The Giallo Score : The Red Queen Kills Seven Times

1972

Giallo Score

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us title: The Red Queen Kills Seven Times

italian title: La Dama rossa uccide sette volte

year: 1972

director: Emilio Miraglia

composer: Bruno Nicoli

full details: IMDB

overall score: 91

Recommedation: Entertaining
Nothing ground breaking here, but a fun time nonetheless.

WARNING: Spoilers Below

score analysis

Urban thriller and gothic horror are merged in Emilio Miraglia's 2nd Giallo featuring the lovely Barbara Bouchet and an eerie soundtrack by Bruno Nicolai. The typical Giallo devices are leveraged here without much deviation from the norm or originally: A black gloved killer, a wide array of suspects, scantily clad fashion models, a fumbling police investigation, a few odd clues, and an emotionally charged motive for murder.

The gothic influence and German location create an effectively spooky atmosphere, especially in the opening scenes. But I think the film suffers a bit from being a little too polished and austere. Almost every scene is brightly lit and uses a realistic color palate, so there's no opportunity for the saturation of colors or shadows to influence the mood of the scenes. The murder sequences have very little tension to them. The Red Queen just pops out of hiding, thrusts her dagger a few times, and then runs off laughing.

And then there's Ugo Pagliai who plays Martin Hoffman, the primary suspect, love interest, and amateur detective of the film. If ever there was an award for worst casting decision for a Giallo protagonist, Red Queen would win hands down. Ugo's character is scripted to be a suave, dapper and powerful mogul running a fashion studio, but he comes off looking wimpy and a tad-bit feminine. In the final sequence, he can't even rescue Kitty from the flooded chamber himself and instead relies on the police in one of the most bizzare and anti-climactic Giallo endings I've seen.

Incidentally, for a film that seems to have had quite a large budget, why did they use the exact same apartment for Martin and Kitty as the one used by Julie and Neil in The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardth?

But maybe I'm being too hard on Red Queen. After all, not every Giallo needs to be as artful as Argento's Bird with the Crystal Plumage or as emotionally provoking as What Have You Done to Solange? Even so, there are so many better "not-so-serious Gialli" to choose from that it's difficult to recommend Red Queen until you're out of options.

score breakdown

Staples : 55/60

Italian Director 10 points

Hidden Identity 10 points

Black Gloves 5 points

Ameteur Detective 5 points

Classic Period (1970 - 1975) 5 points

Motivation: Psychological Trauma/Revenge 10 points

Avoid Capture: Killed by Police or other character 5 points

Director > 1 5 points

Standards : 27/30

Body Count >= 3 4 points

Flashback Revelation 3 points

Mistaken Identity 2 points

More than one killer or accomplice 4 points

Morricone/Nicolai/Ortolani 3 points

Nude Scene >= 1 3 points

Suspects >= 3 4 points

Urban Location 4 points

Signatures : 9/10

Animal, Number or "Death" in title 1 points

Attend Funeral 1 points

Dolls/Dummies 1 points

J&B 1 points

Odd Clue 1 points

Photography/Glamor/Modeling/Art 1 points

Prove Innocence 1 points

Spiral Stairs 1 points

Taunting 1 points

Total Points : 91/100

trailer

Published: 2012-10-15