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PRODUCTION Italy

Manetti Bros branch out into producing

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Directors of more than 100 music videos, shorts, features and TV movies, the Manetti Bros (Marco and Antonio) have over the last decade become heirs of the Italian horror genre.

Three years after the success of Piano 17, a low-budget thriller that did well in the US (talks about a remake have been in the air for some time), and as they prepare the second season of the TV series L’ispettore Coliandro, the Manettis are finishing up post-production on Cavie (“Guinea Pigs”).

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“This is our freest film,” say the two brothers from Rome, who were called upon to teach a Masters in Acting at the Scuola di Cinema di Roma. Not limiting themselves to the theoretical lessons, they wanted to put the class to the test as well.

Thus, 12 students, all making their film debut, found themselves fighting, figuratively, for their lives in the middle of the woods. In a film that, if the first images are anything to go by, recalls the sick atmospheres of Saw and Hostel, mitigated by the humour of British film Severance [+see also:
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The film features buckets of blood, including that of two cameo actors, horror directors Gabriele Albanesi (Il bosco fuori ) and Gionata Zarantonello (Medley – Brandelli di scuola).

“The project came about as an exercise in exaggeration,” explains Antonio Manetti. “We didn’t have to comply with the needs of a distributor”. Primarily because Cavie has none. A theatrical release seems out of the question but the film may come out on home video or as a free download.The choice is up to the filmmakers, who also produced the film (made for approximately €5,000 with a crew made up of mostly students) with their new company DarkSide.

Co-founded with actor Giampaolo Morelli, the company will soon produce its first real project: “A feature film by Guglielmo Favilla and Alessandro Izzo, who have already directed very interested horror shorts,” say the Manettis, who dream of discovering new talent and creating their very own gore factory.

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(Translated from Italian)

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