Michele Soavi

Directing

Michele Soavi

Born

1957-07-03 (69)

Place of birth

Milan, Lombardy, Italy

Known for

Directing

Credits

66 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Michele Soavi, sometimes known as Michael Soavi (born 3 July 1957) is an Italian filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter best known for his work in the horror film genre, working alongside directors like Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. Description above from the Wikipedia article Michele Soavi, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known for

Little Lips poster
4.9

A writer returns home to his estate after service in World War I. He has developed a very bad case of depression due to a war wound concerning his genitalia. He contemplates suicide, but recovers after becoming interested in his caretaker's 12 year-old war orphan niece, who now lives in the manor.

Little Lips

1978

Inferno Rosso: Joe D'Amato on the Road of Excess poster
7.2

Who was Joe D'Amato aka. Aristide Massaccesi? A genius of horror in the USA, a master of eroticism in France, the king of porn in Italy. A man with a thousand pseudonyms capable of making over 200 films while simultaneously holding the roles of producer, director, author, director of photography and even camera operator. An artisan of cinema as he liked to call himself, capable of working on all film genres. From spaghetti western to post-atomic, decamerotic to glossy eroticism, and blockbuster porn to bloody horror. Guided by the aesthetics of extremes and supported by an undeniable technical ability, Joe D’Amato pushed himself, and the viewer, beyond all limits following with dedication three rigid principles that have become his stylistic code: Amaze, Shock, Scandalize.

Inferno Rosso: Joe D'Amato on the Road of Excess

2021

Cemetery Man poster
6.9

Francesco Dellamorte is the groundskeeper at a cemetery where the dead just won’t stay dead—and it’s up to him to deal with those who come back to life with a hunger for human flesh. But Dellamorte’s job soon becomes much more complicated when he falls for an enigmatic young woman whose husband has recently died.

Cemetery Man

1994

The Church poster
6.0

In a Gothic cathedral built on the mass grave of a Teutonic purge, an ancient discovery by the new librarian will release an unholy maelstrom of madness, violence, and demonic vengeance.

The Church

1989

Phenomena poster
6.8

A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.

Phenomena

1985

Demons poster
6.6

A group of people are trapped in a West Berlin movie theater infested with ravenous demons who proceed to kill and possess the humans one-by-one, thereby multiplying their numbers.

Demons

1985

Film credits

2020s · 6 titles

Inferno Rosso: Joe D'Amato on the Road of Excess poster
7.2

Who was Joe D'Amato aka. Aristide Massaccesi? A genius of horror in the USA, a master of eroticism in France, the king of porn in Italy. A man with a thousand pseudonyms capable of making over 200 films while simultaneously holding the roles of producer, director, author, director of photography and even camera operator. An artisan of cinema as he liked to call himself, capable of working on all film genres. From spaghetti western to post-atomic, decamerotic to glossy eroticism, and blockbuster porn to bloody horror. Guided by the aesthetics of extremes and supported by an undeniable technical ability, Joe D’Amato pushed himself, and the viewer, beyond all limits following with dedication three rigid principles that have become his stylistic code: Amaze, Shock, Scandalize.

Inferno Rosso: Joe D'Amato on the Road of Excess

2021

C'era una volta a Viareggio poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

C'era una volta a Viareggio

2026

Dream Time poster
6.0

Spaghetti westerns, giallo, mondo... are the legacy of a golden age in Italian genre filmmaking, which began in the sixties and came to an end in the eighties, but not without leaving behind a few final masterpieces. This film explores, a few decades later, what became of those filmmakers and their films. A number of the most famous survivors of Italian horror movies will help to shed light on what happened.

Dream Time

2023

Dario Argento: Panico poster
6.8

This documentary about the great master of European horror and fantastic films offers an immersive exploration into the life and legacy of the director of Suspiria. Using the writing process of his next film as a starting point, Dario Argento Panico immerses us in the mind of the Italian genius, and offers testimonials from other filmmakers who love his work, all key names in today's world of cinema including Gaspar Noé and Guillermo Del Toro.

Dario Argento: Panico

2024

The Dark Fantastic poster
NR

The Dark Fantastic is a psychedelic journey into the mind of renowned composer Simon Boswell, blending live performances, striking visuals, and interviews with directors he’s scored for. It celebrates his bold impact on cinema and invites viewers into a surreal fusion of music and storytelling.

The Dark Fantastic

2025

No artwork available
10.0

Interview-documentary about the making of Joe D'Amato's dystopian genre classic "2020 Texas Gladiators".

Shoot Me: The Real Story of the Italian Texas Gladiators

2024

2010s · 6 titles

2000s · 4 titles

1990s · 4 titles

1980s · 18 titles

The Church poster
6.0

In a Gothic cathedral built on the mass grave of a Teutonic purge, an ancient discovery by the new librarian will release an unholy maelstrom of madness, violence, and demonic vengeance.

The Church

1989

Phenomena poster
6.8

A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.

Phenomena

1985

Demons poster
6.6

A group of people are trapped in a West Berlin movie theater infested with ravenous demons who proceed to kill and possess the humans one-by-one, thereby multiplying their numbers.

Demons

1985

Stage Fright poster
6.4

While a group of young actors rehearse a new musical about a mass murderer, a notorious psychopath escapes from a nearby insane asylum.

Stage Fright

1987

Caligula: The Untold Story poster
5.4

An insane young emperor finds his love of brutality and degradation surpassed only by his hunger for enslaved virgins, cruel vengeance, extreme acts of 'horseplay' and beyond.

Caligula: The Untold Story

1982

Opera poster
6.7

A young opera singer is stalked by a deranged fan bent on killing the people associated with her to claim her for himself.

Opera

1987

A Blade in the Dark poster
5.7

Bruno, an up and coming film composer, has been hired to write the score to a new horror movie. After moving into a secluded villa, life begins to imitate art as a vicious killer starts bumping off anyone and everyone who happens to pay him a visit.

A Blade in the Dark

1983

Absurd poster
5.4

A priest-doctor chasing a man with supernatural regenerative abilities, who has recently escaped from a medical lab, reaches a small town where the mutant goes on a killing spree.

Absurd

1981

Endgame poster
4.9

A telepathic mutant recruits a post World War III TV game show warrior to lead her band of mutants to safety.

Endgame

1983

Tenebre poster
6.8

A razor-wielding serial killer is on the loose, murdering those around Peter Neal, an American mystery author in Italy to promote his newest novel.

Tenebre

1982

City of the Living Dead poster
6.5

A psychic seemingly dies of fright during a séance where she sees a vision of a Dunwich priest hanging himself in a church cemetery. New York City reporter Peter Bell investigates and learns that the priest's suicide has somehow opened a portal to Hell that must be sealed by All Saints Day, or else the dead will overtake humanity.

City of the Living Dead

1980

The New York Ripper poster
6.3

A burned-out New York police detective teams up with a college psychoanalyst to track down a vicious serial killer randomly stalking and killing various young women around the city.

The New York Ripper

1982

Raiders of Atlantis poster
4.9

A team of scientists working to raise a sunken Russian nuclear submarine on an ocean platform off the coast of Miami, Florida, unearth an ancient Atlantean relic from the sea floor and bring in an expert to make some sense of it. But while attempting to raise the sub, radioactive leakage from its missles triggers the re-emergence of Atlantis, and the resulting tidal wave destroys the platform and leaves only a small group of survivors. Rescued by two Vietnamvets-turned-heavies who are out relaxing after their latest job, their boat eventually runs aground on a Carribean island nearby where, upon going ashore, it is discovered that everything has been destroyed and everybody killed. The culprits, a vicious group of well-armed raiders, and their leader, Crystal Skull, are descendants of Atlantis' original race who set about reclaiming the world and adding the survivors to the list of victims as they struggle to stay alive and defeat the raiders and send Atlantis back to the ocean floor.

Raiders of Atlantis

1983

Alien 2: On Earth poster
3.5

A group of cave explorers are confronted in an underground cavern by a mysterious living rock. Little do they know that it bears home to deadly, flesh-eating creatures, intent on wiping out the entire human population. An ultra low-budget, unofficial and unauthorized sequel to the 1979 film Alien, although the plot has little connection to the original film.

Alien 2: On Earth

1980

Blastfighter poster
5.3

An ex-cop, fresh out of prison, returns home to find it ruled by violent rednecks and must fight to protect himself and his daughter, using his combat skills and a powerful grenade launcher.

Blastfighter

1984

Day of the Cobra poster
6.1

An American narcotics agent is murdered in Italy. The head of the department decides to hire Larry Stanziani, 'The Cobra'. Larry, a former agent and now a third-rate private detective, uses the opportunity to get even with an old enemy, but soon he finds out he's facing a relentless organization

Day of the Cobra

1980

The Black Cat poster
4.8

When a horror film based on the same source material as Suspiria and Inferno goes into production, the evil witch the story is based upon manifests herself and not only begins to terrorise the actress set to portray her on screen, but reveals plans to wreck havoc and bloodshed throughout the world.

The Black Cat

1989

Men or Not Men poster
7.8

In Milan, in the winter of 1944, the ruthless Cane Nero leads the fascists against the partisans. Enne 2, one of the leading figures of the C.N.L., meets Berta, whom he loved three years ago, but Berta refuses to leave her husband for him. Enne 2 is pursued by the fascists of Cane Nero and, instead of running away to Turin, waits for Berta to rejoin him

Men or Not Men

1980

1970s · 3 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

Cemetery Man poster
6.9

Francesco Dellamorte is the groundskeeper at a cemetery where the dead just won’t stay dead—and it’s up to him to deal with those who come back to life with a hunger for human flesh. But Dellamorte’s job soon becomes much more complicated when he falls for an enigmatic young woman whose husband has recently died.

Cemetery Man

1994

Cemetery Man poster
6.9

Francesco Dellamorte is the groundskeeper at a cemetery where the dead just won’t stay dead—and it’s up to him to deal with those who come back to life with a hunger for human flesh. But Dellamorte’s job soon becomes much more complicated when he falls for an enigmatic young woman whose husband has recently died.

Cemetery Man

1994

The Church poster
6.0

In a Gothic cathedral built on the mass grave of a Teutonic purge, an ancient discovery by the new librarian will release an unholy maelstrom of madness, violence, and demonic vengeance.

The Church

1989

The Church poster
6.0

In a Gothic cathedral built on the mass grave of a Teutonic purge, an ancient discovery by the new librarian will release an unholy maelstrom of madness, violence, and demonic vengeance.

The Church

1989

Stage Fright poster
6.4

While a group of young actors rehearse a new musical about a mass murderer, a notorious psychopath escapes from a nearby insane asylum.

Stage Fright

1987

Caligula: The Untold Story poster
5.4

An insane young emperor finds his love of brutality and degradation surpassed only by his hunger for enslaved virgins, cruel vengeance, extreme acts of 'horseplay' and beyond.

Caligula: The Untold Story

1982

The Sect poster
6.2

A spree of grisly murders is perpetrated in Frankfurt by a group of Satan worshippers. A lonely schoolteacher almost runs over an elderly man and takes him in, unbeknown to her the man has plans for her – plans that involve a permanent future with the Satanic cult.

The Sect

1991

The Sect poster
6.2

A spree of grisly murders is perpetrated in Frankfurt by a group of Satan worshippers. A lonely schoolteacher almost runs over an elderly man and takes him in, unbeknown to her the man has plans for her – plans that involve a permanent future with the Satanic cult.

The Sect

1991

The Goodbye Kiss poster
6.9

Leftist radical-turned-terrorist Giorgio—hiding out in Latin America since the 1970s—turns himself in as soon as the Berlin Wall falls. Wishing to lead a comfortable, bourgeois life in his native Italy, he cuts a deal with a dirty cop, getting his sentence reduced in return for ratting former comrades out. Once released, Giorgio obsessively pursues his dream of becoming an upright citizen, but his old police aquaintance keeps dragging him down...

The Goodbye Kiss

2006

The Goodbye Kiss poster
6.9

Leftist radical-turned-terrorist Giorgio—hiding out in Latin America since the 1970s—turns himself in as soon as the Berlin Wall falls. Wishing to lead a comfortable, bourgeois life in his native Italy, he cuts a deal with a dirty cop, getting his sentence reduced in return for ratting former comrades out. Once released, Giorgio obsessively pursues his dream of becoming an upright citizen, but his old police aquaintance keeps dragging him down...

The Goodbye Kiss

2006

The Legend of the Christmas Witch poster
5.3

When six elementary school students suspect their missing teacher is Befana, a Christmas witch who delivers presents to good children, they set off on a magical journey to save her.

The Legend of the Christmas Witch

2018

Ultimo - L'Occhio Del Falco poster
NR

The story opens with the trial against the Colonel Roberto Di Stefano, known as "Ultimo", which is under investigation by the Palermo prosecutor as suspected of aiding and collusion with the Mafia

Ultimo - L'Occhio Del Falco

2013

Dario Argento's World of Horror poster
6.9

Documentary on horror/mystery filmmaker Dario Argento. Features an in-depth interview with Argento and covers his work from 1969 to 1985.

Dario Argento's World of Horror

1985

Dario Argento's World of Horror poster
6.9

Documentary on horror/mystery filmmaker Dario Argento. Features an in-depth interview with Argento and covers his work from 1969 to 1985.

Dario Argento's World of Horror

1985

Political Target poster
6.0

The return of the Red Brigade in Italy, after 11 years of silence from this terrorist organization, was a traumatic event for the entire country. Especially for the families of the victims killed: professors D'Antona and Biagi, and subsequently the police superintendent Petri.

Political Target

2006

Blood of the Losers poster
6.2

Inspired by Giampaolo Pansa's controversial book, the film traces the story of a family torn apart by political divisions at the end of the Second World War: a son joined the partisan brigades and a daughter, instead, joined the militia of the Republic of Salò.

Blood of the Losers

2008

Rocco Chinnici: May Your Kiss Lie Lightly on My Head poster
7.1

An Italian magistrate leads a crusade against organized crime which ultimately costs him his life in this biopic told through his daughter's eyes.

Rocco Chinnici: May Your Kiss Lie Lightly on My Head

2018

Il testimone poster
6.4

Italian thriller

Il testimone

2001

Il testimone poster
6.4

Italian thriller

Il testimone

2001

Francesco poster
5.8

No synopsis available yet.

Francesco

2002

Uno bianca poster
7.2

Rimini, 1991. For more than a year, the uno bianca gang - they always use a white Fiat Uno - has plagued the area. Their crimes are violent, sometimes killing carabineri, and there's no particular pattern: a bank one day, a petrol station the next, extortion of a small business the next. Are they terrorists? A foreign gang? Tied to the Mafia? After a particularly bloody shootout, two detectives are assigned to start fresh: they go through the notebooks of previous investigators and they interview a few witnesses again. They find a pattern in the crimes and predict the next assault, but the special task force in Bologna is dismissive. Can they carry on alone; how far will they get?

Uno bianca

2001

Uno bianca poster
7.2

Rimini, 1991. For more than a year, the uno bianca gang - they always use a white Fiat Uno - has plagued the area. Their crimes are violent, sometimes killing carabineri, and there's no particular pattern: a bank one day, a petrol station the next, extortion of a small business the next. Are they terrorists? A foreign gang? Tied to the Mafia? After a particularly bloody shootout, two detectives are assigned to start fresh: they go through the notebooks of previous investigators and they interview a few witnesses again. They find a pattern in the crimes and predict the next assault, but the special task force in Bologna is dismissive. Can they carry on alone; how far will they get?

Uno bianca

2001

Uno bianca poster
7.2

Rimini, 1991. For more than a year, the uno bianca gang - they always use a white Fiat Uno - has plagued the area. Their crimes are violent, sometimes killing carabineri, and there's no particular pattern: a bank one day, a petrol station the next, extortion of a small business the next. Are they terrorists? A foreign gang? Tied to the Mafia? After a particularly bloody shootout, two detectives are assigned to start fresh: they go through the notebooks of previous investigators and they interview a few witnesses again. They find a pattern in the crimes and predict the next assault, but the special task force in Bologna is dismissive. Can they carry on alone; how far will they get?

Uno bianca

2001

Return from Death (Frankenstein 2000) poster
6.8

When a woman is beaten into a coma and saved from being raped by her handyman (Donald O'Brien), the local security force does a cover-up to save the town's reputation and frames the saviour. After he hangs himself, the woman's strange comatose psi-powers revive him from the dead to exact revenge.

Return from Death (Frankenstein 2000)

1991