Luigi Cozzi

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Luigi Cozzi (born in Italy in 1947) was an Italian movie director & screenwriter who specialized in Sci-Fi and Horror films in the mid-70's and throughout the 1980's. He was interested in filmmaking since his teen years, producing a low budget sci-fi film at age 21 called "THE TUNNEL UNDER THE WORLD", which brought him to the attention of producer Dario Argento. Cozzi worked as an assistant director and screenwriter on a number of Argento's most famous movies, even directing a made-for-TV movie called "THE NEIGHBOR" for a TV series produced by Argento in 1973. Cozzi's first real movie was a 1975 giallo he made called "THE KILLER MUST KILL AGAIN", after which he was hired to direct a number of bigger budget sci-fi/fantasy films, such as "CONTAMINATION", "STARCRASH", and "HERCULES" (1983). Cozzi worked with a lot of well-known genre actors such as Caroline Munro, Sybil Danning, Lou Ferrigno, Joe Spinnell, Klaus Kinski, Brett Halsey and others.

In 1986, he wrote and planned to direct "SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS", but the producer replaced him at the last minute with director Enzo Castellari. Castellari changed Cozzi's script drastically and several million dollars later, wound up submitting 3 hours of non-releasable footage to the producer, who shelved the project in disgust. In 1989, Cozzi was hired back to come in and fix up the picture, the producer spending an additional half million dollars finishing it.

Cozzi wrote a script called "DE PROFONDIS", which was supposed to wrap up Dario Argento's unfinished "Three Mothers" Trilogy begun in his "SUSPIRIA" and "INFERNO". Cozzi made the film as "DE PROFONDIS" ("From the Deep") starring Caroline Munro, but the American producers (who at the time were planning a series of Edgar Allan Poe films) changed the title of Cozzi's film to "THE BLACK CAT" at the last minute. To make matters worse, their Poe film series never materialized. Cozzi's film received very poor distribution. (Cozzi later discovered that director Lucio Fulci had expressed interest in directing his screenplay, without realizing that Cozzi was shooting the film himself. This would have been very confusing if it had happened, since Fulci had already directed a film called "THE BLACK CAT" back in 1981!)

Cozzi also worked on the special effects in Dario Argento's "PHENOMENON", and was an assistant director on "THE STENDAHL SYNDROME", "TWO EVIL EYES" and "NOSFERATU IN VENICE" (a sequel to "NOSFERATU THE VAMPIRE") which gave him the chance to work with Klaus Kinski. When the director on "NOSFERATU IN VENICE" unexpectedly quit the picture, actor Klaus Kinski attempted to finish directing it himself, and the producer brought Cozzi in to help him complete it. The film did very poorly, mainly because Kinski refused to wear the nosferatu make-up he wore in the earlier film. Cozzi also co-wrote the screenplays for "FOUR FILES ON GRAY VELVET" and Lamberto Bava's Jaws rip-off "MONSTER SHARK". Some of his work was done under his Americanized stage name Lewis Coates.

Cozzi's final horror film "PAGANINI HORROR" was a major disappointment to him, since he was unable to work effectively within the tiny budget he was given. Argento's wife Daria Nicolodi co-wrote the script with Cozzi and starred in it, although it turned out to be a pretty poor film. In 1987-88, Cozzi directed 9 episodes of the Italian TV series TURNO DI NOTTE (some of which starred Asia Argento and Daria Nicolodi).

He later made 2 documentaries on the films of Dario Argento, and for years operated and managed Dario Argento's retail movie memorabilia store in Italy. He continues to be a big horror buff to this day, although sadly it appears his filmmaking days are over.

[edit] Filmography (as Director)

  • The Neighbor (1973) Made-for-TV Movie
  • Eyewitness (1973) Made-for-TV Movie (Cozzi just wrote this screenplay)
  • The Killer Must Kill Again (1975) aka "The Spider"
  • Starcrash (1978) aka "Stella Star", aka "Female Space Invaders". starring

Caroline Munro and Joe Spinnell

  • Contamination (1980) aka "Toxic Spawn", aka "Alien Contamination"
  • Hercules (1983) starring Lou Ferrigno & Sybil Danning
  • Hercules 2 (1985) aka "The Adventures of Hercules", starring Lou Ferrigno
  • Turno di Notte (1987-88) Cozzi directed 9 episodes of this Italian TV series

(some of which starred Asia Argento and Daria Nicolodi)

  • Nosferatu In Venice (1988) co-director
  • Sinbad of the Seven Seas (1989) starring Lou Ferrigno (Cozzi co-directed and edited this film)
  • De Profondis/ "From The Deep" (1989) aka "The Black Cat"
  • Paganini Horror (1989), co-written by Daria Nicolodi
  • Dario Argento: Master of Horror (1991) Documentary
  • il Mondo di Dario Argento 3: The Museum of Horrors (1997) Documentary