Review- La Dama Rossa Uccide Sette Volte (The Red Queen Kills Seven Times) (1972)

Hooray for Facebook. I was browsing pages devoted to cult cinema as I’m prone to do during my downtime and I saw a post about the Giallo gem, The Red Queen Kills Seven Times and realised that I had never seen it. And lo and behold it was on YouTube in both Italian or badly dubbed English.

This film concerns two sisters, one good, one evil. Their spacious abode has a very disturbing painting on the wall that evidently influences the black haired evil child, Evelyn to act terribly towards her blond haired more rational sister, Kitty. The artwork has a backstory- the evil Red Queen depicted in the picture was killed by her sister but the murdered then rises from the grave and becomes murderer, killing seven people linked to her death.

EvelynRedQueen — Evelyn just being Evelyn

A brilliantly funny sequence during the film’s opening credits shows that the teasing of Kitty by Evelyn continues throughout their childhood. The teasing carries on into adulthood. But during one incident Kitty accidentally kills Evelyn.

Real life seems to imitate art however when a figure dressed in a red cloak appears and starts to murder those connected to Kitty in gruesome ways. Who could this person be? Is it really Evelyn who has risen from the grave?

This is classic Giallo with gorgeous direction, innovative and VERY gory kills and style oozing out of every frame. Listen for the fantastic cackle the Red Queen gives after each murder as she relishes her evil deeds. She reminds me of Tura Satana in Faster Pussycat Kill! Kill! who used to laugh loudly after doing something reckless and thrilling.

The film is also sleazy as hell. This is one of the things about Giallo that I love the most- the impeccable interiors, perfect hair and make-up, the gorgeous aesthetics. In short, stylisations that are in stark contrast to the messy dabblings of the main characters.

Barbara Bouchet in The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972) — Kitty- immaculate hair and make-up

Theres a wonderful Scooby Doo moment near the end with a mask being pulled off to reveal a true identity (not the caretaker in this instance) and massive plot points being spat out faster than a snitch giving evidence. One of the final scenes does for rats what Jaws did for sharks. It’s fantastically gross.

The use of the colour red evokes the horror masterpiece Don’t Look Now which was made the year after this film. Had Nic Roeg seen this brilliant film prior to making it?

This film is great fun. And has a soundtrack to die for (no pun intended). I look forward to buying the Arrow Blu ray.

4 stars out of 5

31 Days of Halloween 2020- Day 21- The House With Laughing Windows (1976)

A young man who can restore frescos (ancient works of art) arrives to restore one such artwork but finds events within the remote town to be far from normal. Indeed, they are downright bizarre. Does the fresco hold any clues? Does it depict what people have been led to believe it shows? Will the events directly affect Stefano?

This Italian film is one hell of a gorgeous (and VERY disturbing) journey. Not only do we get the backstory of the artist who first painted the fresco but also the freaky events that are happening in the Valli di Commacchio area that the action takes place in.

With all the best of Italian horror/gialli, it also makes you want to go to Italy and experience such a seemingly fantastic and aesthetically pleasing way of life. The photography is magnificent. I’d love to see this film on the big screen.

The locales are sumptuous, the characters are left field to the max (at times I kept think of the films of Jodorowsky) which all adds to the overall vision and atmosphere of this gorgeous film.

I’d love to speak about the conclusion of the film but that would massively spoil the entire film for those of you who haven’t been lucky enough to see it yet. Also, if I tried to write down what happens you probably wouldn’t believe me. Just to say- it’s surreal, can’t be predicted and gets under your skin and inside your head and remains there long after the actual film has ended. Fantastic.

****and a half out of *****

Day 18- 31 Days of Halloween- Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979)

A boat sails into New York but the only person onboard happens to be a morbidly obese zombie who seems to be pissed off and hungry. The daughter of the boat’s owner decides to venture to where her father had been, a Caribbean island called Matul. She takes along with her a journalist who smells a story.

This film was butchered by the BBFC on its initial release. The distributors decided to release a stronger uncut version that then lead to the film being banned and placed on the DPP video nasties list.

This film is reknowned for going the extra mile. Ever wondered what would happen if a zombie took on a shark? Of course you have! This film features it. Add to the mix a revolutionary eye-gouging scene, a great score by Fabio Frizzi and one of the most iconic ending scenes in horror history. Oh, and some of the most annoyed zombies with especially bad attitudes and you have a great movie.

This Italian shocker directed by maestro Lucio Fulci actually billed itself as a sequel to the Argento cut of Dawn of the Dead in Italy. Is it a masterpiece like Dawn? No. But its still one hell of a ride.

31 Days of Halloween 2017

Every day in October I will be reviewing a different horror film.

Some of the criteria I’ve used for the choice of films are

– a film from each decade from the 1920s onwards

– films from a number of different countries

– a Friday the 13th film as within October this year the 13th falls on a Friday!!! (mind blown)

The rest of my choices were films that I had wanted to see for ages but hadn’t gotten around to or were films that I have seen before but was dying to revisit (three of the films have ratings already by myself. These are some of the films that will be revisited and be reviewed again to see if my opinion has changed).

When I had my list of films they were then fed into an online randomiser so that they could be mixed up. With my randomised list I made one change- I made sure that the film watched on the 13th of October was the Friday the 13th movie. But thats the only change.

Here are the films-

Day 1- The Nanny (1965)

Day 2- Battle Royale (2000)

Day 3- The Exorcist (1973)

Day 4- Piranha (1978)

Day 5- Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981) and Tales From The Unexpected episode ‘Flypaper’ (1980)

Day 6- The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971)

Day 7- The Fog (1980)

Day 8- Eyes Without A Face (1960)

Day 9- Phantasm (1979)

Day 10- Nosferatu (1922)

Day 11- Blood Beach (1980)

Day 12- The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

Day 13- Friday the 13th Part 4- The Final Chapter (1984)

Day 14- M (1931)

Day 15- Freaks (1932)

Day 16- The Tingler (1959)

Day 17- Drive-in Massacre (1976)

Day 18- Kill Baby, Kill (1966)

Day 19- Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978)

Day 20- Ginger Snaps (2000)

Day 21- The Beast With Five Fingers (1946)

Day 22- The Incredible Melting Man (1977)

Day 23- Ringu (1998)

Day 24- Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)

Day 25- Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

Day 26- Les Diaboliques (1955)

Day 27- The Sadist (1963)

Day 28- The Lift (1983)

Day 29- Prom Night (1980)

Day 30- It Follows (2014)

Day 31- Seytan (1974)

Please join me on this horrifying journey 🙂

Top 10 Horror Movies from the 70s

Just made a video of my Top 10 Horror Movies from the 70s.

The videos HERE.

Do you agree? Get discussing horror fiends 🙂

Either leave a comment under the video or join the Meathook Cinema Facebook page.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) -Day 17 – 31 Days of Halloween

One of the few Dario Argento films I haven’t seen. Until now that is.

And what a treat! A rock drummer notices that hes being watched by a mysterious stranger. He confronts this person in an abandoned opera house and after disarming him of a knife accidentally stabs him. This is all witnessed a photographed by an onlooker who wears a very unsettling dolls mask.

Cue many twists, turns and red herrings.

Even by giallos standards this is an amazing film- gorgeous locations, imaginative cinematography, brilliant quirky characters and last but not least, Bud Spencer is in this film. Bud Fucking Spencer! Whats not to like?

Another thing I love about this is that one of the characters is gay, camp and proud of it. Not once is he depicted as subhuman, deviant or somehow inferior. That means a lot- especially to a gay film critic. If Argento could imbue gay characters with some kind of dignity in 1971, why couldn’t Martin Scorsese recently in Wolf of Wall Street? Dario- loving your work.

I watched this on Shameless Entertainment’s Bluray release. Highly recommended- it does the film a real justice.

4.5 out of 5

Burial Ground – Day 12 – 31 Days of Halloween

Zombies, gore and guts. Oh and spaghetti.

Whats noticable about this film is the incest subplot involving the effeminate manchild character called Michael played by Peter Bark. I didn’t know about this when I first watched the film. Its now seered into my mind for better or worse. This film is for titmunchers of all persuasions.
3 out of 5

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Category: Italy