After graduating law in the early 50's, Lenzi went on to recieve a diploma from the experimental film studios in Rome. Lenzi directed several westerns and "fumetti" based fims in the first half of the sixties, then in 1969 he directed Carrol Baker in Orgasmo aka:Paranoia, which Lenzi clams was his biggest international success. Lenzi also directed a few "Argento-esque" gialli, including Spasmo and the exellent Sette Orchidee Machiatte Di Rosso-Seven Bloodstained Orchids.
It would be five years later in 1974 when he really found his calling-the crime film. Milano Odia: La Polizia Non Puo Sparare aka: The Executioner-1974, a brutally sadistic film in which a low life punk and coward, Giulio Sacchi (Tomas Milian) masterminds a kidnapping, which doesn't quite go as planned. Milian kills over half the cast, often for no reason. Milian seems unable to control himself, as one scene demonstrates, Milian machine guns a little six year old girl. When he realizes it was only a kid, he picks up her teddy bear and sobs into it. Then he mows down her parents. Lenzi often zoom in on the faces of Milian's gang, the shocked and repulsed expressions show that they seem to be in over thier heads. This is true, as Milian murders them as well so he can keep all the ransom money.
An exellent film, and the first team up of Milian and Lenzi. Their collaborations would last through six films including 1976's Roma A Mano Armata aka: The Tough Ones- a great, gritty fim starring Milian as a hunchback, and genre star Maurizio Merli. Their collaboration ended on somewhat of a sour note with La Banda Del Gobbo aka: Brothers 'Till We Die, an action comedy which featured Milian in dual roles as brothers, and an odd number of half-assed sentimental male bonding scenes.
In 1976, Lenzi directed The Stranger, a low,low budget Hong Kong/Italian co-production chop-sockey starring Bruce Lee knockoff Bruce Lea. A strange and silly fim, made even stranger and sillier when it was picked up by Joseph Brenner's Aquarious Releasing for distribution in the US. This version was retitled Bruce Lee Fights Back From The Grave and included a badly tacked-on scene of "Bruce Lee" bursting out of his grave. This no doubt confused many a movie goer. Lenzi seemed a favorite target of Brenner, as his film Milano Odia... was retitled The Death Dealers and promoted as a horror film!
In 1980, Lenzi returned to the cannibal film, (which he created in 1972 with Il Paese Del Sesso Salvaggio aka; the man from deep river) with Mangiati Vivi! aka; Eaten Alive! followed in 1981 by the notorious Cannibal ferox. the latter supposedly banned in 31 countries. both are quite extreme, and feature scenes of animal deaths that would upset most (including myself) and aren't the best example of Lenzi's work, but they have gone on to become cult hits, sometimes overshadowing his body of work.
In between Mangiati Vivi! and Cannibal Ferox, Lenzi helmed what is possibly his best known (and most underrated) film outside of Italy: Incubo Sulla Citta` Contaminata aka: Nightmare City.
A frantically paced zombie/action film concerning the chain of events following a nuclear leak at a power plant in spain. Most write it off as cheese due to the special effects and make-up, but one has to keep in mind that this film was produced n a shoestring budget and there are literally hundreds of zombies in this film. overall, I find it a uniquely entertaining and fairly effective film, certinaly flawed, but still quite an accopmlishment.
Lenzi, who at the hight of his carreer made on average around 4-5 films a year, has slowed down quite a bit, but is still very busy. Directing several action and horror films throughout the 80's, he was even givin the opportunity to work for an American producer on the film Nightmare Beach-La Spiaggia Del Terrore aka; Welcome To Spring Break. unfortunatly, the film is a fairly typical late 80's teen slasher set in Florida during spring break. It's not a total let down, as it reunites Lenzi and actor John Saxon, who worked together on a few crime flicks back in the 70's.
Lenzi has recently returned to crime/action films, such as Cop Target, and he is now begining to get the recognition that his collegues such as
Dario Argento and
Lucio Fulci