Ruggero Deodato has Died

Ruggero Deodato has Died, Father of the Cannibal Movie

He passed away on December 29, 2022, at the age of 83, and was considered the king of the cannibal movie. A grave loss for Italian cinema, which sees the passing of one of its greatest masters at the end of this 2022. A polite and serious person, he was a true professional, beloved all over the world and perhaps better known abroad than in Italy.

Born in Potenza on May 7, 1939, Ruggero Deodato began his career as a director with various poliziotteschi films, establishing himself worldwide through horror cinema. The turning point came in 1977 when he directed Ultimo mondo cannibale, but it was in 1980 that he made the film that would make him famous worldwide, Cannibal Holocaust. This film managed to mix the horror genre with a semi-documentary style, becoming the father of the mockumentary. For the film, some very curious tricks were used, such as sending the crew on vacation immediately after filming to make them disappear from public view and make it seem like it was a snuff movie. This trick worked, increasing the legend surrounding the film.

But Ruggero Deodato wasn’t just this. He was also a great master of other films that have marked the history of Italian cinema and beyond, such as the subsequent La casa sperduta nel parco, in which he retold, in his own way, the Circeo massacre. In recent years, he had returned to the spotlight thanks to the great admiration shown by American director Eli Roth, who wanted him in Hostel 2, where Deodato played the part of a cannibal.

Ruggero Deodato dies, and with him goes a founding member of the horror school, capable of delivering great emotions to the fans who followed him with such passion. The cinema world will miss him.