New York Premiere being scheduled for September 2009; details to come! Watch The DIABOLIKAL SUPER-KRIMINAL Dokumentary Trailer and Music Video below!
WARNING: This page features tantalizing teaser images from the upcoming epic had its USA premiere at the famous SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL COMIC CONVENTION on Saturday, July 25, 2009 where it received Special Mention! The DIABOLIKAL SUPER-KRIMINAL will excite acolytes of the King of Crime... and make new fans! Italian director SS-Sunda does the almost impossible by rounding up interviews with
the cast and crew of the original photo novels! Hard-core fans of Sadistikand Euro-Trash films of the 1960s and 70s will drool over conversations with such legendary actors as Rico Boido, Erna Scheurer, Gabriella Giorgelli, the son of director Rosario Borelli and many others! Scroll down to read an exclusive interview with the director and see slideshows of behind-the scenes pictures!
DIABOLIKAL SUPER-KRIMINAL Steals onto Italian Screens!
The Diabolikal Super-Kriminal, a new documentary about the King of Crime (known variously around the world as Killing, Satanik, Kilink and Sadistik), premiered at the Nightmare Film Festival in Ravenna, Italy where it won the coveted Public Award, voted on by attendees over Hollywood blockbusters and has had triumphant screenings all over Europe! The film had its American premiere at the San Diego Comic-Con and is now poised to attack New York City in Fall 2009!
The image of the Diabolikal One had been appearing in Italian media to herald the film release, including on the front page of newspapers! And though not in the official competition at the Nightmare Film Festival (where Sadistik biographer and DSK producer Mort Todd served on the jury), an exit poll by the horror film fanzine L'Urlo (The Scream) gave it a rating of 8.1 out of 10... above such films as Adam Green's Hatchet, Uwe Boll's Seed and the competition winner, Kostantin Lopushansky's The Ugly Swans! L'Urlo also gave DSK a glowing review in their special Nightmare Festival edition following a very positive profile in Italy's premier horror magazine Nocturno.
The above audience poll from L'Urlo shows The Diabolikal Super-Kriminal rated higher than any other film at the Nightmare Film Festival!
The Diabolikal Super-Kriminal, fantastically and fanatically directed by SS-Sunda, is an amazing 100% true profile of the masked serial killer who began his international wave of terror in 1966. After some background on the socio-political, religious and psychological status of 1960s Italy, the documentary relates the history of nero fumetto (noir comics) with their evil protagonists, and the foto romanzo (photo comics) unique to Italy which set the stage for Sadistik's horrific photo novels!
Festival goers are awed by the DSK poster as they go to the screening.
Photo by Luca Di Giorgio for the Nightmare Film Festival.
Director Sunda did some dedicated research and dug up much previously unknown information on the creation of the character and provides entertaining and amusing interviews with the actors from the photo comics. Many of them appeared in now classic horror, spaghetti western and Euro Trash films and give great insight on why the comic series was so unique, popular and controversial.
DSK producer Mort Todd, Nightmare Festival Director Maria Martinelli and DSK writer, director and producer SS-Sunda.
The interviews are intercut with rare graphics and footage from the era along with new footage of Sadistik in outrageous action. The film has the added benefit of a great original score composed by a cadre of international musical artists. A new music video featuring the closing track of the documentary and clips from the film has just been released.
But the most stunning aspect is that Sunda has done what many in the original comics have died trying... he has unmasked the King of Crime and reveals his true identity! The actor who played Sadistik was originally under contract to not publicize who he was. Even the other actors on the set never saw him without his mask while they worked together for years!
Mort Todd and Festival Organizer Albert "Butchy" Bucci have fun introducing the film.
Photo by Luca Di Giorgio for the Nightmare Film Festival.
There was electrical anticipation for the world premiere of DSK at the Nightmare Film Festival and seats for the screening filled up quickly. Festival organizer Alberto Bucci introduced producer Mort Todd and served as translator for the mostly Italian audience. Mort welcomed the audience, primed them about what they were to witness and then brought out the original mystery actor wearing his infamous Mask of Death to raucous applause.
The Diabolikal Super-Kriminal is introduced to the audience (with Albert Bucci), ready to cause torment with his whip!
Photo by Luca Di Giorgio for the Nightmare Film Festival.
The Diabolikal Super-Kriminal then took a seat next to the beautiful actress Liliana Chiari (from Fellini's The Clowns and a regular in the Sadistik photo novels) to watch his namesake film. (For the time being, the true identity of the actor who portrayed Sadistik is being kept secret, though revealed in the film.)
Mort presents a bouquet to the lovely Liliana Chiari.
Photo by Luca Di Giorgio for the Nightmare Film Festival.
After the screening, Sadistik unmasked in person to wild reaction and travelled the audience, microphone in hand, answering questions from the fans. The Italian television network RAI taped the event and broadcast it internationally.
Mask in hand, Actor X works the audience, answering questions and entertaining all.
Photo by Luca Di Giorgio for the Nightmare Film Festival.
The next screening was at the prestigious Lumiere Cinema in Bologna to a sold-out standing room only crowd, with many disappointed cinephiles turned away. Another screening will be held there soon and there are plans to have a screening in the Italian capital of Rome in the near future.
Just a small sample of the press for the sold out screening of DSK in Bologna, Italy.
Comicfix, the American co-producer of the film (with the Italian Sinepathic Films) and publisher of the photo novels, has announced the exclusive American premiere to be on Saturday, July 25, 2009 at the prestigious San Diego (CA) International Comic Convention. There are also negotiations to have The Diabolikal Super-Kriminal shown soon at other comic conventions and film festivals around the world. Comicfix is also talking with major film studios about theatrical distribution and DVD release.
For more information or to arrange a screening, contact sadistik @ comicfix dot com.
Direct from Italy! Some teasing glimpses of the fun to come with the Diabolikal Super-Kriminal documentary. Director SS-Sunda has crafted these images in the spirit of old movie lobby cards, a promotional tool back in the era of the King of Crime's prime!
Perhaps most stunning is that the greatest mystery surrounding the series is solved... Who was behind the Mask of Death? Rumors abounded that director Borelli, a photo novel star himself, portrayed the skeleton-clad killer. In an interview,
Borelli dispelled such notions and claimed even he didn't know who it
was. Well, it can now be told that the true identity of the Genius of Crime is... revealed in the documentary!
In the Diabolikal Super-Kriminal,
some scenes from the photo novels have been recreated, neccessitating a
new costume! The images above shows the pains-taking process of
creating a new Mask of Death!
The Making of a Monster (Suit): Above are photos of the careful creation of the Suit of Death! We see the outfit being constructed with lethal detail by a dedicated production staff for the documentary.
Here are some shots of the originalMask of Death from the 1960s with the middle and right shots from the documentary featuring the actor who actually portrayed the King of Crime in every Italian photo novel!
Learn
a little more about the man behind the movie about the man behind the
mask! Here's an interview Comicfix conducted with the talented Signor
SS-Sunda! Keep updated by going to his DSK Documentary Blog!
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goSADISTIK.com: To start
with, the obligatory: When were you born, where are you from and are
there any amusing anecdotes about your ancestors?
SS-SUNDA:I was born in Italy in
1973. I won’t say the date because I deeply dislike someone to wish me
a happy birthday. About my ancestors… I actually don’t care, but if
you'd like to know I’ve recently find out to be of Turkish origin.
goS: When did you realize
you were an artist? Who are your influences? What is some of the work
you’ve done? What is your preferred medium, comics or film?
SS-S:Art does not exist, it’s
just a word made up by man in order to divide men into categories and
classes. Beside speech I communicate also by writing, drawing and by
filming images. I trust those to be my practical way of expressing
myself. I first thing I discovered (right after discovering the power
of words) was for sure comics. When I was a kid I used to draw some
porno-strips --–two or three almost exact copies--- inspired by an
innocent cartoon and I was selling them to my primary school mates. My
influences are too many, I would expand too much on comics, movies,
novels and songs that inspired and illuminated me. By now I’ve directed
a few porno-splatter short movies, I’ve written and drawn, and
sometimes only written, a lot of underground comics for Italian and
Spanish fanzines. Besides cinema and comics, I definitely go for
writing.
goS: How early did you read fumetti? Do you remember what title it was? How has fumetti affected you and your life?
SS-S:It was Mickey Mouse and I
used to flip over the pages when I couldn’t read yet. In a certain way
I think it has affected my life too, but in fact the DISNEY WORLD is
not the kind of world where I would like to live.
goS:When did you first see fotoromanzi? Which title?
SS-S:My first photo novel was
indeed KILLING. I was roughly 11 when I first saw some issues of Kriminal, the one by the masters Magnus & Bunker, and I fell in
love right away. Thanks to those reprints I had discovered "black
comics" and in second-hand comic shops I started to look for titles
such as Satanik,Demoniak,Sadik,Mister X, and Infernal until I run
into an issue of KILLING… I was astounded! It was amazing for me to
meet a black comic “live version”. Later on I saw also other rubbish
stuff as Genius, which compared to KILLING, both as contents and execution,
is to me like comparing some military propaganda movie with a
documentary. Rosario Borelli is with no doubt the greatest photo
novel director I’ve ever known. Indeed it’s true that without
publications like Diabolikand Kriminal, KILLING probably wouldn’t have
existed, but it’s also true that without Borelli we wouldn’t have had
photo novels including Fatalik,Terrifik, Yorga, Namur and so on…
SADISTIK
(known in Italy as KILLING) and his Italian "black comic" criminal
peers from the 1960s. Read more about the history of the Euro Super
Villains here!
goS: What do you think are the differences between comics and photo novels that most people don’t realize?
SS-S: In comics nothing is
impossible because you can draw what ever you want. In photo novels you
have a lot of technical limits due to the times, which is far away from
our digital age.
goS:What gave you the idea to do a documentary about the Diabolikal Super-Kriminal?
SS-S:Being myself a lover both of
cinema and comic I’ve decided to use the best photo novel I’ve ever
known in order to talk about a kind of cinema and a kind of comic that
does exist no more. Another inspiring reason is about the ‘60s, Beat
Generation and the Flower Power movement. They fascinated me when I was
teenager and I still value them. I believe the (little) freedom we can
enjoy now is due (a lot) to them. KILLING has been snubbed by cultural
forefathers of mine. In fact, even if its form of expression was
revolutionary, it still could only appeal to a public made of
bourgeois, repressed by their own sick idea of women and eroticism. So,
as much of a convicted hippy-freak that I am, I’ve decided to
contribute to its reappraisal. 40 years later I consider it appropriate
to fascinate a new kind of public, more sharpened. In short, I think
KILLING was too far ahead of its time; by this I don’t mean the
bourgeois thought has won, but only that the King of Crime is in the
meantime psychotronic and hard-boiled, words not yet minted in the
1966.
goS: What kind of people would want to see this movie?
SS-S:I don’t know… but my THE
DIABOLIKAL SUPER KRIMINAL is also meant to be an historical and
cultural document, suitable for different kind of public.
goS:What is so appealing
about a masked homicidal maniac and why has he always had an
international cult following while out of print for so long?
SS-S: KILLING is evil and that’s
it. He doesn’t have hidden messages, besides his love for Dana. KILLING
speaks only of crime. And that is the opposite of those
psychopathic superheroes full of stupid and patriotic morals.
Superheroes would like to be the good of all but they are nothing more
than sons of a flag, protecting one law and one culture, those of their
states and never those of a social and civil worldwide ethic. About the
cult of the Crime Genius, I think the reason is to found in the
beautiful and unsettling costume and mask, in the great mise-en-scène
of Borelli, in the quality of the photography, in a perfect noir style,
and in the excellent cast of actors.
goS: What is the structure of DSK? How does his story unfold cinematically?
SS-S:It will begin as an essay on
the invasion of moralist and preachy Italy on those years' noir comics
and eroticism, to stories of the photo novel survivors (actors and
editorial staff) and some opinions of illustrious people interviewed
speaking about KILLING and on what orbited around it. Inside you will
find some archive footage and some 8mm fiction, made to look like an
old movie which had never been finished.
goS: How did you track down the original photo novel actors? What was your best moment and what was your worst moment with them?
SS-S:It has not been easy! Most
of them have been forgotten for at least 30 years, others were never
even credited in the photo novels and some of the actresses used
pseudonymous. I used the registry office, my nose and detective style
tricks… the best moment was when I interviewed Rico Boido. He
communicated with me right away a human feeling and I was astonished
because he would speak and move like a 30 year old guy. My second best
moment was when I had the unknown actor who used to play KILLING
wearing the original mask again, 37 years later. I had some good
moments also with Vito Fornari (before acting in KILLING he was the
protagonist in Kimba, a photo novel series modeled on Tarzan) and Erna
Schurer because of her sweet kindness. I actually had a good time with
everyone except with one actor. Before being interviewed he asked me
for 2000€! He explained that he was famous in cinema and that only with
money could he remember something about that miserable photo novel!!!
goS:What kind of archival film footage can we expect? How did you get it?
SS-S:Some cuts have the editorial
staff of publisher Ponzoni, shot at that time by LuigiNaviglio, the
scriptwriting supervisor of KILLING, and found in his wife's
basement. Other material was also shot in Ponzoni but found in
the another basement.
goS: Do you include footage from the KILINK films?
SS-S:No, I will show only some
pictures and some posters as an example of what the original KILLING
had inspired, together with more images from the Argentinean KILING
photo novels and comics and some strips from the SADISTIK comic book.
This documentary is only about the first KILLING, the one in the
beginning, the one of Ponzoni and Borelli.
goS: What was your favorite moment in all the production? And what was the worst?
SS-S:The worst has been in
pre-production when I found out Rosario Borelli died in 2001. I would
have really wanted to congratulate with him in person, but
unfortunately this documentary didn’t come out as early as
I wished. The best will be as soon as I, and the production company,
find a serious distributor which could guarantee this work as much
visibility as possible worldwide.
goS: Are there any shocking
surprises in the film? Do you actually reveal who the realMan behind
the Mask is for the first time?
SS-S:Actually no, it is just a
bluff I used in posters in order to stimulate as much curiosity as
possible in the public!!!! I’m just kidding! This mystery, as well,
will be unveiled, with proof!!!
goS: Will there be a DSK2? What is your next project?
SS-S:I hope I will achieve in
making a movie based on a screenplay I’ve been writing for a few years, Macho-Mask vs El Super Sadico Loco. It is going to be along the
lines of Mexican luchadores but opposite in content. In my movie the
masked heroes won’t be good people, nor fascist super-cops, but just a
bunch of masked wretches sexually ruffled. About DSK2, I don’t know yet
if I will feel like doing it; I must say that speaking about Argentina,
I would already have some doors opened and I would be well acquainted.
Speaking about Turkey, in order to make a good job, I would need to
have as assistants specialists of Giovanni Scognamillo's and Metin Demirhan's calibre. In order to make a good documentary work, a
camera and interviewer are not enough!
Promotional art for The Diabolikal Super-Kriminal by Italian artist Silvano. SS-Sunda and the artist will team up for a new KILLING comic story in the near future. Comicfix will also be publishing a film magazine to celebrate the new documentary!
Many of the actors from the original SADISTIK photo novels are interviewed in THE DIABOLIKAL SUPER-KRIMINAL! Click on the banners below to read more about them, see photos, movie posters and film clips!
