Return from Death (Frankenstein 2000)

{{no plot|date=September 2024}}

{{div col}}

• Donald O'Brien as Ric
• Cinzia Monreale as Georgia
• Maurice Poli as Hoffner
• Robin Tazusky as Stephen
• Riccardo Acerbi as Thomas
• Dan Dustman as Hans
• Mark Frank as Kurt
• Mark Quail as Erik
• Walter Travor as Strolls
• Martin Dansky as Dr. Frankenstein

{{div col end}}

The film marked Aristide Massaccesi's comeback as a horror director after several years away from the genre (excluding uncredited work on a few embattled shoots). This was in part due to his willingness to allocate his Filmirage company's best budgets to other members of his stable.{{cite magazine |last1=Farina |first1=Alberto |date=October 1992 |title=Attack of the Killer D'Amato |url=https://archive.org/details/Shivers_03/page/n11/mode/2up |magazine=Shivers |location=London |publisher=Visual Imagination|issue=3 |page=13 |issn=0965-8238}} At an early stage, the project was attached to Alberto Lonardi, usually an assistant director, perhaps for bureaucratic reasons.{{cite archive |author= | item =10381: '. Società Filmirage S.r.l.' (1990 - 1992) |url=https://patrimonioacs.cultura.gov.it/patrimonio/950f7f5b-4c5f-4a30-9d7f-3b48750f1fbf/10381-lessritorno-dalla-mortegreater-societa-filmirage-srl-1990-1992 |collection=Direzione generale dello spettacolo |fonds=Cinema |series=Lungometraggi |repository=Archivio Centrale dello Stato |institution=Italian Ministry of Culture |location =Rome}} Initially known as just Ritorno dalla morte, it originated from an unproduced script written by Masaccessi's protégé Michele Soavi, which did not contain Frankenstein themes and which Massaccesi compared to Patrick. That incarnation was due to enter production in November 1990. As with other Filmirage fantasy films, it would begin shooting in Italy, but would also include some location work in the U.S. to broaden its commercial appeal.{{cite web | url =https://www.splatting-image.com/?p=246 | title =Aus dem Archiv: Joe d'Amato im Gespräch | last1 =Estein| first1 =Axel |last2=Schweer |first2=Thomas | date =2014 |orig-date=1990 | work =Splatting Image | language =de | access-date =May 29, 2023}}

Ultimately, it did not proceed and Massaccesi decided to transform the film into a modern re-imagining of Frankenstein. He asked fellow director Lucio Fulci, for whom he was producing Door to Silence, to introduce him to his writer at the time, Antonio Tentori.{{cite web | url =https://www.davinotti.com/articoli/intervista-ad-antonio-tentori-scriptwriter/284 | title =Intervista ad Antonio Tentori, scriptwriter | author=Hackett | date =29 May 2009 | website =davinotti.com | language =it | access-date =April 2, 2023}} Tentori started the rewrites in early 1991, teaming up with Massaccesi's partner Donatella Donati while retaining sizeable components of Soavi's draft.{{cite AV media | people =Tentori, Antonio (screenwriter) | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ0QzO2PtCU | title =Intervista ad Antonio Tentori – Sceneggiatore | medium =DVD featurette | date=2007 | publisher =Minerva Pictures | language =it}}{{cite web | url =http://www.antoniotentori.it/frankenstein-2000-.html | title =Ritorno dalla morte – Frankenstein 2000 di Aristide Massaccesi (1992) |author= | website =antoniotentori.it | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301083630/http://www.antoniotentori.it/frankenstein-2000-.html |archive-date=1 March 2022}} Massaccesi re-watched James Whale's classic 1931 adaptation so that he could add visual nods to it during key scenes. He considered both Return from Death and Frankenstein 2000 as the title, and advertised the film under the latter name at the {{Interlanguage link|MIFED|it|Mercato internazionale del film e del documentario}} trade show.{{cite web | url =https://www.malastranavhs.com/recensioni/recensioni-di-andrea-lanza/ritorno-dalla-morte-frankenstein-2000/ | title =Ritorno dalla morte (Frankenstein 2000) | last1 =Lanza | first1 =Andrea | date =3 April 2019 | website =malastranavhs.com |via=Nocturno | language =it | access-date =May 29, 2023}} The picture had a listed budget of slightly less than ITL 2 billion, equivalent to about US$1.6 million at the time.

As the project marked Massaccesi's return to horror, he cast Cinzia Monreale, who had starred in his well regarded Buio Omega, in the female lead. Although Italian-based Donald O'Brien had previously worked for him as well, the Irish actor was hired through a twist of fate, after a domestic accident left him with a limp that reminded the director of the creature's gait in the classic Universal films. Despite the Anglophone pseudonyms found in the credits, the make-up effects were done by Fantastudio Produzioni, an Italian team headed by Danilo Del Monte.{{cite magazine |last1=Lavagnini |first1=Massimo F. |date=1997 |title=Massimo F. Lavagnini meets 'Bloody Tree' creator Danilo Del Monte |url=https://archive.org/details/Draculina_26/page/n45/mode/2up |magazine=Draculina |location=Glen Carbon |publisher=Draculina Publishing |issue=26 |pages=48–49}}

Photography started in the Rome agglomeration in March 1992, using the former Dino De Laurentiis studios, then known as Kinepolis.{{cite magazine |last1=Farina |first1=Alberto |date=August 1992 |title=D'Amato Ketchup |url=https://archive.org/details/Shivers_02/page/n15/mode/2up |magazine=Shivers |location=London |publisher=Visual Imagination|issue=3 |page=15 |issn=0965-8238}}{{cite web | url =https://www.davinotti.com/forum/location-verificate/ritorno-dalla-morte-frankenstein-2000/50006204 | title =Ritorno dalla morte - Frankenstein 2000 (1992): Location verificate | author= | website =davinotti.com | language =it | access-date =April 2, 2023}} Early into production, D'Amato announced that he intended to shoot the film's exteriors in Vienna, Austria, as he wanted the investigation scenes to have a different feel than the mafia movies that often used the Italian capital as a backdrop. The finished product does include a few establishing shots of Mariazell, an Austrian town which was a principal location of Filmirage's contemporary erotic thriller Sul filo del rasoio. However, exteriors featuring the main actors were all filmed around Rome and the neighboring city of Viterbo.

Return from Death was presented on June 13, 1993, at the Fantafestival in Rome.{{cite news |author= |date=13 June 1993 |url=https://archive.org/details/unita_1993-06-13/page/n25/mode/2up |title=Roma: Cinema & Teatri |newspaper=L'Unità |location=Rome |page=26}} Audience reaction was reportedly unfavorable, and it was the film's only theatrical showing in Italy. It was also seen at Eurofest in London, United Kingdom, on 7 October 1995 in what was promoted as an international premiere.{{cite book |last1=Barley |first1=Trevor |last2=Brown |first2=Paul J. |title=Eurofest 95 – The Programme |date=1995 |publisher=Festival Promotions |pages=3–4}}

The film failed to gain traction, and general release eluded it for years in Italy as in many other territories. In 2007, Raro Video, an imprint of Italian major Minerva Pictures, issued it as part of their "Horror Club" collection, in what was billed as collector's edition DVD.{{cite web | url =https://www.sentieriselvaggi.it/il-ritorno-dalla-morte-frankenstein-2000-vendita/ | title =Il Ritorno dalla morte – Frankenstein 2000 (Vendita) | author= | date =22 January 2007 | website =sentieriselvaggi.it |language=it | access-date =April 28, 2024}} The version offered on that disc features English language dialogue, although it has been described as sounding unnatural in places.

{{Infobox album

| name = Original Soundtrack Music from the Films: La Casa 3 – Ghosthouse / Frankenstein 2000 – Ritorno dalla morte

| type = film

| artist = Piero Montanari

| released = 1999

| genre = {{hlist|Electronic, ambient}}

| length = 60:45{{cite web | url =http://www.beatrecords.it/shop.asp?lingua=e&idprodotto=CDCR49 | title =La Casa 3 Ghosthouse – Frankenstain 2000 Ritorno dalla morte (CD) | author= | website =beatrecords.it | access-date =April 2, 2023}}

| label = Beat Records Company

| producer =

| misc =

}}

Louis Paul, author of the book Italian Horror Film Directors, was unimpressed, deeming Frankenstein 2000 "disappointing" and "an unsuccessful attempt at a comeback within the confines of the science-fiction and horror genres". He added that it suffered from "a low budget" and "an obvious lack of enthusiasm, which even affects the cast". In his Horror and Science Fiction Films compendium, Donald C. Willis concurred and summed up the film as a "[c]lumsy attempt to transfer the myth of Frankenstein to modern times."{{cite book |last1=Willis |first1=Donald C. |date=1997 |url=https://archive.org/details/horrorsciencefic0000will_u7a9/page/420/mode/2up |title=Horror and Science Fiction Films |volume=IV |location=Lanham |publisher=The Scarecrow Press |pages=421 |isbn=0810830558}} Massaccesi later felt that the audience had missed a number of the film's Frankenstein references, which contributed to its underwhelming reception.

The film's soundtrack was composed and produced by Filmirage regular Piero Montanari. A compilation album featuring thirteen tracks from this film, as well as cuts from another Filmirage production, Ghosthouse, was released by Italian label Beat Records Company in 1999.{{cite web | url =https://www.discogs.com/release/645411-Piero-Montanari-La-Casa-3-Ghosthouse-Frankenstain-2000 | title =Piero Montanari – La Casa 3 - Ghosthouse / Frankenstain 2000 | author= | website =discogs.com | access-date =April 28, 2024}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|0105245|Frankenstein 2000 – Ritorno dalla morte}}

Category:1990s Italian films

Category:1992 films

Category:1992 horror films

Category:Films directed by Joe D'Amato

Category:Films set in Austria

Category:Italian exploitation films

Category:Italian independent films

Category:Italian gothic horror films