LATERNA MAGICA

- a short Kult scenario written by Jonas Hedkvist

* Premise

This scenario was written with a somewhat different background

than your ordinary Kult scenarios. It was written and plotted that

the players would be playing themselves instead of some fictional

character. This means that if player Peter Jones was going to play

this scenario, he would be playing the character Peter Jones. I did

this mainly to try something new and to let my players try out the

Kult mythology in the "real" world. If this doesn't suit your style of

play, please ignore it. It doesn't take a lot of changes to make it fit

into *your* game.

* Background

The players are going to visit a friend who has recently moved to a

big city to start a new job. They have all kept contact during the

five to six months that the friend has been away from them. They

are going to sleep over in his apartment and they are going to stay

there for three (possibly four) days. While they are there, they are

going to play a game of Kult, written by their friend. Everyone

looks forward to it and thinks it will be great fun to play Kult. The

thing is that the friend has been drawn into Inferno, due to the

trilogy of movies made by Italian horror director Dario Fabrici. He

was planning to write a cool Kult scenario and joined the Kult

Mailing List to get advice and inspiration, and there he heard about

the three movies "Demon Might", "Torn Flesh" and "Night of the

Burning" by Fabrici, and that there are rumors about mysterious

disappearances from college campuses while these films were being

shown. The friend thinks this could make a great scenario for Kult

and started to look for information about Fabrici and the films. He

found a video store who sold obscure horror movies and there he

found the three by Fabrici. He ordered them and started to work on

the scenario. The very week that the friends are coming to visit

him, he gets a call from the video store, saying that the Fabrici films

have arrived. He goes and pays for them and takes them home to

watch. He's a bit busy, so he can't watch them until the night before

the friends are coming, but then he decides to watch them all in a

row. When he gets to the third movie, things start to happen around

him. The heat rises, the front door and the windows are impossible

to open or to break. The TV and the VCR cannot be turned off.

When only minutes remain of the third movie (Night of the

Burning), huge cracks appear in the walls around him. Then a

blinding flash and he finds himself in Inferno, in the purgatory that

Dario Fabrici created for himself. He will never make it back.

(Note: when I ran this scenario, I was that friend, lost in Inferno. It

felt really strange talking about me in third person, knowing that I

could not be saved, but it worked out great anyway)

The first players arrive the next day, but are not greeted by the

friend as they had agreed on. This is where the scenario starts...

* Day One *

The players have not talked to the friend today. If they try to reach

him (at work or home), he's not there. He hasn't called in sick today

and he's not supposed to be away as far as anyone knows. If he has

an answering machine, it turned on as usual. They are in this big

city and their friend seems to have forgotten about them. What to

do? The last time anyone talked to him was yesterday evening, and

then he didn't mention anything about being gone. They have his

address anyway, so they can take a cab there if they want. The door

is closed but not locked. Inside his apartment is a strange smell. It

doesn't smell bad, but actually quite nice. It does take a while for

the players to recognize it, however. It's the smell of vanilla. A

very heavy scent of vanilla fills the apartment. If they specify that

they are trying to locate where the smell is coming from, they can be

told that it smells the most from around the TV, mainly between the

TV and the wall behind it. The TV has gone into stand-by mode

(which it does about 10 minutes after the broadcast has stopped),

but the VCR is on. It seems as if there is a videotape in it.

- Clues in the apartment:

THE VIDEO

On the small table in front of the couch, there is a glass lying on its

side. Some Coca Cola has spilled across the table and dried up.

On the floor next to the couch is a videocassette cover. It seems to

be an Italian horror movie called "Night of the Burning". The cover

shows a extreme close-up of a man's wide-open eye. Reflecting in

the eye is the shadow of a man reaching out to the man with the eye.

The shadow holds something that might be a knife in his hand. The

back has the following text printed: "Horrible dreams haunt

Antonio Gebrassi, telling him that he can only find security in the

underground. When his psychiatrist is brutally murdered, Antonio

flees the city and finds a place deep below Rome's busy streets.

And when he has finally come to terms with the life far away from

the sun, the dreams start to disappear. But only to become a

horrifying reality. And Antonio finally finds out what the strange

signs on his arms really means...

A new terrifying tale of ancient madness as told by the master of

psychological horror, Dario Fabrici."

A picture shows a man crucified on a steel construction tower

(those things that the workers are standing on when they are

working high up in the air). His arms are covered with blood and

there is only darkness around him. It doesn't seem to be a rental. If

the players check the VCR, they find that the film that's currently in

is in fact "Night of the Burning". It's wound back to the start

(which the VCR does when the tape is finished).

THE RECEIPT

If the players look in the garbage can, the can find a receipt from a

video store called Velvet Video where it appears that the friend

bought three movies only three days ago. The movies are not

named by name, only by number. There is an address and a phone

number to the store.

THE VIDEO CATALOGUE

If the players search the apartment they will find a video catalogue

from Velvet Video where there a lots of films that can be ordered.

Beneath the headline "Horror, Italian" the players can find the

following:

"Fabrici, Dario

Rotting Christ, 85 min Col. (price here - but I don't know

what's a reasonable price for a video everywhere around the world

so you have to fill it in yourself)

Demon Might, 102 min B/W

Torn Flesh, 96 min Col.

Night of the Burning, 110 min Col."

The store is open Mon-Sat 11 am - 8 pm, Sun 2 pm - 8 pm.

There's also a phone number and an address.

VELVET VIDEO

If the players call VV or go there, they will find a very nice store

with lots of "cool" movies. Hong-Kong action, independent,

classics, foreign, horror, science-fiction, you name it and they got it.

If they ask about Dario Fabrici, they will be told that they only sell

them when ordered, so they don't have them in the store. The can

confirm that three of them were sold only a couple of days ago.

They can, if the players can come up with a clever excuse, also tell

them that another person has recently ordered them. This person is

one Thomas Carr. Perhaps the players can get his phone number as

well?! They can learn that it takes about one month to receive

ordered Fabrici films. They can also learn that he's not asked for

very frequently, in fact almost never. They have only had three

orders for him for the last four years (An unknown for almost four

years ago, the friend for about a month ago, and Thomas Carr for

about a week ago). If the players ask about the three movies, the

can be given an abbreviated version of what is told under THE

MOVIES.

A POST-IT NOTE

In one of the friends jacket pockets (all the jackets are still here,

and so are his shoes and keys to the front door), the players can find

a post-it note with a WWW-address on. The address is:

http://www.cat.pdx.edu/~caseyh/horror/index.html and it leads to

The Cabinet of Dr. Casey where they can find information about

Dario Fabrici and his films. See under DARIO FABRICI and THE

MOVIES.

THOMAS CARR

If the players call Thomas Carr, an answering machine will start

regardless of when they call. It's a man talking and he sounds quite

young. The message is: "You have reached Thomas Carr and

Dragon Rouge. Leave your name and your number and I will get

back to you as soon as possible. *Beep*".

If the players leave a message, he will not get back to them until

the very last day. Dragon Rouge is a Satanic cult which the players

probably have heard about. They are semi-known for their

seriousness in their Satanic beliefs. They are not, however,

involved in anyway with the friends disappearance. Thomas Carr,

who is Dragon Rouge's founder and leader, has learned that Fabrici

made three movies which might work as a portal to hell. He has

ordered the films to check out the truth behind this rumor. He won't

answer his door until the last day either, but if the players finally get

hold of him, he can reveal what little he knows. But first let the

players think that he might be involved in the disappearance and let

them sweat for a while...

MAIL FROM THE KULT MAILING LIST

In one of the friends drawers the players can find a couple of mails

that the friend has printed out from the Kult Mailing List. Each of

these mails talks about movies which has Kult mood or which

could serve as an inspiration for creating your own scenarios.

(NOTE: I took some real mail from this list and edited in a couple

of lines about Fabrici and the three movies that he made.). The

players can of course e-mail the people that has sent this mail to the

list, but if they get any reply and what they might reveal is up to the

keeper. The players should realize that it was here that the friend

got the idea of buying these films.

THE COMPUTER

The friend also has a laptop computer which the players can

investigate. There they can find a file called "LATERNA1.WPD"

(or .DOC if you want him to run Word). If they open the file in

Word Perfect, they can read the intro to an scenario that the friend

has started to write. The scenario is called "LATERNA MAGICA"

and the intro reads like this:

"The players arrive to visit their friend [insert friends name here]

only to find that he's missing. He doesn't come and meet them at

the airport (or whichever way they travel), and no one answers the

phone when the call him. He isn't at work and he hasn't called in

sick today. The last time someone talked to him is yesterday

evening, and they agreed to meet when the players arrived. If they

go to his apartment they will find the door closed but not locked. If

they go inside, the friend isn't there. There are a number of clues in

the apartment which the players can investigate:"

It would appear that their friend was planning on writing a

scenario which involved him and his own disappearance when

suddenly he disappeared for real. The truth is this: The friend had

heard about Fabrici and the movies. He had also heard about the

strange disappearances connected with the movies. He thought that

would make a good idea; pretending that he had disappeared when

he watched the movies. Then he got hold of the movies from Velvet

Video. He thought it would make a great prop for the scenario.

The players could actually watch the movies that was said to cause

these disappearances. Then he watched them himself, for real. And

he was drawn into Inferno and the purgatory of Dario Fabrici. For

real. And with him, the two first movies of the trilogy, leaving only

"Night of the Burning" behind.

* Night 1 *

If the players watch the movie that's left behind, they will have this

experience. If they sleep over in the friends apartment, they will

have this experience. It's due to fact that the Illusion is so weak in

the apartment right now that sometimes things break through.

ONE

A player is awakened by a strange sound coming from the

TV-room. It's almost as if someone is moving around in there. If

the player doesn't investigate the sound, he will hear a screeching

noise, like when you draw your nails against a blackboard. The

sound gets louder and louder until it suddenly stops, and the air is

heavy with silence. If the player goes into the TV-room at this

point, all he can do is smell a faint scent of vanilla. If he goes into

the TV-room before this, he can suddenly hear a man's voice very

quite, coming from the TV which isn't on. The man whispers

something in a foreign language, perhaps Spanish or Italian. If

anyone understands Italian, they can hear that the man says "Please

let me go...". Suddenly the TV is turned on, tuned to a channel

which only shows static.

Behind the static, the player can see the close-up of a man's face..

He is weary, tired and dirty. He has a fresh cut across his left cheek

and dirty long hair. He also has a gun to his head. It's impossible

to make out if it's the man or someone else who is holding the gun.

Then he looks up, into the TV and says in Italian, "Forgive Me".

He starts to fade out when a shot rings out. The TV turns black.

It's back to Stand-by. If the player is shown a picture of Dario

Fabrici, he recognize him as the man in the TV.

TWO

This player awakens suddenly, as if out of a nightmare. When he

looks around he imagines things like "That picture wasn't hanging

that crooked when I went to bed.", "The figurine in the bookshelf

was turned the other way when I turned out the lights." and so on

when he suddenly hears a whining sound from the TV-room. It

sounds as if it's blowing in there. If he goes to investigate the sound

stops when he enters the room and everything is quiet.

Suddenly the TV turns on and static flickers on the screen. From

"behind" the static voices can be heard. They cry, sob, whispers and

sighs. Suddenly a loud short scream tears through the room and a

bloody hand print splatters up on the screen. If the player is brave

and quick, he can touch the screen. If he does so, he will notice that

the hand print is on the inside. Then the screen goes black and the

TV turns off. If the screen is checked again, the hand print is gone.

Anyone else who stays in the same room or apartment is awakened

when the scream comes if they are not wakened before.

* Clues *

These are clues that the players can find when they search for

information in the city or elsewhere:

HORROR FILM FESTIVAL

If the players goes to Velvet Video or a "good" bookstore to search

for information about Fabrici (a good bookstore means those who

have books about splatter and gore films as well as of masters of

horror), they can see a poster on the walls of these stores. The

poster is also placed on the entrance wall to the subway, so the

players can see it just about anywhere. The poster says that there is

a horror film festival in this city this very weekend, arranged by a

group who calls itself The Horror Society. It starts (or started,

depending on when the players sees it) on Friday evening and ends

on Sunday evening. Among the movies that are going to be shown

are: Hellraiser, Night of the Living Dead, Suspiria, The 3. There is

a phone number to call to get more information and an address.

THE HORROR SOCIETY

If the players call the number on the poster or goes to the address,

they will talk with a young man called Michael Riggs. If they goes

to the address mentioned, the will see a metal door with the words

"The Horror Society" painted in white on it. Behind it, a small

staircase leads down to a big room. There is two couches (worn

down but comfortable) and a TV and VCR. On the walls are

several posters from classic horror and science-fiction movies

(Alien, Nosferatu, Dracula, Frankenstein and so on). There's also a

door to the left of the TV and a small counter.

Behind the counter is a young man (Michael Riggs), sitting and

reading a comic book (Hellboy). He can give them the following

information about the festival and the "society":

- The Horror Society has existed for about one year and consists of

people who wants to see uncut horror movies.

- There are 113 members, men and women, from the ages 15-65.

Their friend's name is not in their computer.

- The Horror Film Festival is open to the public.. You can buy

three-day tickets, two-day tickets or just a one-day ticket. You

save the most money if you buy a three-day ticket.

- You can also become a member for a measly fee of $10 per year.

This will give you a discount when ordering horror movies from

their source, a newsletter which comes out four times a year with

reviews, discussions and other comments.

If the players ask about Fabrici and his movies, Michael says that

they will be showing them this Sunday and shows them the

program for the festival (see THE PROGRAM). He hasn't seen

them, but will certainly watch them on Sunday. The movies

belongs to one of the members in their club, Shelly Montague. She

has been kind enough to lend them to the society to be show on the

festival. Other than that he can give the players this information: -

There are rumors that several young men and women have

disappeared in connection with watching these movies. Since no

bodies have ever been found, Michael believes that it's just a case of

runaways or something like that, and that it has nothing to do with

the movies (of course).

- There is also a rumor of a man in Virginia who became insane

after watching the 3. He hid in his parents house and tied up his

little sister and his parents in their beds. Then he tortured his sister

by cutting away the skin on her arms. Then he tortured his parents

and finally set both his parents bed and his sisters bed on fire.

When he was arrested he refused to say why he had done this and

later on he cut out his own tongue with a ordinary table-knife. He

later disappeared from his cell where he was kept while waiting for

his trial. Some believe that one or more cops unlocked the door and

let a lynch-mob take care of him. No body was ever found.

THE PROGRAM

If the players buys a ticket to the festival, or if they ask about the

program, they can have a small folded paper program which

contains the times and movies for the festival:

Friday

6.00 The festival starts with some speeches and some drinks 6.30

Hellraiser - Clive Barker's classic about the uttermost pleasure

9.00 The Night of the Living Dead - George A. Romero's dark

classic

11.30 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Tobe Hooper's classic

based on a true murder.

2.00 Nosferatu - the silent movie classic with Max Schreck

3.30 Suspiria - Dario Argento's first about the three mothers

Saturday

4.00 Festival dinner (only members)

6.30 An American Werewolf in London

9.00 Zombi - Lucio Fulci's grisly masterpiece

11.00 Don't Look Now - One of our time's most scariest? With

Donald Sutherland

2.00 Halloween - Michael Meyers!!!

4.00 The Haunting - haunted house story based on Shirley

Jacksons classic

Sunday

4.00 Demon Might - the first part in Dario Fabrici's trilogy. A

masterpiece

6.30 Torn Flesh - part two in Fabrici's trilogy. A masterpiece

9.00 Night of the Burning - the final chapter in the trilogy. A

masterpiece

11.30 End of the Festival

All the movies are shown on big picture video in The Horror

Society's place.

SHELLY MONTAGUE

If the players try to get hold of Shelly Montague, they will fail. It

seems impossible to reach her at home, via the phone or any other

way. She will however be on both the Friday and Sunday films,

and the players can talk to her then. She doesn't really know

anything else than what the players can learn from other sources,

but she can tell the players that she has seen all three movies and

nothing strange has happened to her. The truth is that she has

indeed seen all three movies, but not all on the same evening. In

fact, she saw them with almost two weeks apart between each.

This way, there is no chance to be drawn into Inferno. For this to

happen, you need to watch them all on one night (or one day to be

more exact) and to be concentrated on the movies. Otherwise, it's

just another scary movie trilogy.

* Events *

These events are little (sometimes big) things that happens during

the weekend. Some are not connected to this particular scenario,

but if the players want to investigate them, you'll have to improvise.

On Saturday evening news or in Sunday morning papers, the

players can learn that there is a crisis at one of the city's museums.

It seems that the paint on several classical painting has started to

drop - it's almost as if the paintings are crying. No explanation can

be given for this freak event.

If the players have been to The Horror Society's building, when

they leave and start to climb up the stairs to go outside, something

strange happens. It suddenly seems as if the door outside is farther

away than before, that the stairs have become longer. Then the light

goes out. Behind them, the players can hear the pounding on

oil-barrels far away. If they turn around, they can see small fires far

away, but no people. If they call out, they imagines that someone is

whispering from the side, but they can't hear what's being said.

Suddenly a huge fireball flames up from the floor about 10 meters

in front of them and blinds them temporarily. When they come to,

they are back in the "normal" world again. If they continue to walk

up the stairs, the pounding on the oil-barrels gets louder and faster,

but suddenly the reach the door and throws themselves out. If they

look back into the staircase, everything is normal again.

When the players are sitting on the subway on their way

somewhere, the train suddenly stops quite brutal. After a few

seconds, a voice comes on in the speaker. It says "Due to a delayed

train in front of us, we have to wait here for a while.". No one is

bothered by this, it happens all the time. But then the light goes

out. And it stays out. It's pitch black in the wagon and a few

elderly women starts to scream after a while, when panic hits them.

Then the light comes back on and the train rolls on.

If the players return to the friends apartment, maybe to check up on

something or to sleep over, they can see when they arrive that there

is a weak red glow coming through the windows. When they go

inside, no one is there, but the smell of vanilla is strong again. If

the examine the VCR, they can see tiny drops of blood on the floor

beneath it. It's human blood, something they can learn if they

analyze it. Suddenly a big crack opens up in the wall behind the

TV. It goes from ceiling to floor and is about one feet wide.

Behind it is totally darkness. Then, slowly, a weak red light starts

to shine from far away. Distant voices can be heard crying,

weeping, screaming of pain and fear, but no one can be seen. No

one can get into the crack, but it is possible to put your hand inside

and feel on the walls to the sides. It feels like dirt, like dirt with a

thin layer of syrup on it. If they look on their hands after they've

touched the inner walls, it's covered with a thin layer of a brown-red

substance. It can't be identified. Suddenly a chain shoots out from

beyond, having a 50% chance of hitting any player who's standing

in front of the crack. If a player's hit, a hook cuts it's way through

the cheek and then retracts, pulling away a large bit of that cheek.

[Damage: SCR 1-4, LW 5-10, SW 11-20, FW 21+]. Then the

crack closes with a bang. If any player had his arm there, it is

ripped off. If anything was placed in the crack opening to keep it

open, it is crushed. Then there is nothing.

* Inferno *

If the players ever decide to watch all three movies in a row (the

order doesn't matter, just as long as all three are watched), they will

be drawn to Inferno and Dario Fabrici's own purgatory. If they go

to the festival screening of the movies, there is about sixty other

people there. The screening is held in a big round room with

ordinary chairs for the people to sit on. There is also a table with

snacks, drinks and candy for those who feel it's necessary. There

are no windows in this room, so when the lights go out and the film

hasn't quite yet started, it's totally dark. When the movie starts, it's

the only light in the room.

The movies are shown in the "correct" order, starting with "Demon

Might", then "Torn Flesh" and finally "Night of the Burning".

During the second movie the players start to notice that it's getting

quite hot. When the third movie is playing, it gets even hotter. If

anyone wants to leave the room it's possible up until there is about

half an hour left of the final movie. After that the players will notice

that the door is not possible to open, nor is it possible to break open.

If they try to throw anything at the door, it will only bounce off and

land on the ground. If there are windows where the players are

watching the movie, the same thing applies to them: impossible to

open and/or to destroy. They are trapped. If they are watching the

movies on a TV, neither that or the VCR stops even when turned

off. The only way to stop everything is by breaking them. When

the movie is over and the credits start to roll, giant hooks crashes

through the walls around the players. There are at least five hooks

around them. They start to tear their way down to the floor, and

then they disappear. Left is only big cracks in the wall, from ceiling

to floor. The movie is now totally finished, so now there is no light

left. Then a weak red light comes from within the cracks. And then

the cracks start to expand. After a while, there is almost nothing

left of the walls, since the cracks are now huge. The room is filled

with the red glow. Then the walls disappear totally and a sudden

red flash blinds the players. When they can see again they find that

they are in a huge room, without any visible ceiling.

Around them are statues of Christ, Mother Mary, and other saints

and prophets. Also present are a lot of statues of sinners and devils.

They all seem to be carved from the wall and are still attached to it.

The room is lit by torches hanging on the wall. The floor is a

simple dirt floor. There is also a door, a huge wooden door, in front

of them. If they try to open it, they find that it opens very easily,

even a small child could open it without any problems.

Beyond the door is darkness. Screams, cries and mad laughter can

be heard echoing around, but it's impossible to tell from where it

comes. The floor is made of steel and has large holes in it. It is

impossible to see anything beneath them, if they try to check out

what's under them. There is no sign of a ceiling. There is only

darkness. If they venture out into this hellhole, they can smell the

scent of burned flesh. Suddenly a body falls down in front of them

from the darkness above. It's their friend. He's horribly tortured, all

bones in the body seems to have been broken, deep cuts cover his

body and he has several large burn marks all over. He tries to roll

over to his back, and when he sees the players he only looks at them

with very tired and sad eyes and says: "How long have I been

here?". If the players tell him the truth (two, three days), he cries

out and screams of terror and pain. Then, suddenly, several chains

appear from out of the darkness above them and they cut into the

friends body and lift him into darkness. If any player tries to hold

the friend back, he will follow the friend into the darkness, never to

be seen or heard from again.

DARIO FABRICI

If the players continue their tour of hell, they will soon run into the

man who created this empty, cold place for his own suffering. They

can see a man dragging something very big on his back. He's

hunched over, dressed in a long, dirty and torn shirt. He has long

dark, dirty hair which hangs down in his face. He also has a beard

and a crown of barbed wire. Behind him is a big woman (2 meters,

130 kg) whipping at him with a black whip. She is pale and has no

hair. Deep red scars can be seen on her scalp. She is nude except

for a see-through plastic apron. Her fingers are long and ends in

black nails. She doesn't say a word, she only whips at the man in

front of her. When they get closer, the players can see that the man

is in fact Dario Fabrici and he is dragging on a big wood cross.

They approach a small dirt pile where the woman signals to Fabrici

to put down the cross. He lifts up the cross and places it in a small

hole. Then he falls down at the woman's feet and cries and says

"Forgive me mother, forgive me...".

She kicks him in his stomach and points to the cross. He crawls

there and starts to climb up on it. When he's there, he puts out his

arms to the sides, closes his eyes and waits. Suddenly a chain

shoots out from the darkness and nails his one hand to the cross.

He cries out in pain while the woman laughs madly. From a

distance, the players can hear something sounding like a chainsaw

starting up and starting to cut something, something that screams of

pain. Then Fabrici gets his other hand nailed to the cross in the

same way as the first. The woman laughs even more, steps up to

the foot of the cross and starts to whip Fabrici madly. His cries of

pain soon fades out and he slumps to his side. The woman then

drops her whip, and slowly but surly starts to push her fingers

through the right side of Fabrici's chest. When half her hand is

inside Fabrici, he lets out a final sigh and dies. If the players hasn't

taken some action before this, they are doomed. They hear the

rustle of chains from above, and suddenly their bodies are pierced

with dozens of chains which draws them up into the darkness. The

game is over for them.

If the players *did* do something, Fabrici recognizes them as not

part of his own personal hell. He simply sends them back to where

they came from. A big bang and a red flash of light, and the players

are back to where they watched the movies. If they were at the

festival, they can see that all the others are gone. Some chairs are

turned over, but nothing else can reveal what has happened. The

crack in the walls are gone. The only thing left is the heavy scent of

vanilla. If they try to get out of there, it's no problem. The door

opens without any resistance, and they can return to the fresh air.

Should they ever try to watch all three movies again on one day, the

same thing will happen, but perhaps this time, they can't find

Fabrici, and instead are drawn into the darkness and lost forever.

This game is over anyway.

One final part is the one I sent to the list last week, the one with

the description of Fabrici and his movies. If anyone didn't get it,

mail me and I'll send it to you as soon as possible.

THE FILMS OF DARIO FABRICI

Ok, so here are my interpretations of Dario Fabrici and his

(in)famous movies. Please come with suggestions on how you

think this can be improved:

DARIO FABRICI (BIO)

He was an Italian director, born 1964 in Milan. He moved to

Rome in -83 to attend Romes School of Film. He made his

short-film "The Dinner Party" as his graduation work. Deeply

catholic and had really bad depressions.

Was probably manic-depressive. In 1987 he made the movie

"Rotting Christ" which was banned in Italy due to its religious

blasphemy. Then he made three movies during the years -88

through -89, which soon became cult movies. These three was:

"Demon Might", "Torn Flesh" and "Night of the Burning". They are

often lumped together and billed as "The 3" since they are

connected to each other in various different ways. They were

banned by the Italian Government (and in many other countries they

tried to release them) and can therefore be very hard to come by.

The production company that was founded by Fabrici and a friend,

Filipe Mozzi, in 1987 - Black Flower Films - and which had

produced the all the movies by Fabrici, went bankrupt not a full six

months after "Night of the Burning" had been completed. The

collapse of the company depended just as much of the fact that "The

3" hadn't been able to make any money, as to the fact that Mozzi

hanged himself in his office. Mozzi's death affected Fabrici very

hard and he now decided to stop making movies. In late autumn of

-89 he was invited to the Venice Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival as

a special guest of honor, and it was here he disappeared. According

to the press, he was on his way to the dinner party when he turned

in the lobby of the hotel he was staying on. He said that he had

forgotten something on the room and that he would soon be back.

He stepped inside the elevator, pressed the button and, after the

doors closed, has never been seen since. The police assumed that

he had escaped of his own free will - to escape the debts left by the

collapse of Black Flower Films.

THE MOVIES:

Filmography, Dario Fabrici

1986, Rome's School of Film. "The Dinner Party". Wri: D.

Fabrici, Dir: D. Fabrici. 76 min. B/W.

- A young woman one days starts to believe that her father is a

vampire. She sees more and more signs that are confirming her

fears, and the whole film ends with the woman murdering her father

and drinking his blood.

Starring: Sabrina Bella, Antonio De Luca

1987, Black Flower Films. "Rotting Christ". Wri: D. Fabrici, Dir:

D. Fabrici. 85 min. Color.

-A new priest are placed in a small parish in the town Vissia.

There he is followed by an unknown person who also sends him

death threats. A series of strange and bizarre murders on local

priests from different religions starts to happen and the priest is

accused for the murders. He flees from the police in order to make

his own investigation and he finally finds out who the killer is: a

young man who - sick in a very unusual disease which causes the

stomach and the entrails to rot - believes to be the new Messiah and

that it's his duty to destroy all the false "prophets". The whole

movie ends with an event which leaves the viewer and the priest

wondering if the man was only insane or if he actually was the new

Messiah.

Starring: Guiseppe Tarco, Mario Soldati, Mauro Bolognini

1988, Black Flower Films. "Demon Might". Wri: D. Fabrici, Dir:

D. Fabrici. 102 min. B/W.

- A young girl called Isabella Tallio are having trouble sleeping,

and to not go insane from the boredom, she starts to walk around in

Rome during the night. There she sees bizarre events which lures

her to more and more seedy neighborhoods. On those few

occasions that she manages to fall asleep, she are having horrible

nightmares about long church vaults and people screaming and

begging her to join with them. Her lack of sleep and her strange

experiences at night makes her more and more withdrawn from the

world. She meets a strange man on one of her nightly strolls who

promises to show her what she is seeking. She follows him and

realizes after a while that they are walking in the very same vaults

that she has dreamed about. Her companion are slowly but surely

turning into something not quite human, but Isabella can't turn

back. When they finally comes to a huge wooden door, the

companion stops and says that if she wants to, she can turn back

now. But Isabella says sobbing that she doesn't deserve to turn

around and that it's time for her to pay for her sins. Then the door

opens and the two enters and goes into the darkness and the cries

that comes from within. The door closes. In a flashback we are

showed how the girl as a little girl set fire to her little sisters bed

and let her burn to death.

Starring: Francesca Le, Selena Martione, Hugo Kier

1988, Black Flower Films. "Torn Flesh". Wri: D. Fabrici, Dir: D.

Fabrici. 96 min. Color.

- The father of Isabella (from Demon Might), Vincent Tallio, are

being questioned by the police on if he has any idea of what has

happened to his daughter. He denies all involvement in her

disappearance, but wants to find out what has happened. The

police, a man called Antonio Gebrassi, becomes obsessed to solve

the case. Meanwhile we see as Vincent goes to different clubs and

drinks and parties. All the clubs seem normal, but are later

revealed to be whore-houses with several advanced services.

Vincent seems to have a fondness to dominate and hurt the girls he

buys. Lots of S/M and sharp objects. While all this is happening,

Antonio finds the man who led Isabella to the gate, and questions

him. The man seems to know Antonio who denies all knowledge of

the man. The man shows Antonio some old photos of Isabella and

her sister. He asks Antonio to go and talk to Vincent again. Then

he disappears. Antonio goes to Vincent and ask him what has

happened to Isabella and her sister. Vincent starts to feel sick and

has to go to the bathroom. When he's there we are shown a

flashback that depicts Vincent raping his young daughter Isabella.

When he complaints that she is getting too uninteresting, he says

that he might visit her sister. Vincent laughs and goes away.

Isabella goes into her sisters room where the sister is sleeping, and

then she sets fire to the sister's bed. Back to present day. Vincent is

standing and coughing in front of the mirror when suddenly he

starts to cough blood. Surprised, he wipes his mouth and looks in

the mirror. There he sees a dark shadow standing behind him,

reaching out its arm towards Vincent's neck. Vincent starts to

scream and cough small white worms. Antonio rushes into the

bathroom. While the camera zooms in on a picture of Vincent and

his two small daughters, we hear Antonio scream in terror.

Starring: Antony Giallo, Pedro Fanazzo, Hugo Kier

1989, Black Flower Films. "Night of the Burning". Wri: D.

Fabrici, Dir: D. Fabrici. 110 min. Color.

- Antonio Gebrassi are having bad nightmares where he is chased

through dark corridors and dimly lit construction sites. He can

never make what is chasing him, but he knows that if it gets him,

he's dead. He is seeing a psychiatrist who is trying to make

Antonio let go of the case he was investigating when he had such

horrible experiences (Torn Flesh) and make him move on. But

Antonio dreams on. In one of his dreams he can hear a woman's

voice whispering to him that he can only hide under the ground, in

the sewers. He never sees this woman, but her voice is getting

clearer and stronger for each time. At one time, when he is under

hypnosis at the psychiatrists office and telling him about his

dreams, the psychiatrist is murdered by someone from the shadows.

Antonio wakes up screaming and finds the body of the psychiatrist

and flees from the office. He takes his refuge in the sewers and

lives his life hiding from the public and the sun. Down there he

meets a strange man who he knows he has met before but cannot

recall from where or when. The dreams start to disappear, but only

to become more and more real. Someone is starting to follow him

in the dark tunnels and he is starting to remember how he got the

scars on his arms. In a flashback we can see how Antonio's father

and mother are burn-marking him when he's five. They are burning

in strange symbols in his arms. Antonio talks with his new, strange

friend and asks if it can be these symbols that are creating the

demons that are chasing him. The man doesn't answer, only

reaches out and gives Antonio a strange knife and then disappears

into the dark. Antonio is starting to cut away the skin on his arms

to get rid of the symbols. When he has managed to do this, he

faints due to the pain, shock and blood loss. The very last thing he

sees before he passes out is how the strange man steps out of the

shadows again. But this time he doesn't look the same, he has

started to change. When Antonio wakes up again, he is crucified to

a metal construction rig high up in the air. He can hear voices

below him that are laughing and screaming, but he can't see anyone.

He hangs there for quite a while and finally passes out again. This

time he dreams of his mother and father and when they burned in

those symbols. But this time he remembers more. This time he

remembers how they are saying that even though he is damned,

these symbols will protect him from hell. With these symbols, he

has nothing to fear. Then Antonio wakes up, looks at his

outstretched arms where he has just cut away the symbols, and then

he looks down. On the ground, small fires are starting to light up at

different intervals and Antonio recognize the strange man, even

though he now looks completely deformed. The man smile and

then says "Welcome Antonio, I'm so glad you remember. Welcome

to your own purgatory.". Then everything explodes in a enormous

fire and Antonio screams as the flames licks his tormented body...

Starring: Antony Giallo, Hugo Kier, Luigi Olivetti