The Red Queen

THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES--1972-In this Italian production, Evelyn, a dark haired little girl steals her blond haired sister Kitty’s doll. They argue in front of their grandfather and large painting. Evelyn stabs the doll and cuts off it's head. The two tussle but Gramps calms them down and tells them the story behind the painting which depicts the Black Queen killing the Red Queen. Years later Kitty (Barbara Bouchet) accidentally kills Evelyn when they have a fight. The death is covered up by their older sister Franziska (Marina Malfatti) and everyone is told Evelyn went to America.  When a mysterious figure that looks like the Red Queen visits Gramps he dies of fright. Kitty believes it's Evelyn. Later after Grandpa's will is read a sleazy character with a knife threatens Kitty with blackmail saying he knows Evelyn's dead. Kitty’s boss Hans (Bruno Botocci) and top model Lulu (Sybil Danning) go for a drive in the park looking for a prostitute for a threesome. Hans is stabbed to death by the cackling Red Queen. The police release a sketch of the murderer and someone mentions it looks like Evelyn. Then Kitty gets a scary voice-mail from her! Just to make sure she’s dead, the sisters check an underground catacomb where Evelyn's rotting body is. Kitty's married kind of boyfriend Martin (Ugo Pagliai) who becomes her boss is a suspect. He visits his wife Elizabeth at a mental hospital. She says she goes on nightly jaunts with someone named Evelyn and when she gets a knife she’s going to kill Martin!

 Kitty's co-worker Rosemary says she knows who the Red Queen is but is abducted and murdered before she can tell anyone. After Martin and Lulu have sex, Elizabeth is lured to her death by the queen. Circumstantial evidence grows against Martin. Kitty admits to him that she killed Evelyn. Peter the blackmailer gets money from Kitty then rapes her. After it's revealed he’s a druggie, he’s dragged to his death by the red caped murderer who he recognizes as Evelyn. Then while visiting Franziska and her husband Herbert she sees the red murderer and chases her/him. She nearly falls to her death. 

In the confused whack out ending, Martin is stabbed and Kitty nearly drowns in a flood full of rats. The killer (s) are also revealed. Pretty slow going despite some interesting murder scenes. Sybil Danning completists might want to check it out. Director Emilio Miraglia also made THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF HER GRAVE.

Thanks for reading!

Argento

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE CAT O'NINE TAILS-1971-A blind ex-reporter Franco Arno (Karl Malden) who likes puzzles teams up with a local reporter Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus) to solve a series of brutal murders that seem connected to a “hush-hush” genetics corporation. There are a lot of suspects but most are killed. After Arno's niece is kidnapped and Carlo is stabbed and thrown off a roof he discovers the murderer who has a “weird chromosome” make up. The ending is way too abrupt and doesn't actually tell you the fate of the Carlo character. Catherine Spaak gives a pretty bad performance in a co-starring role (and has a terrible hair style) and the plot is very confused. Even the score by Ennio Morricone doesn't help.

 

 It's the second film directed by Dario Argento who of course went on to make more interesting and stylish (but sometimes just as confusing) “Giallos”.

 

Thanks for reading! 

Bava

HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON-1970-John Harrington (Canadian actor Stephen Forsyth), a bridal designer kills brides to be with a hatchet because of a repressed childhood trauma and uses their bodies for fertilizer. He thinks "My name is John Harrington. I'm 30 years old. I'm paranoiac. Paranoiac. An enchanting name word. So civilized. Full of possibilities". 

He wants a divorce from his rich wife Mildred (Laura Betti) but she refuses. In a hidden room at his dress shop he hugs, kisses and dances with some mannequins. He and Mildred go to a seance' because Mildred is trying to contact her dead former husband but instead she seems to channel John's mother. A police inspector suspects John and they have several conversations about a missing employee. When one of his models gives her notice (she's going to be married) he has her put on a wedding dress, dances with her then kills her while a female voice calls his name and he thinks lines like "someone is tip toeing in my brain".  Her replacement Helen (Dagmar Lassander; Fulchi's HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY) turns out to be the missing model's sister who's investigating her disappearance (John admits he killed her and buried her in his green house but she thinks he's joking). Later he puts on a bridal veil and chops up Mildred.  Occasionally John sees a young boy watching him. Later people see Mildred even though John can't. After some talk John puts Mildred's ashes in a bag and goes to a disco.

This is slick sickness from the master Mario Bava (who co-wrote the script) uses great lighting and dream like sequences marred somewhat by the cliched dubbed dialogue: "You like horror films, do ya?". "I don't find them very entertaining. I keep thinking that reality is more terrifying than fiction".  But it's still one of Bava's best, an entertaining entry into the Italian "giallo" genre with a great final ending.

Sometimes listed as HATCHET FOR A HONEYMOON. This was star Forsyth's last movie role after a brief career in Italian films.

Thanks for reading!!