Alberto De Martino

Alberto De Martino (12 June 1929 – 2 June 2015) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Born in Rome, De Martino started as a child actor and later returned to the cinema where worked as a screenwriter, director and dubbing supervisor. De Martino's films as a director specialised in well-crafted knock-offs of Hollywood hit films.^[1] These films were specifically created films in Western, horror and mythology genres which were developed for the international market.^[1] The Telegraph stated that his best known of these film was probably The Antichrist.^[1] The Antichrist capitalized on the box-office appeal of The Exorcist (1973) and in its first week in the United States earned a greater box office than Jaws.^[1]

Alberto De Martino was born on 12 June 1929 in Rome.^[1] De Martino was the son of a film make-up artist.^[2] He started his career as a child actor.^[2]

On attending University, De Martino studied law.^[1] Martino returned to a career in cinema working as an editor, screenwriter and as an assistant director.^[1] Martino stated he was encouraged to be a director by Federico Fellini for whom he supervised the dubbing for La Dolce Vita.^[1] De Martino was also very active in the field of dubbing, and he was dubbing director for more than 1,500 films.^[2]

De Martino was one of the active directors in the Italian genre cinema between 1960s and mid-1980s; his films spanned different genres, including Spaghetti Western, poliziotteschi, Peplum films and horror.^[2][3] A real life friend of Sergio Leone, he was second unit director in Duck, You Sucker!^[3] He was often credited as Martin Herbert.^[2][3]

In 1980, De Martino nearly lost his home when his film The Pumaman failed at the box office.^[1] Pumaman was followed by a few more films concluding his career with Miami Golem.^[1]

He died in Rome on 2 June 2015 at the age of 85.^[1][4][5]

Note: The films listed as N/A are not necessarily chronological.

• Curti, Roberto (2013). Italian Crime Filmography, 1968–1980. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786469765.
• Curti, Roberto (2015). Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957–1969. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476619897.
• Curti, Roberto (2016). Diabolika: Supercriminals, Superheroes and the Comic Book Universe in Italian Cinema. Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1-936168-60-6.
• Curti, Roberto (2022). Italian Giallo in Film and Television. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-8248-8.
• Howarth, Troy (2015). So Deadly, So Perverse. Vol. 1. Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1936168507.
• Kinnard, Roy; Crnkovich, Tony (2017). Italian Sword and Sandal Films, 1908–1990. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476662916.
• Luther Smith, Adrian (1999). Blood & Black Lace. Stray Cat Publishing. ISBN 0-9533261-1-X.

• Alberto De Martino at IMDb