horror movies that have succeeded in distressing you?
B: Usually it's the ones that have socio-political underpinnings or are Lovecraftian. Carpenter's aforementioned big movie, Fulci's Afterlife, Romero's Night of the Living Dead, Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, Cronenberg's Brood, Bava's The Mask of the Devil... there are too many...
A: What are the best horror films of the past decade?
B: ... The Descent, Kill List, May ... but there are many here as well ...
A: If you had to recommend the name of an up-and-coming Italian director what would it be?
B: Daniele Misischia, after Butterfly Room also Zarantonello... but actually there are plenty of good, very young genre directors, too bad no one produces films for them professionally.
A: Piracy and the economic crisis today have definitely contributed to the demise of many Italian video stores. How has the situation changed from the 1990s to today?
B: It has changed for the worse. Sergio Citti used to say that by now people are no longer such but only public. I am in line with his thinking. In the 2000s we are even worse off for me. From people to audience and eventually we turned into Romerian zombies.
A: What do you think about this interview?
B: That it's a pleasure to have done it but that as with all interviews I don't understand why... heheheh
A: A message for the friends of DarkVeins!
B: Dark is beautiful!!! I've always been dressed in black on the outside but for me the essence of dark is NEVER in the baroque way of dressing up of the neo-goths, who are more like glitzy romantics than gray and thoughtful beings of the night, but in the way one deals with life. Then I am black on the outside but red on the inside, in every sense.
A: Thank you Federico!
