A brief analysis of some of the works of Maurizio Quarta, Italian effects artist, director and actor, active in the world of independent genre cinema since the 1980s. It will discuss the short films The House - The House, Macabre, Protomorphosys, of the trailers Sacrarium Sect of Hell and Maniak, concluding with the feature film House of the Living Dead - The Injection 2.
Maurizio Quarta also gave this portal an exclusive interview that is not to be missed.
The House - The House (1982) is the film that marks Maurizio Quarta's debut as both effects artist and director. It is a short film in the horror genre (about 15 minutes long), shot in Super 8, described by the director himself as "experimental" and with "crude" tricks. Location is the house where Quarta spent his adolescence. A place therefore full of memories to which is added the excitement of having shot the first film, The House precisely, a title that has nothing to do with Raimi's film, since it predates the latter.
After a brief outdoor sequence in which the dwelling is introduced, the action moves inside. The place is seemingly uninhabited, but two curious people, Alfred Goen and Julius P38, discover a room that appears to be inhabited because of the porn and horror posters posted on the wall and books on black magic and esotericism. In front of the two suddenly appears an individual with his face covered by a mask depicting the Devil.
From that point on, there are sequences of violence peppered with special effects, images that overlap with others, and the presence of some sort of zombie. What ensues is a parade of chaotic moments during the chase inside the house but also outside the house that are, however, in tune with the emotional state in turmoil of the survivors. In all this chaos, what definitely stands out is the figure of the violent and sadistic masked killer armed with a machete but also the location that lends itself well to representing a place contaminated by evil from which it is impossible to escape.
The House is a somewhat rough debut film but shot with a lot of passion within the limits of its means. A debut to be rewarded as it is dense above all with interesting ideas.
The cast includes Pietro Signorelli, Dino Iula, Rosi Riva and Maurizio Quarta. The production is by Maurizio Quarta together with Rosi Riva.
IDIGER photography and special effects. The music is by the Goblins (here, however, modified by Dino Iula).
1999 is the year of Macabre, referred to by the director himself as the "brother" of Funeral Parade by Christian Arioli. According to Maurizio Quarta, the two films were initially part of a project in which Daniel Frevert was also involved. Only Christian Arioli and Mara Leoni appear in the cast, the latter being comfortable playing a deviant person. The film is produced (MQ Production) and directed by Maurizio Quarta, who also handled the subject and screenplay as well as the convincing special effects.
Stranded, a young man reaches a house where he asks for help from the young owner who allows him to use her phone to call the machine shop. Curious, he reaches a room where inside he finds a dismembered body in a state of decomposition. The fear is great but so is the danger.
The film is inspired by Nekromantik and, like Buttgereit's film, is imbued with an unhealthy atmosphere in which the love of death is generated, a mild state of necrophilia that here, however, turns into necrophagia out of necessity and then vice. In this sense, successful is the flashback sequence that recounts the woman's transformation into a necrophagist by impeccably characterizing the character.
The dialogue (Pino Colizzi and Roberta Paladini), taken from other films, gives that retro touch so beloved by fans of 1980s cinema; it also gives the idea of voice-overs that give the short film an unhealthy, almost nightmarish atmosphere. The sequences of corpse dismemberment and ingestion of decomposed parts with insistent close-ups are impressive and succeed in giving a sense of disgust. The detail shots and the filthiness of the room perfectly highlight a sick story in the wake of depravity.
Protomorphosys 2002, is a film written and directed by Maurizio Quarta and Daniel Frevert. It is a fantasy horror film that pays homage to Alien 2 on earth by Ciro Ippolito (1980). During a hike in the woods, a naturist photographer (Maurizio Quarta) notices the presence of an organism lying on the ground. Intrigued, the man approaches the mysterious creature to photograph it but a strange liquid from the organism ends up on the unfortunate man's face causing him to run away. A few hours later, an unstoppable process of metamorphosis begins in the naturist's body, transforming him into a ferocious monster.
The wails and monstrous sounds emitted by the infected character accompany a fast-paced and impactful transformation. The sense of hearing and the sense of sight are comprehensively engaged by devastating noises and horrifying images. The special effects are successful, unforgettable those in the mirror sequence reflecting a face that literally melts and puts on a show with copious secretions and fluids... a transformation that, however, also lets through the horror and pain felt by the protagonist as he helplessly witnesses the disintegration of his body, so much so that it arouses pity in the viewer. In this sense, the film is also reminiscent of The wax man by William Sachs (1978).
Protomorphosys is a commendable melting movie, a well-packaged and impactful fantasy-horror.
Daniel Prevert was in charge of the production. The cast includes Mike Hudson (Maurizio Quarta), Daniel Frevert, Jessica Bradley, and Samantha Jameson.
Editing by MQ Studios. Visual Effects by Maurizio Quarta.
Sacrarium Sect of Hell (2000) e Maniak (2006) are instead the titles of two films for which only trailers are available.
Sacrarium Sect of Hell Is the re-edited and re-dubbed version of the feature film Abbey Sec. XII Rex Inferi By Christian Arioli and which is inspired by the Templar saga Resurrected blind by De Ossorio.
A group of friends reach a sacred place indicated on a scroll they have come into possession of. Upon arriving at the place they will awaken friars, guardians of the temple of a devilish deity.
The trailer has inviting visuals peppered with good special effects. The parts about the hooded friars rising from the ground with curlers in their sockets are imbued with the charm of old-style genre films.
The cast includes Samantha Jameson, Mike Hudson (Maurizio Quarta), Valerie Bonnot, Christian Vaughan.
Instead, the protagonist's labored breathing opens the second trailer for Maurizio Quarta's film. E' Maniak (aka Deeply) and, as the title suggests, is an homage to Lustig's masterpiece. The video shows juicy scenes, small details that indicate a personal reinterpretation of Lustig's film. The peculiarities concern the plot of the film in which the main character has contracted a rare venereal disease. Having escaped from a mental hospital, the man deludes himself that he can regress the disease by killing women, thus taking revenge on the female sex that has contaminated him.
The video is a roundup of murders carried out in a very interesting way. In one of them for example, the murderer uses a drill in the victim's private parts and then eviscerates her at will. The vicious and sadistic killer is played by Maurizio Quarta.
Also in the cast are Mike Anderson and Jessica Bradley. Production: Joe Montomoli.
Maniak is currently an unfinished project, described by the director himself as "very hard to digest." We, meanwhile, hope to see it soon.
House of the Living Dead - The Injection 2 (1997) is the sequel to The injection.
Horror is present from the first shots of this brilliant feature film. The location is a dreary uninhabited house where all curious onlookers who sneak in will be killed in atrocious ways by a man, a mad doctor, who performs strange experiments on himself to test a drug in order to cure the disease from which he is suffering.
Gloomy film, in pure 80s style and with a chilling and twisted story in which the figure of the mad doctor who gives himself injections in imporbably body parts stands out. Superb is the injection on the dental arch and then the one on the outer corner of the eye to make the medicine reach the brain quickly.
The framing of the crashed eye of this sublime figure reflects the soul in torment of a disturbed person. Not to be outdone is the chilling breath that becomes a kind of soundtrack as is the breath of the killer in Maniac (Lustig).
Dolore, pazzia, sangue, metamorfosi e orrore sono gli ingredienti di questo interessante film di Maurizio Quarta che riesce a trasmettere ansia e anche un senso di fastidio per via delle riuscite sequenze dell’ago della siringa infilzato nell’occhio. Per non parlare poi delle intense scene splatter condite da ottimi effetti speciali e in particolare l’accetta conficcata in testa e quella alla gola delle vittime che, indifese, soccombono alla ferocia dell’omicida. Da manuale tutto ciò che succede nel seminterrato, dove, tra omicidi, trasformazioni ed esperimenti, lo spettatore avrà di che nutrire la sua fame horror.
Nella personalissima opera di Maurizio Quarta si scorgono omaggi a Fear in the City of the Living Dead, ma anche ad Anthropophagus di Joe D’amato per quanto riguarda gli intestini vomitati per il primo e poi l’ingerimento degli stessi per il secondo. E soprattutto, l’aspetto finale del mad doctor nascosto nel seminterrato ricorda il Dr. Freudstein di That villa next to the cemetery di Fulci. Tributi al cinema di genere italiano inseriti all’interno di una pellicola convincente, permeata dallo stile inconfondibile di Maurizio Quarta.
Ottime le sequenze degli omicidi, arricchite da inquadrature che incorniciano macabri particolari: lame che affondano sul viso per staccarne la pelle, testa capitata, mano mozzata, il tutto reso più marcio e sporco da una fotografia scura in perfetta sintonia con l’anima nera di questo film in cui spicca il vivo colore del sangue.
I particolari succulenti appartenenti alle visioni macabre e uniche di Maurizio Quarta, qui prendono vita grazie ai suoi perfetti effetti speciali e a un’ottima messa in scena che ci proietta in un malsano e orrorifico mondo in cui perdersi.
Il cast è composto da Maurizio Quarta, Davide Beretta, Damiano Speciale, Patrizia Prainito, Katia Prainito, Maurizio Buoso ed Elena Villa.
Gli effetti speciali sono a cura di Maurizio Quarta.
Particolarità : in una sequenza, il protagonista (Maurizio Quarta) si avvicina ad una lapide che riporta il nome di Goen Alfred, stesso nome del protagonista de The House - The House.
In definitiva, il cinema di Maurizio Quarta è pervaso da uno stile affascinante che lo distingue, anzi che lo contraddistingue. Oltre al suo ottimo lavoro da effettista, il merito sicuramente va anche alla sua bravura da regista. L’atmosfera retrò che pervade tutte le sue pellicole e che sembra collocarlo al cinema del passato, è una caratteristica preziosa che lo rende unico. La sua filmografia trasuda un amore viscerale per le pellicole del passato, specialmente quelle appartenenti agli anni ’70 e ’80 a cui Maurizio Quarta si ricollega con facilità .
Il budget ridotto non influenza le sue opere, e ne diventa anzi quasi un pregio perché Maurizio Quarta sa ritagliare e raccontare una storia in pochissimi minuti sfruttando le sue capacità nel campo degli effetti speciali.
