TinsHeadline Touches You

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Yvonne Jodi Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Bezenby If you want to see a film that epitomises the gialli, you can't do better than this one. It's a whodunit split between an old castle and a hip fashion agency, full of Euro-babes, garish colour schemes and mental interior design, daft twists, and doesn't skimp on the blood and boobs either. The plot is fairly mental too. We being with two nine-year old sister fighting over a doll and ending up under a picture in the huge castle they live in. The dark haired sister goes nuts and starts stabbing the doll to death, explaining that every time she looks at the picture, she feels a bit strange. The girls' granddad then goes onto explain that the picture is of The Red Queen being killed by The Black Queen, and that the Red Queen comes back every (can't remember) years to kill seven people, the next time being 1972, when these two will be Euro-babes!Well, one of them is anyway. Turns out sister Kitty (Barbara Bouchet) apparently killed her sister Evelyn by accident the year before, but that's okay, because her other sister Francisca and her husband helped hide her in the rubber bat filled cellar of the castle and are keeping it a secret. But if Evelyn is dead, who is it that is running around in a red robe, cackling like a nutter and causing the old granddad to have a heart attack?Director Miralgia mixes the usual giallo plot (unknown killer doing in Euro Babes) with the Gothic castle film, and adds in a bit of the old 'Who gets the Inheritance' for good measure. He keeps things fairly quickly too, which is a bit confusing at first due to everyone's complicated relationships. For example, Kitty is going out with Martin, who has a wife in the loony bin, who claims that she's being visited by Evelyn at night, but then Kitty's being hassled by Evelyn's ex-boyfriend who suspects she's not 'living in America' at all! Thank God the killer starts thinning out the ranks a little.While using an expensive looking knife, there were two bits that made me cringe as the violence level went through the roof - when one victim is pulled onto some railings, causing their jugular to spout an alarming amount of seventies blood, and when the killer traps a guy's jacket in the door of the car and drives up the street until he's a bloody mess. I was a bit 'wait...run that by me again' at the eventual explanation for all this, but this is one of the greats for me. From the director of The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, which also has a character called Evelyn...doing something or other.

Nigel P The number seven crops up more than once in Giallo films – 'Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye', 'Seven Blood Stained Orchids', and this. Doll faced beauty Barbara Bouchet plays Kitty, surviving sister to Evelyn, a precocious, violent creature, who has seemingly perished. However, events seem to emulate the old family curse in which, every hundred years, the 'Red Queen' is raised from the dead to kill seven times. Classic images of stabbings by an unknown black-gloved figure with dark hair and a red cloak (1973's 'Don't Look Now' imagery seems to owe a lot to this) follow.Red actually crops up rather a lot in this, on clothes and cars – splashes of crimson in the midst of pleasingly rainy night scenes; either a subtle clue as to the identity of the killer or a 'red' herring.Magnificently moustachioed Marino Masé plays the chief inspector (Toller), the dapper gentleman trying to unravel this enigma, whilst looking uncannily like Freddie Mercury in certain scenes. This whole dark mystery is presented very much as a television horror/thriller than a film – more so than most giallos, I'd say.The ghost-faced killer is featured only very sparingly, which is a shame as she is featured prominently on promotional material and looks effectively sinister.Another well crafted, solid giallo film.

trashgang The director Miraglia is known for another flick in the genre, The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave. I guess he must love the name Evelyn because here he uses that name again. And it's a really good flick. I should qualify it under Giallo. But what a mistake it was to put in the DVD. Before you get the start button you are introduced to the flick by showing all the killings. What a mistake. But the movie itself wasn't a mistake. It do has some nice killings and the red stuff do flows and it contains a lot of gratuitous nudity. For me it was one of the better giallos' seen, it's so weird that I mostly don't dig Argento's ones but this s flick surely did. One you must have in your giallo collection.

DVD_Connoisseur Emilio Miraglia's "Red Queen Kills 7 Times" is a more entertaining affair than his previous giallo, "The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave". With a larger budget, the film has a bigger world to set its blood-splattered action in. The sets and scenery are superb, the cast is excellent and the score is catchy.Trying to emulate the success of Dario Argento, Miraglia goes for dramatic set-pieces, some of which work remarkably well. While not in the same league as Argento's finest works, the film is a solid tale and worth a rental at least.The film contains many lovely ladies, including Barbara Bouchet, Marina Malfatti, Sybil Danning and Pia Giancaro.8 out of 10. Fans of the VW Beetle may also like this film!