Ator

Director: Joe D’Amato
Script: Joe D’Amato
Cinematography: Joe D’Amato
Music: Michael Demer, Carlo Rustichelli
Producer: John Newman
Cast: Miles O’Keeffe, Sabrina Siani, Ritza Brown, Dakar

Italy 1982
98′

Film live lector

One of the most bizarre films from the wave of conansploitation that thrived on the popularity of Conan the Barbarian. When the Arnold movie became a box office hit, the Italian company Filmirage decided to produce a cheap knock-off. The task was given to Joe D’Amato, a director mainly interested in pretty actresses and little else. The shoot was squeezed into just three weeks, and the “exotic” locations turned out to be… the outskirts of Rome.

As was often the case with Italian cinema of the time, Ator… turned out to be a success and even spawned three sequels. Joe D’Amato complained that leading man Miles O’Keeffe “walks like a cripple and acts like a goat,” but luckily, working with this walking boulder was made sweeter by the presence of Black Emanuelle herself – Laura Gemser.

Despite the tiny budget, the film features Amazons, an army of the dead, a giant spider, and… a completely random incest subplot. If that doesn’t tempt you, nothing will.

Screening with a live lector improvising dialogue – performed by Pan Diabeł.