''Until Death'' () is a 1988 Italian

made-for-TV A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terrestr ...

horror film directed by

Lamberto Bava Lamberto Bava (born 3 April 1944) is an Italian film director. Born in Rome, Italy, Rome, Bava began working as an assistant director for his director father Mario Bava. Lamberto co-directed the 1979 television film ''La Venere d'Ille'' with his f ...

Plot

Eight years ago, Linda (Gioia Scola) and her lover Carlo ( David Brandon) murdered Linda's husband Luca ( Roberto Pedicini), while she was pregnant with his son. They hid the corpse and since then they have run a small hotel near a fishing lake. One rainy night, a drifter named Marco ( Urbano Barberini) arrives at the hotel with apparent knowledge of Linda's dead husband.

Production

Following the success of ''

Demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in media including fiction, comics, film, t ...

'', ''

Demons 2 ''Demons 2'' () is a 1986 Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava and produced by Dario Argento. It is a sequel to Bava's 1985 film ''Demons'' and stars David Knight, Nancy Brilli, Coralina Cataldi Tassoni, as well as Argento's youngest da ...

'' and other foreign horror films in Italy, the company Reiteitalia announced in July 1986 that a series titled ''Brivido giallo'' which would be made, featuring five made-for-television films directed by

. Ultimately, four were made between 1987 and 1988: '' Graveyard Disturbance'', ''Until Death'', '' The Ogre'' and ''

Dinner with a Vampire ''Dinner with a Vampire'' () is a 1989 Italian television film, television horror film directed by Lamberto Bava and written by Dardano Sacchetti. It was among four films made for the Italian television series ''Brivido Giallo''. Plot Four act ...

''. ''Until Death'' was based on an older script by

Dardano Sacchetti Dardano Sacchetti (born 1944) is an Italian screenwriter who often worked with Italian directors Lamberto Bava and Lucio Fulci. Screenwriting Sacchetti was born in 1944, in Italy. His first screen credit was for Dario Argento's film ''The Cat o' N ...

. Director

Lucio Fulci Lucio Fulci (; 17 June 1927 – 13 March 1996) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including Commedia all'italiana, comedies and spagh ...

claimed to have created the original story for the film under title ''Evil Comes Back'', based on the 1934 novel '' The Postman Always Rings Twice''. Fulci claimed that Sacchetti then wrote it up and submitted it to several producers with Fulci's name attached, and then found it sold to

Luciano Martino Luciano Martino (22 December 1933 – 14 August 2013) was an Italian film producer, director and screenwriter. Biography Born in Naples, the brother of the director and screenwriter Sergio Martino, he was active in the cinema industry since the ...

with only Sacchetti's name attached. Fulci decided not to sue Sacchetti but broke off relations with the screenwriter. Sacchetti claimed that he was working on a script about sex and ghosts but couldn't choose which one to focus on; Fulci asked him what he was working on, and then took the film to various producers without it going into production. Sacchetti claimed Fulci went as far as having it translated into English without Sacchetti's knowledge. While working on ''Brivido giallo'', Sacchetti stated that Bava knew about the script and asked if it was still available for the series as they required one more episode.

Release

''Until Death'' was released on home video in Germany in November 1988. It had its television premiere in Italy, being shown on August 15, 1989 on

Italia 1 Italia 1 (Italian pronunciation ) is an Italian free-to-air television channel on the Mediaset network, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is aimed at both a young adult and adult audience. Italia 1 was launched on 3 January 1982 and, was or ...

. In some markets, the film was promoted as a sequel to the film '' The Changeling'' as ''The Changeling 2''. MYA Communications released the film for the first time ever on region 1

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in 2009 with the ''Until Death'' title.

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* {{The Postman Always Rings Twice 1988 horror films Films directed by Lamberto Bava 1980s supernatural horror films Italian supernatural horror films Films scored by Simon Boswell 1988 television films 1988 films Italian horror television films 1980s Italian-language films 1980s Italian films