Gabriele was born in Rome, Italy, and began his journey in filmmaking at the tender age of sixteen by making movies with a Video8 Camerawhen he was still a teenager. As a trainee assistant director, he had the privilege of working under the guidance of renowned filmmakers Antonio Manetti and Marco Manetti, honing his skills on numerous music videos for famous Italian artists, including Alex Britti, Gigi D'Alessio, and Max Pezzali.
Concurrently, Gabriele pursued his passion for film criticism and went on to graduate with a degree thesis on the evolution of Italian horror cinema. During this period, he directed several short films, including Braccati (2001),L'armadio (2002),and Mummie (2003),which were produced by reputable film production companies such as Stars Film, Nauta Film, and the well-known Italian cinematographer Luca Bigazzi.
Gabriele's feature film debut, The Last House in the Woods (2006),was a super-splatter gore fest produced by NeroFilm in association with Manetti bros and featuring special effects and special make-up courtesy of the Italian wizard of gore, Sergio Stivaletti. Shot on a shoestring budget of under 50k euros in just 17 days, the film was released by Minerva Pictures and went on to receive critical acclaim at various international film festivals, including the Montreal World Film Festival, Philadelphia Film Festival, and London Sci-Fi Film Festival.
The film won a prize at the Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre Film Festival for best lead actor (Geno Diana) and a jury prize at Fantaspoa for "best bloodbath." It also became the Top Ten seller in Japan under the title "Italian Chainsaw" and was released in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Russia, and Spain. The film was later hand-picked by director Sam Raimi through Lionsgate and Ghost House Underground and received a nationwide release on DVD in North America as "The Last House in the Woods," earning it a spot as one of the best DVDs of 2008 by Bloody Disgusting.
Gabriele's second feature film, Ubaldo Terzani Horror Show (2010),was produced by Minerva Pictures with the support of Film Commission Torino Piemonte. The film was broadcast on the Italian SKY network and received a release in the USA through RaroVideo.
