Ruggero Deodato, the Italian director best known for the controversial and gruesome 1980 film Cannibal Holocaust, has died. He passed away at the age of 83 on Thursday, December 29, 2022.
For those of you who are unaware, let us share with you, Ruggero’s hyper-realistic found-footage horror movie Cannibal Holocaust got him behind the bars and it was banned in more than 50 countries. Read on to know the cause behind the death of Ruggero Deodato.
What was the cause behind the death of Ruggero Deodato?
According to a report by the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, Ruggero Deodato died in Rome on Thursday. He passed away at the age of 83. As of this moment, the cause of his death has not been revealed publicly.
Throughout the course of his career spanning over 6 decades, Deodato wrote and donned the directors’ cap for a dozen of movies as well as TV shows, but none was more notorious, controversial, or scrutinized than his 1980s movie Cannibal Holocaust.
The film Cannibal Holocaust’s intense and authentic-looking gore led many people to believe that local actors were actually murdered on screen. The movie received a red signal from the side of Italian authorities and later on, Ruggero was arrested by the police authorities and put on trial for murder and animal cruelty.
What was the movie ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ all about?
Let us share with all of you, Cannibal Holocaust was a pioneer of the found footage and mockumentary genres. The movie starred Robert Kerman as Harold Monroe, an anthropologist from New York University who leads a rescue team into the Amazon rainforest to locate a crew of filmmakers.
Along with Robert Kerman, the movie also starred Carl Gabriel Yorke, Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen, and Luca Barbareschi, in pivotal roles. The footage of the movie consisted of scenes of intense violence including horrific torture.
At the end of the day, Ruggero’s movie Cannibal Holocaust was banned in several countries. Deodato was put on trial for killing actors and sentenced to 30 years in prison but things changed when he made the supposedly dead men show up in the court. Soon after, the charges against him were dropped. Although, he was fined for obscenity.
Here’s all you need to know about Ruggero Deodato
Ruggero Deodato was born on May 7, 1939, in Potenza, Italy. He and his family moved to Rome when he was a child. Back in the day, he worked as an assistant director for Roberto Rossellini on Il Generale Della Rovere (1959) and Escape by Night (1960).
In addition to this, Deodato also worked for Sergio Corbucci on the spaghetti Westerns Django and Ringo and His Golden Pistol. Both of the films were released in the year 1966.
Some of Ruggero’s credits are Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976), Jungle Holocaust (1977), The House on the Edge of the Park (1980), Body Count (1986), The Barbarians (1987), The Washing Machine (1993) and Deathcember (2019).
Our love and prayers go out to the friends and entire family of Ruggero Deodato during this tragic time. Don’t forget to stay tuned with us for the latest updates from the world of showbiz.
