Joe D'Amato (born Aristide Massaccesi; 15 December 1936 – 23 January 1999) was an Italian cult filmmaker, chiefly of horror and erotic films. He was incredibly prolific, by some counts the most prolific Italian director of all time, with an estimated 200 directorial credits between 1972 and 1999.
Much like Jess Franco, D'Amato's credits were quite eclectic, running the gamut from director, producer, cinematographer, screenwriter, and editor. Starting in the 1980s, he took to directing pornographic films, credited under a number of different pseudonyms.
Works by Joe D'Amato with pages on TV Tropes include:
- Beyond the Darkness (1979)
- The Anthropophagus Beast (1980)
- Absurd (1981)
- Ator, the Fighting Eagle (1982)
- 2020 Texas Gladiators (1983)
- The Blade Master (1984)
- StageFright -Aquarius- (1987, producer only)
- La Casa 3 (1988, producer only)
- Troll 2 (1990, producer only)
- Quest For The Mighty Sword (1990)
Joe D'Amato provides examples of the following tropes:
- Creator's Apathy: D'Amato based much of his career around this thought, saying that he was often more concerned with the box office results of a film rather than its artistic merits. Regardless, he gained a sizable cult following in the U.S. with fans apparently lining up by the hundreds for his autograph, much to his disgust and confusion.
- Production Posse: George Eastman often appeared in D'Amato's films, both as an actor and as a producer and/or screenwriter, while Carlo Maria Cordio often composed the films' scores.
