Trivia

From a political point of view, he considered himself an anarchist.

His films often include scenes in which women are slapped, even for no reason.

Claimed to be upset that he was best known as a director of graphic horror and exploitation films, stating that he preferred to be remembered for his more mainstream and star-studded movies.

His favorite directors are Raoul Walsh and Samuel Fuller.

Was often said to be quite volatile on-set, especially with actors.

The 1980s marked the release of films that Roberto Curti described as some of Lenzi's "most notorious". These included Nightmare City and the previously mentioned Cannibal Ferox.

In later years Lenzi embarked on a career as a novelist, writing a series of murder mysteries set in the 1930s and '40s Cinecittà, involving real-life characters of the Italian film industry.

A fan of film since young age, Lenzi studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and made his first film in 1958 which went unreleased, while his official debut happened in 1961 with "Queen of the Seas".

Lenzi had box office success in Italy with his erotic thrillers starring Carroll Baker such as Orgasmo, So Sweet... So Perverse and A Quiet Place to Kill which were influenced by French "film noir" movies drawing from the works of Jacques Deray and René Clément.

Umberto Lenzi was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and novelist.

He graduated from Rome's Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in 1956 and made "I ragazzi di Trastevere" as his final exam, a short film influenced by the writings of Pier Paolo Pasolini.

While studying law, Lenzi also created film fan clubs. Lenzi eventually put off studying law and began pursuing the technical arts of filmmaking.

Roberto Curti referred to Lenzi as "one of the undisputed leading figures in Italian genre cinema" and that he was "a sort of institution in Italian genre cinema.".

In 1990, using his own company and a low amount of funds, Lenzi also shot two films in Brazil in a period of three months: the horror film Black Demons, which in 1996 he considered to be his masterpiece, and the adventure film Hunt for the Golden Scorpion.

Lenzi also worked as a journalist for various newspapers and magazines, including Bianco e Nero and, between 1957 and 1960, penned a number of detective novels and adventure stories using a pseudonym.