Luigi Cozzi

Born in Busto Arsizio (Italia) on 7 September, 1947. Interested in cinema since he was a teenager, he drew Dario Argento’s attention with his science fiction film Il tunnel sotto il mondo (1969), later being hired by him as assistant director and screenwriter – 4 mosche di velluto grigio (1971), Due occhi diabolici (1990) –. Thanks to the experience he chalked up, he directed his first “professional” film, L'assassino è costretto ad uccidere ancora (1975), the success of which allowed him to direct movies with larges budgets, like the famous Starcrash (1979), Contamination (1980) and, especially, his diptych Ercole (1983) and Le avventure dell'incredibile Ercole (1985), starring American bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno. Revered as the master of Italian exploitation, Cozzi (also known on the international market as Lewis Coates) has achieved enormous popularity for his critical popularization of genre cinema in his country, either through numerous books – “Il cinema di fantascienza sul sentiero dei mostri atomici”, “La storia di Urania e della fantascienza in Italia” – or documentaries like Dario Argento: Master of Horror (1991), Il Mondo di Dario Argento: The Museum of Horrors (1997).

Sitges Film Festival