Mondo film

Mondo films are a subgenre of exploitation films and documentary films. Many mondo films are made in a way to resemble a pseudo-documentary and usually depicting sensational topics, scenes, or situations. Common traits of mondo films include portrayals of foreign cultures (which have drawn accusations of ethnocentrism or racism),[1] an emphasis on taboo subjects such as death and sex, and staged sequences presented as genuine documentary footage. Over time, the films have placed increasing emphasis on footage of the dead and dying (both real and fake). [2] The genre is also noted for the graphic footage of death and deceased people often shown in many such films, leading to the popular nickname of "death film".

The term "mondo" is derived from the Italian word for "world". The term shockumentary is also used to describe the genre.

Mondo films began to soar in popularity in the 1960s with the release of Mondo Cane (1962), Women of the World (1963) and Africa Addio (1966). The genre arguably reached its peak with Faces of Death in 1978, a film that inspired a myriad of imitators, such as the Traces of Death series, Banned from Television, Death Scenes and The Faces of Gore series.

History

Although earlier films such as Alessandro Blasetti's Europa di notte (Europe By Night, 1959) and Luigi Vanzi's Il mondo di notte (World By Night, 1961) may be considered examples of the genre,[3] the origins of the mondo documentary are generally traced to the 1962 Italian film Mondo Cane (A Dog's World—a mild Italian profanity) by Paolo Cavara, Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi which was a commercial success.[4][5][6]

Documentary films imitating Mondo Cane in the 1960s often included the term "mondo" in their titles, even if they were in English; examples include Mondo Bizarro, Mondo Daytona, Mondo Mod, Mondo Infame and Mondo Hollywood.[7] Films outside the genre followed suit: Mondo Trasho, Mondo Weirdo: A Trip to Paranoia Paradise, Mondo Keyhole[8] and Mondo Brutale (a German release of Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left[9]) title themselves mondo, although none are mondo documentaries. Later in the decade, this naming convention began to fall out of favour and fewer mondo films identified themselves as such in their titles.[7]

Filmmakers wanted to top each other in shock value to attract audiences. Cruelty to animals, accidents, tribal-initiation rites and surgeries are features of a typical mondo. Much of the action is staged, although the filmmakers may claim their goal is to document "reality". Subjects of mondo films include sex (Mondo Sex and Mondo Sexualis USA); celebrities (Mondo Elvis and Mondo Lugosi); youth culture (Mondo Teeno) and the gay subculture (Mondo Rocco).

Russ Meyer's film Mondo Topless was one of the few "documentaries" restricted to the old midnight movie circuit in the pre-VCR era; it explored strip clubs in 1960s San Francisco at a time when strip clubs were a novelty in the United States, restricted to centers of port-city decadence (such as San Francisco). Other examples of this genre include Mondo New York by Harvey Keith, Mondo di Notte by Gianni Proia and Mondo Balordo by Roberto Bianchi Montero.

The 1980s saw a resurgence of mondo movies focusing almost exclusively on (onscreen) death, instead of world cultures. The Faces of Death series is a notable example of this type of mondo (or "death") movie. The producers used fake footage (passed off as real), but some of the footage was legitimate (including scenes of autopsies, suicides and accidents).

The rare 1985 film Mondo Senza Veli (World Without Veils or Mondo Fresh) was purported by viewers to feature at its end the brutal execution of a young Arab rapist by public rectal impalement. This episode was, however, believed to have been a staged execution by some viewers.

Mondo films in the 21st century feature gore, exemplified by the Faces of Gore and Traces of Death series. There is less fake footage, and many use news footage of accidents from East Asia.

A number of films have parodied the genre. Examples include Ricardo Fratelli's Mondo Ford; Mr. Mike's Mondo Video by Saturday Night Live's Michael O'Donoghue and Is There Sex After Death? by Jeanne and Alan Abel. Mondo Beyondo spoofed the films' approach to titling, but was a parody of satellite television.[10] The Italian cannibal film is arguably an offshoot of the mondo film.[8]

Films

The original mondo film series was the Mondo Cane series by Gualtiero Jacopetti, Paolo Cavara, and Franco Prosperi. When this type of film proved successful, many imitators followed.

Jacopetti and Prosperi

Title	Year	Country	Director and screenplay	Music	Uncut run time	Notes
Mondo Cane	1962	Italy	Gualtiero Jacopetti Paolo Cavara Franco E. Prosperi	Riz Ortolani	108 minutes	R-rated run time 85 minutes
La donna nel mondo	1963			Riz Ortolani Nino Oliviero	107 minutes	a.k.a. Women of the World
Mondo Cane 2	1963		Gualtiero Jacopetti Franco Prosperi	Nino Oliviero	95 minutes	R-rated run time 76 minutes; a.k.a.Mondo Pazzo
Africa Addio	1966			Riz Ortolani	139 minutes	Unrated English version 128 minutes; R-rated version 80 minutes
Addio Zio Tom	1971				136 minutes	Unrated English version 123 minutes; a.k.a.Goodbye Uncle Tom

The pair's Mondo candido (1975) is not a "Mondo" film; the title was imposed on them by the studio, who wished to cash in on their earlier successes. The film is a retelling of Voltaire's novel, Candide.

In the late 1980s Stelvio Massi (a.k.a. Max Steele) made two spinoffs of the original Mondo Cane series, known as Mondo Cane 3 and Mondo Cane 4 on video.

Max Steele

Title	Year	Country	Director and cinematography	Screenplay	Uncut run time	Notes
Mondo Cane Oggi	1986	Italy	Stelvio Massi	Stelvio Massi	78 minutes	aka Mondo Cane 3
Mondo Cane 2000, l'Incredibile	1988			G. Crisanti	73 minutes	aka Mondo Cane 4

In 1969, brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni began to make a series of their own mondo films until the early 1980s. They made five films in all, tying Jacopetti and Prosperi as the most prolific mondo film producers. Each film examines brutal and bizarre behavior on the African continent. Their films are considered some of the most graphic Mondo films ever made.

Castiglioni Brothers

Title	Year	Country	Directors	Music	Notes
Africa Segreta	1969	Italy	Angelo Castiglioni Alfredo Castiglioni	Angelo Francesco Lavagnino	aka Secret Africa; uncut run time 103 min
Africa Ama	1971				aka Africa Uncensored
Magia Nuda	1975			Ciro Dammicco (credited as Zacar)	aka Mondo Magic
Addio Ultimo Uomo	1978			Franco Godi	aka The Last Savage
Africa Dolce e Selvaggia	1982				aka Shocking Africa

Antonio Climati, cinematographer to Prosperi and Jacopetti in many mondo films, joined Mario Morra in 1974 to produce their own string of mondo films, known as the Savage Trilogy. Prosperi also produced the films. Climati and Morra were known for staging scenes.

Savage Trilogy

Title	Year	Country	Director and Screenplay	Music	Notes
Ultime grida dalla savana	1975	Italy	Antonio Climati Mario Morra	Carlo Savina	aka Savage Man Savage Beast; uncut run time 94 min
Savana violenta	1976			Guido De Angelis Maurizio De Angelis	aka This Violent World
Dolce e selvaggio	1983			Daniele Patucchi	aka Sweet and Savage

The 1978 Faces of Death popularized a Mondo style known as "death films", which depicted humans or animals dying in graphic ways.

John Alan Schwartz

Title	Year	Director	Screenplay	Notes
The Faces of Death Series	1978–1996	John Alan Schwartz	John Alan Schwartz	Six parts
The Worst of Faces of Death	1987			Compilation of first three Faces of Death films
Faces of Death: Fact or Fiction?	1999		John Alan Schwartz James B. Schwartz	Documentary about Faces of Death

Uwe Schier bought the rights to the Mondo Cane and Faces of Death films and released his own entries in both series, consisting largely of footage lifted from other mondo films. Faces of Death 5 draws heavily on Death Scenes; Faces of Death 6 consists almost entirely of Days of Fury and Mondo Cane IV (not to be confused with Mondo Cane 2000, l'Incredibile, Schier's Mondo Cane IV is in fact the fifth film in the series) lifts from other films (including Death Scenes and Death Faces IV).[11] In 1993, Hurricane Pictures edited a mix of scenes featured in Addio ultimo uomo and Shocking Africa, labeling it the "fifth chapter" of the saga (Teil V in German).

Uwe Schier

Title	Year	Country	Notes
Mondo Cane IV	1992	Germany
Mondo Cane teil V	1993		aka Mondo Cane 5; producers Uwe Schier and Gian Carlo Rossi
Faces of Death 5	1995
Faces of Death 6	1996

Several imitators followed the Faces of Death series; many used (or were composed entirely of) footage from other mondo films.

Faces of Death imitators

Title	Year	Director	Screenplay	Music	Notes
Banned from Television	1998	Joe Francis		APM Music	Three parts; released in the US by Mantra Films. Banned in the UK by the BBFC
Banned! In America	1998–2003	Nomo Ichi		Delta 9	Six parts; released in the US by Brain Damage Films.
The Traces of Death Series	1993–2000	Damon Fox		J. R. Bookwalter	Five parts
The Faces of Gore Series	1999–2000	Todd Tjersland			Three parts
The Best of Faces of Gore	2000				Compilation video

Other films

Title	Year	Country	Director	Screenplay	Music	Notes
Mondo Nudo	1963	Italy	Francesco De Feo	Gian Carlo Fusco Giuseppe Marotta	Teo Usuelli	aka Naked World
I Tabu	1963		Romolo Marcellini	Ugo Guerra		aka Taboos of the World
Il Pelo nel Mondo	1964		Antonio Margheriti Marco Vicario	Antonio Margheriti Marco Vicario	Bruno Nicolai Nino Oliviero	aka Go Go Go World and Weird, Wicked World
Kwaheri: Vanishing Africa	1964	United States	Thor L. Brooks Byron Chudnow	Michael Vittes	Byron Ross
I Malamondo	1964	Italy	Paolo Cavara	Guido Castaldo Paolo Cavara Ugo Gregoretti Francesco Torti	Ennio Morricone
Le Schiave Esistono Ancora	1964		Maleno Malenotti Roberto Malenotti Folco Quilici	Baccio Bandini Gianfranco Calderoni Roberto Malenotti	Teo Usuelli	aka Slave Trade in the World Today
Ecco	1964		Gianni Proia	R.W Cresse	Riz Ortolani	aka This Shocking World
Mondo Balordo	1964		Roberto Bianchi Montero	Guido Castaldo Francesco Torti	Coriolano Gori Nino Rosso	English version narrated by Boris Karloff
L'amore primitivo	1964		Luigi Scattini	Massimo Pupillo Luigi Scattini	Lallo Gori	aka Primitive Love
Mondo Topless	1966	United States	Russ Meyer		The Aladdins
Mondo Freudo	1966		Lee Frost		Rodney Lee Bermingham The Duvals Chuck Morgan Bill Wild
Mondo Bizarro	1966		Lee Frost		Lawrence Von Lattman
Macabro	1966	Italy	Romolo Marcellini	Giancarlo Del Re
Our Incredible World	1966	United Kingdom	Edward Stewart Abraham			aka The Mystery and the Pleasure
Mondo Hollywood	1967	United States	Robert Carl Cohen		Mike Curb
Sweden: Heaven and Hell	1968	Italy	Luigi Scattini		Piero Umiliani
L'altra faccia del peccato	1969		Marcello Avallone	Giacinto Ciaccio Massimo D'Avak	Peppino De Luca	aka The Queer, the Erotic
Mille peccati... nessuna virtù			Sergio Martino		Peppino De Luca	aka Mondo Sex
Inghilterra nuda			Vittorio De Sisti	Pino De Martino Ettore Mattia	Piero Piccioni	aka Naked England
America così nuda, così violenta	1970		Sergio Martino	Luciano Martino	Bruno Nicolai	aka Naked and Violent
Shocking Asia	1974	West Germany	Rolf Olsen	Rolf Olsen Ingeborg Stein Steinbach	Erwin Halletz	Uncut run time 94 min.
Notti Porno nel Mondo	1977	Italy	Bruno Mattei		Gianni Marchetti	aka Mondo Erotica
This Is America	1977	United States	Romano Vanderbes		Emmanuel Vardi	aka Crazy Ridiculous American People (UK), Jabberwalk
Brutes and Savages	1978		Arthur Davis	Jenny Craven	Riz Ortolani
Mr. Mike's Mondo Video	1979		Michael O'Donoghue	Mitch Glazer	Paul Shaffer
This Is America Part 2	1980		Romano Vanderbes	Bill Milling	Emmanuel Vardi
Days of Fury	1980		Fred Warshofsky			aka Doomsday
Cannibal Holocaust	1980	Italy	Ruggero Deodato	Gianfranco Clerici	Riz Ortolani
Des Morts	1981	France/Belgium	Jean-Pol Ferbus Dominique Garny Thierry Zéno		Alain Pierre	aka Of the Dead; uncut run time 105 min.
Great White Death	1981	Canada/United States	Jean-Patrick Lebel		Jean Sauvageau	aka Sharks! Pirates of the Deep
The Killing of America	1982	United States	Sheldon Renan Leonard Schrader	Chieko Schrader Leonard Schrader	W. Michael Lewis Mark Lindsay	aka Violence U.S.A. in Japan; uncut run time 90 min.
Shocking Asia II: The Last Taboos	1985	West Germany	Rolf Olsen		Erwin Halletz
True Gore	1987	United States	M. Dixon Causey		Monte Cazazza The Atom Smashers
Mondo New York	1988		Harvey Keith	Harvey Keith David Silver	Luis Perico Ortiz	Uncut run time 83 min.
Death Scenes	1989		Nick Bougas	Nick Bougas F.B. Vincinzo	Richard Gibson
Empire of Madness	1989		M. Dixon Causey			aka True Gore II
Death Scenes 2	1992		Nick Bougas	Nick Bougas Tom Lavagnino
Mondo Ford	2001		Scott Calonico Ricardo Fratelli			Uncut run time 7 min.
Man VS Man	2004	Italy	Davide Lingua Giuseppe Vercellotti
Murder Collection V.1	2009	United States	Fred Vogel	Don Moore Fred Vogel Shelby Vogel Jerami Cruise
Mondo Sexxxx: The Terry Kobrah Story	2011		Logan Myers
Mondo Delirium	2011	Italy	Flavio Sciolè			Uncut run time 170 min.
Made in Italy	2012		Jephta
Mondomanila	2012	Philippines	Khavn
Most Disturbed Person On Planet Earth	2013	United States	Thomas Extreme Cinemagore
Most Disturbed Person On Planet Earth 2	2014		Thomas Extreme Cinemagore
Mondo CANEvese	2016	Italy	Davide Lingua Pasquale Vigilante
At the shadow of the tower	2017		Davide Lingua Luigi D'Alessandro Fabio Tosa
Heart of Africa	2018		Davide Lingua Pasquale Vigilante
Most Disturbed Person On Planet Earth 3	2019	United States	Thomas Extreme Cinemagore

See also

• Shocking Asia
• Snuff film

References

1. Kerekes & Slater, p. 108.
2. Mondo New York (1988) The New York Times
3. Kerekes & Slater, p. 102.
4. Mondo Cane (1962) The New York Times
5. Revisiting a Cinematic Smackdown, and Other Avant-Garde Pleasures The New York Times, October 1, 2009
6. Mondo Cane Variety Reviews, December 31, 1961
7. Kerekes & Slater, p. 107.
8. Kerekes & Slater, p. 109.
9. Kerekes & Slater, p. 315.
10. Kerekes & Slater, p. 155.
11. Kerekes & Slater, pp. 156-158.

Bibliography

• RE/Search No. 10: Incredibly Strange Films: A Guide to Deviant Films. RE/Search Publications 1986, ISBN 0-940642-09-3
• Brottman, Mikita: Mondo Horror. Carnivalizing the Taboo. In: Prince, Stephen (ed.) 2004: The horror film. S. 167-188. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0813533635.
• Goodall, Mark 2006: Sweet & Savage. The World Through the Shockumentary Film Lens. London: Headpress. ISBN 978-1900486491. (the standard work on the mondo and cannibal genre)
• Goodall, Mark 2006: Shockumentary Evidence. The perverse politics of the Mondo film. In: Dennison, Stephanie (Hg.) 2006: Remapping world cinema. Identity, culture and politics in film. S. 118-128. London: Wallflower. ISBN 978-1904764625.
• Kerekes, David; Slater, David 2006: Killing for culture. Death film from Shockumentaries to snuff. Manchester: Headpress. ISBN 1900486636.
• Stefano Loparco, 'Gualtiero Jacopetti - Graffi sul mondo'. The first complete biography dedicated to the co-director of 'Mondo cane'. Il Foglio Letterario, 2014 - ISBN 9788876064760
• Shipka, Danny 2011: Perverse titillation. The exploitation cinema of Italy, Spain and France, 1960-1980. Jefferson: Mcfarland. ISBN 978-0786448883.

External links

• Vomit Bag Video
• Mondo / Death
• The Internet Mondo Movie Database (ImMDB)