Ruggero Deodato began his career as assistant director to Roberto Rossellini and worked in many different genres.
As a director, he was behind around 30 films, from innocent comedies that rarely reached outside his home country, to his special genre horror film.
The most famous of these is "Cannibal holocaust" from 1980, which is about a group of adventurous young people who encounter cannibals in the Amazon.
It came to be talked about during the video violence debate of the 80s and was criticized for its violent scenes and for animals dying in front of the cameras.
It only managed to run ten days in theaters in Italy before further showings were stopped.
Was charged with murder
Deodato had the actors who appeared in the film sign a contract promising to stay out of the limelight for a year after the film's release in order to create the illusion that they were actually murdered during filming.
The documentary style of the film and the missing actors led to Deodato being charged with murder.
The charges were dropped when the living actors appeared in court.
Deodato himself told The Guardian that "Cannibal Holocaust" was inspired by the Red Brigades, a far-left terrorist group that was behind several attacks in Italy in the 1970s.
One of the most controversial films in film history
The attention surrounding the film, in addition to being known as one of the most controversial films in film history, also led to a career in the US and Asia for Deodato.
His last film was the horror film "Deathcember" from 2019.
Ruggero Deodato was 83 years old.