There are only a handful of standout Italian directors, and while they're important for aspiring horror fans to look into, they tend to be hit or miss most of the time.

Deodato, also known as the Italian Cannibal, made the most solid cannibal films for sure. Jungle Holocaust and Cannibal Holocaust were mind-blowing when I first watched them. They gave the exploitation genre some class. His other movies don't do much for me. House on the Edge of the Park is a total rip-off of Last House on the Left and even features the same rapist. Bodycount and Cut and Run are kind of forgettable though.

Argento is another decent one, because I really like Crystal Plumage, Suspiria, Tenebre, Opera, and some of his others are decent like Phenomena, 4 Flies, Deep Red, Two Evil Eyes, Inferno. Also worth noting is that he co-wrote the greatest western ever, Once Upon a Time in the West.

Lenzi is okay, but he was really riding the coattails of the other guys. His movies were always more direct in their rip-off approach, but they could still be fun most of the time. Man from Deep River is a pretty dull cannibal movie though, even if it is the first. I prefer stuff like Cannibal Ferox, Eaten Alive, Hitcher in the Dark, Black Demons, and my favorite... Nightmare City!

Fulci is the weakest for me, but at the same time one of the more notable ones. Zombi 2 and Zombi 3 are okay. New York Ripper is even somewhat decent, as is City of the Living Dead, but at the same time, they're mind-bogglingly stupid. I kinda hate The Beyond and I couldn't even get into some of his other stuff, but I think I need to re-evaluate some of them.

Haven't seen much Bava except for Blood and Black Lace (didn't care for it) and Black Sabbath (didn't care for it). I could look into his stuff more, but I don't feel compelled to. Well, A Bay of Blood was pretty decent.


Then, you have the other lesser guys who pop in with a few good movies, but not enough consecutive hits to be among the greats, like Michele Saovi, Andrea Bianchi, Sergio Martino, Bruno Mattei, Lamberto Bava, Claudio Fragasso, and a bunch of others that I can barely remember what they even made.

I think Sergio Martino is right up there with the big ones personally

I've only seen two of his films, but I liked both: 2019 After the Fall of New York and The Mountain of the Cannibal God. I guess I need to watch a few more...

Torso is one of my favorite Giallos. Also Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I have they Key, All the Colors of the Dark, Case of the Scorpions Tale, and The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh I think are all good as well. He made some good Sci-fi/ Fantasy and Westerns as well.

Mentioned this on the shoutbox over the weekend but I'm not a big fan of Italian horror. A fan of Bava and Argento but not so much of the rest. In my collection I have
Black Sunday
Black Sabbath
Kill Baby Kill

Deep Red
Suspiria
Phenomena
Trauma
The Stendhal Syndrome

I always find it curious why most hold Argento in a higher esteem than Fulci. I think Fulci has the edge in the gory department but I think both are pretty weak in storytelling. Must be that Argento's style is (visually) more appealing to most?

The Italian horror film industry was like none other, and diving into these films as a teen was a fun, exciting ride. Sure, there were plenty of misfires by all the major players, but plenty of gems too.

I actually just watched Ghosthouse last night. It was surprisingly really good in my opinion. It had some cheese of course but I thought it was genuinely creepy and had some good gore.

I've watched a lot of Italian horror films. I tend to like them although some are better than others. Most of them have beautiful women who get naked at least once, most of them have interesting plots, and most of them have plenty of gore.

The trouble is I have trouble remembering the names of a lot of the directors and which films they directed other than Bava, Argento and Fulci.

I've only seen four Fulci films - Lizard in a Woman's Skin, New York Ripper, Don't Torture a Duckling and Perversion Story. I really liked the first three. New York Ripper is pretty much the last word in really sick gore and sexual perversion, but still manages to have a decent story and a memorably downbeat ending. Perversion Story, despite its title, is pretty boring.

For Bava, my favorites (of those I've seen)are Black Sunday and Kill Baby Kill. Bay of Blood has excellent cinematography and locations, but the story is confusing. Four Times That Night is not horror but I sort of liked it. Baron Blood is pretty tame - PG rated if I remember correctly. Not awful but just not great. Five Dolls for an August Moon is okay but again not great - the setting isn't so good and the story is weak. But, it does have Edwige Fenech. Kidnapped is an okay crime thriller. The Whip and the Body is okay but it just doesn't have enough whipping of bodies to live up to its title. Still, Christopher Lee is always great in a leading role.

For Lenzi I've only seen Cannibal Ferox, Spasmo, Nightmare Beach, and Oasis of Fear. Oasis of Fear is far and away the best of the four. It has a hot older woman (Irene Papas) an even hotter younger woman (Ornella Muti), an interesting story, a great theme song apparently sung by co-star Ray Lovelock, a Manson homage, and even a room full of raptors. This one really needs a quality Blu-ray release from someone like Arrow or Severin, but I'm pretty sure it would never be available in the USA due to Ornella Muti being underage and having nude scenes in it. That would make it an illegal film in the USA. As of now YouTube is the only way to see it. Cannibal Ferox is fairly boring for me. I'm just not into the cannibal movies. Spasmo is decent but is slow going in parts. Nightmare Beach was apparently recently revealed to not really have been directed by Lenzi, and he was just a technical consultant on it. It doesn't have much gore but it is paced well and has a good cast including Michael Parks, John Saxon and Lance LeGault, and a hot Hispanic chick who was apparently never in another movie.

For Michele Soavi I've seen three of his four films. I haven't seen the one that is generally considered his best: Cemetery Man. Stagefright had one of the best costumes ever for a slasher film and some decent gore, but the setting didn't quite work for me at first. Technically it's a pretty good movie. The Church I've only seen once but I remember thinking it had a good cast and some good special effects. The Sect I liked better because it had some really memorable imagery and set pieces - the giant stork, the face ripping, the prehistoric bugs, and plenty of blood. And Jamie Lee Curtis's sister.

For Argento my favorites are Deep Red, Tenebre and Cat o' Nine Tails. They all had good stories and memorable killings. Suspiria had some great killings and gore but the plot wasn't so interesting. I liked Phenomena but it seemed like it was trying too hard at times to be something other than a giallo. It's never boring and it was pretty original. Stendhal Syndrome was weaker than the others for the main reason of Asia being just too young to be believable as a law enforcement officer. And it also seems that someone who suffered from a potentially debilitating condition like this would not be allowed to even be in law enforcement regardless of age. That would tend to cause problems in the line of duty. Those two factors do really take me out of the movie.

Some others from other Italian directors that I think are pretty good:

What Have You Done to Solange?
Red Rings of Fear
Death Walks at Midnight
Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key
Who Saw Her Die?
Case of the Bloody Iris (this might be my favorite Edwige Fenech movie)
Eye in the Labyrinth

Dario Argento is easily my favorite Italian director. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Suspiria, Tenebrae, Phenomena, and Opera are good. Deep Red, Inferno, and Sleepless are okay. I've seen a lot of his other movies, but I didn't like most of them, especially his movies after Sleepless.

I guess Lucio Fulci is my second favorite Italian director, but it's a distant second. Zombi 2 is his only movie I've seen that comes close to being something I'd consider calling good. City of the Living Dead, The Beyond, and The New York Ripper are okay. I've seen several of his other movies, but my memory of them is weak. For example, Don't Torture a Duckling.

Thanks to box sets, I probably own more Mario Bava movies than any other Italian director. I like Black Sabbath, Blood and Black Lace, and A Bay of Blood and I probably thought a few of his others were okay. His movies are more I tend to just not remember much about.

I haven't seen many Ruggero Deodato movies either, but Jungle Holocaust, Cannibal Holocaust, and House on the Edge of the Park are all good. I've also seen Body Count, but it's not good.

For Umberto Lenzi, Nightmare City and Cannibal Ferox are okay. I've probably seen Eaten Alive, but I couldn't tell you anything about it. I was a bigger fan of his crime movie, From Corleone to Brooklyn, but that's straying off topic.

Bava is good. The rest are not so good. Fulci made a couple entertaining films in Zombie and Don't Torture a Duckling.