To understand Sahara (1998) , one must look at Joe D'Amato's broader career trajectory. Born Aristide Massaccesi, D'Amato was a revered cinematographer and director who built a massive cult following in the 1970s and 1980s with legendary horror films like Antropophagus and Beyond the Darkness , alongside the iconic Emanuelle softcore series starring Laura Gemser.
D'Amato is a cult figure in cinema, originally famous for horror classics like Anthropophagous (1980) and Beyond the Darkness (1979), as well as the
: Two wealthy businessmen travel to Morocco to buy a leather company and encounter various "exotic delights". Relationship to Part 1 joe damato queen of elephants 2 sahara 19
What made Sahara 19 unique was her memory. Elephants are known for their cognitive maps, but Sahara 19 apparently retained knowledge of water sources that had been dry for 30 years. Damato allegedly wrote: "She took them through a dried wadi that hadn't seen rain since the 70s. Halfway through, she stopped. She began digging with her tusks. At three feet, water rose. She didn't smell it. She remembered it."
Let’s trek into the Sahara to uncover the truth behind this elusive title. To understand Sahara (1998) , one must look
The natural follow-up, then, would be Rumors of a sequel have circulated since 2021 on wildlife film forums and elephant conservation blogs. According to insiders, Damato began filming the second installment in late 2019, intending to revisit the same matriarch or, should she have passed, her eldest daughter.
The first film, Queen of the Elephants (1997) , follows a Tarzan-esque premise. A young woman (played by Italian adult star Selen) is raised in the wild alongside elephants. She is eventually "rescued" by her wealthy relatives and integrated into high-society Scotland, leading to a clash between primitive sexual innocence and rigid aristocratic decadence. 2. Sahara (Queen of the Elephants Part 2, 1998) Relationship to Part 1 What made Sahara 19
Before delving into the films, it's crucial to understand the name behind them. "Joe D'Amato" was the most famous pseudonym of the incredibly prolific Italian director, cinematographer, producer, and screenwriter (Rome, December 15, 1936 – January 23, 1999). Starting his career as a cinematographer in the 1960s, Massaccesi directed roughly 200 films under numerous guises, working across almost every genre imaginable, from westerns and war films to horror and science fiction . However, he is best known for his influential works in horror and his prolific output in the adult film industry.
Among his vast filmography lies a title that often causes confusion on collector’s forums and IMDb searches:
Despite being marketed as Queen of Elephants 2 , international viewers and film scholars frequently note a hilarious piece of production trivia: .