Morituris is a 2011 Italian horror film directed by Raffaele Picchio and starring Valentina D’Andrea, Andrea De Bruyn, Désirée Giorgetti, Francesco Malcom, Giuseppe Nitti and Simone Ripanti.The film had its world premiere on July 30, 2011, at the Fantasia Festival. As a result of its graphic content, the film has apparently been banned in Italy. Synapse Films are rumoured to have the US rights.
Plot teaser:
While out driving, three young men meet two beautiful women and convince them to go with them to a rave out in a remote location. Once there, the women realize that there is no rave and that the men lied to them in order to beat and rape them. The women try to escape, only to accidentally unleash a pack of zombie gladiators that proceed to attack the group as a whole…
The film was partly inspired by true events known as the “Circeo Massacre” – in Italian: “Massacro del Circeo” – which occurred primarily in the commune of San Felice Circeo, Italy at the end of September of 1975. Three young men raped and tortured a 19-year-old woman and a 17-year-old girl for two days, then murdered the woman; the girl avoided being murdered by pretending to be dead.
Reviews:
“Morituris is definitely not what you expect. I’ll leave it at that. But in the end, it offers what you want out of a film about gladiator zombies: brutal kills and evil people. The less known about Morituris the better before going into it, but once in, gore and horror fans are not going to want this film to end!” Aint It Cool News
“Picchio, (screenplay) writers Gianluigi Perrone and Tiziano Martella created a film that takes a little while to get up to speed and sets you on the wrong foot at first half but then becomes a relentless piece of horror cinema with scenes (of abuse) that would make even some avid fans cringe. If you think you can handle that, Morituris comes highly recommended.” Slashing Through
“Morituris taps into everything I used to love about the gore, horror and sleaze of old-school Italian genre cinema. Violent sexploitation, gothic horror and old school survival horror is served up here, but with a modern approach. Goddamn, this may well be one of the most provocative movies to come out of Italy in the last twenty years, and definitely a delightful step towards the magic of Italian horror of yesteryear! It would undeniably have put a smile on Lucio Fulci’s face!” CiNEZiLLA
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