Claudio Fragasso was born on 2 October 1951. Prior to directing, Claudio Fragasso worked as a screenwriter beginning in the mid-1970s. Fragasso had originally planned to make art films, and initially shot his films on Super8 such as Passaggi (1977) and its follow-up Difendimi dalla Notte, with Fragasso noting “In Italy, to be considered important, you must shoot something like that.” According to Fragasso, the screenplay for Il Medium was done specifically for director Silvio Amadio in 1975. The film however did not start production until 1979. Fragasso worked on the screenplays on several Italian crime thrillers in the 1970s.

Fragasso met director Bruno Mattei when Mattei was still an assistant editor and they immediately got along well with one another as they both enjoyed genre films. In 1980, Mattei began a close collaboration with screenwriter Fragasso, beginning with The True Story of the Nun of Monza (1980) and ending with a comedy called Three For One (1990). The two worked closely together for that ten-year period (collaborating on 15 films) with Fragasso occasionally assuming the role of second unit, or assistant, director. Fragasso has stated he is a fan of splatter films, noting that they were “very important to me. The Italian spirit compels us to exaggerate.”

In 1986, Fragasso made a film on his own without Mattei titled Monster Dog for producer Eduard Sarlui, starring musician Alice Cooper. Fragasso and Drudi also co-wrote the sequel to Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2, called Zombi 3. Director Fulci had to leave the Philippines set before completing the film, leading to Drudi and Fragasso having to re-write and expand the script in one day, the film’s directing chores being completed by Bruno Mattei who was working in the Philippines at the time. Fragasso flew there the next day to assist Mattei with the filming.

In the mid-1990s, critics suggested there was a resurgence of crime films in Italy going on after the release of The Escort. This new wave included Fragasso’s Palermo – Milan One Way, the box office success of which led to others such as Coppia omicida and the television film Operazione Odissea. Fragasso continued to make several films for both theatrical and television release, culminating in his 2007 sequel to Palermo – Milan One Way which was called Milano Palermo – il ritorno.