In 1984, Fragasso directed his debut feature, Monster Dog, starring Alice Cooper as a rock-star werewolf.

In 1988, Fragasso and Mattei were called in by the Producer of Zombie 3 (Franco Gaudenzi) to finish shooting the film when the Director Lucio Fulci took ill and was forced to abandon the project halfway through. The two were whisked to the Philippines where filming had been underway and they finished the shooting in a few days while Fulci was recuperating in a hospital in Rome. Fulci was furious that the Producer had Mattei & Fragasso finish the film without him, and tried unsuccessfully to have his name removed from the credits.

With financial backing from famed Italian porn Producer Joe D'Amato, Fragasso wrote and directed two infamous cult films on his own, La Casa 5: Beyond Darkness and Troll 2 - under the pseudonym Drake Floyd - (although Joe D'Amato claimed he co-directed some scenes in "Troll 2"). After this period of low-budget directing, Fragasso went on to direct bigger-budget films, such as the highly successful Palermo Milano Sola Andata (1994). He now works in Italian television.

In 2007, Michael Stephenson (who, as a child, played "Joshua Waites" in Fragasso's cult horror film Troll 2), along with George Hardy (who played Joshua's father Michael), flew to Rome to inform Fragasso about the large number of Troll 2 fans in America, and of the many people who show up at the Troll 2 screenings. Claudio (and his wife Rossella Drudi who wrote the film) flew to America, and have attended a few Troll 2 screenings. Claudio also took part in a documentary titled Best Worst Movie which was directed by Michael Stephenson. In addition, he and his wife toured the original locations of Troll 2 in Utah, with their fans.