Netflix has dropped a creep-inducing trailer for its upcoming series “The Monster of Florence,” directed by Italian genre specialist Stefano Sollima, which follows a string of sex-related murders that took place outside Florence from the late 1960s to the mid-’80s.
The hotly anticipated show, which delves into one of the most brutal serial killings in Italian crime history, will soon launch from the Venice Film Festival before dropping on Netflix Oct. 22.
Sollima, known for the gritty TV hit “Gomorrah” and movies “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” and “Without Remorse,” spent more than a year researching the still unsolved case of “The Monster” (“Il Mostro” in Italian). That is the moniker given to the alleged serial killer, who committed eight double murders over the course of 17 years preying on couples parked in cars in secluded places around Florence. “The Monster” always used the same weapon, a 22 caliber Beretta.
The show, featuring nicely done ’70s and ’80s Italian period visuals, retraces a specific investigative strand in the cold case known as the “Sardinian lead,” spawned by a Sardinian couple living in Tuscany with infidelity issues.
“These murders are about the women,” a Florentine investigating magistrate says in the trailer. “It’s violence that is specifically directed at women.”
The four-episode limited series, which was shot largely on location in Florence and its surroundings, reunites Sollima with writer Leonardo Fasoli and ace Italian cinematographer Paolo Carnera, both of whom Sollima worked with on “Gomorrah” and cocaine trafficking drama “ZeroZeroZero.”
The Italian cast comprises Marco Bullitta, Valentino Mannias, Francesca Olia, Liliana Bottone, Giacomo Fadda, Antonio Tintis and Giordano Mannu.
“Horror, to be truly told, must be faced, not avoided,” Sollima said in his director’s statement. “And a story, to come through with clarity, without embracing a thesis, must begin at the very beginning. To recount it with honesty, respect and rigor must still carry meaning. Not to solve, not to explain, but simply to remember. A way to remain close to those who were left there, forever in the night.”
“The Monster of Florence” is produced by The Apartment, a Fremantle company, and AlterEgo. The producers are Lorenzo Mieli, Stefano Sollima and Gina Gardini.
Watch the trailer for “The Monster of Florence” below.