Joe D'Amato was born Aristide Massaccesi on December 15, 1936, in Rome,
Italy. At age 14 he began working for his father, a chief electrician
and later the founder of the company A.C.M. By going to school in the
daytime, Massaccesi worked afternoons part-time as a stagehand and
stage cameraman around various film sets. After attending grade school,
from 1953-57, Massaccesi worked for his father. Mole Richardson,
another motion picture company, was looking for someone to work as an
assistant cameraman and Massaccesi jumped at the opportunity. Starting
in 1969 he worked as director of photography as well as assistant
director for a number of films until 1974. His first directing work was
in 1972's low-budget Arriva Eldorado (1972), co-directed by Diego Spataro, under the
pseudonym Dick Spitfire, but it was a commercial failure. Later that
same year Massaccesi directed a western (under the name of Oskar
Faradine). He then used his assistant's name, Romano Gastaldi, for his
next film, Fra' Tazio da Velletri (1973), as well as a few others.
Massaccesi was reluctant to use his real name early in his directing
career, since he was still known mainly as a director of photography
and didn't want his directing jobs to jeopardize his cinematography
career. He used his real name for screenplay and cinematography roles,
but worked under many aliases (such as Michael Wotruba) to disguise the
authorship of some films in order not to mix up the different genres of
comedy, western, drama, thrillers and others. He used so many phony
names that he may well have more pseudonyms credited to him than
any other director in the world.
Massaccesi entered the horror genre with Die Mörderbestien (1973) under his real
name, which inspired him to make other gothic horror films. Under a new
pseudonym, Joe D'Amato, he directed soft-core, erotic films starring
Laura Gemser, such as Foltergarten der Sinnlichkeit (1975), Nackt unter Kannibalen (1977), Black Emanuelle - Stunden wilder Lust (1977), In der Gewalt der Zombies (1980) and others. He also
directed such action films as Die Aasgeier kommen (1979).
Massaccesi, now referring to himself as Joe D'Amato, entered the "gore"
genere films with Sado - Stoß das Tor zur Hölle auf (1979), which remains his most successful horror
film, shot in four weeks on a low budget entirely at a villa near
Bressanone and which had an excellent music soundtrack by the rock
group Goblin. His next horror film, but less successful than the
previous one, was Man Eater (Der Menschenfresser) (1980), directed as "Peter Newton". The
film starred Tisa Farrow, sister of Mia Farrow and the star of Woodoo - Die Schreckensinsel der Zombies (1979),
another gore genre flick.
During the 1980s and 1990s D'Amato directed over 100 hardcore porn sex
films for the Italian video market, although under his many pseudonyms
he continued to direct and produce other films. One of them was Aquarius - Theater des Todes (1987)
directed by Michele Soavi on which, under his real name, Massaccesi served as
producer. He then directed two "Ator the Invincible" films. He directed
the violent, hardcore Caligula II - Die wahre Geschichte (1982), using the name "David Hills", a
commercial exploitation (some might say "rip-off") of the successful
film by Tinto Brass.
D'Amato's other films during the 1980s were Paradiso Blu (1980) and violent
adventure films such as Shakka - Bestie der Tiefe (1989), which were filmed in Florida, and
Ghosthouse (1988). Some of D'Amato's greatest successes abroad were Sklavin für einen Sommer (1985) and
11 Days 11 Nights Part 3 (1989), as well as the horror-thriller Paura nel buio (1989) (aka "Hitcher in the
Dark").
His long film career came to an abrupt end when, in January
1999, he suffered an unexpected and fatal heart attack at his home in
Rome. He was 62. Joe D'Amato had made his mark on Italian cinema as a
talented director, scriptwriter, producer and cinematographer with
scores of films and more than a dozen aliases to his
credit.
