7, Hyden Park - La casa maledetta

A slick, atmospheric Italian thriller involving a wealthy young woman who is unable to walk and has some sort of heart condition. The doctor tells her she can die having sex. She trains in wheelchair sports and soon gets married to the coach. The coach has a hidden agenda and really just wants all her money to share with his girlfriend. The wife is also giving half of her fortune to the church which the husband (coach) does not like one bit. He plans to kill her with lots of sex but things don't go as planned.

I wouldn't really call this an Giallo because the killer is revealed after 20 minutes leaving no real mystery. It is in Italian though. This is the same director that did The Antichrist (1974). This one is not as graphic and no goats, but there are some violent deaths. The score was awesome as well but I thought sometimes it was too loud.

Even after you know who the murderer is tension is still created throughout the whole thing. The ending was cool too as you keep thinking that's it... then boom! It was the equivalent of 2 boy Jasons jumping out of the water.

Due to its predictable, second-rate title, (the one it was distributed under in Italy, at least) I didn't expect much from this movie. Thought it'd be another cheap flick about a haunted house ("LA CASA MALEDETTA" means "The cursed house"). Well, I had to change my mind just after the very first brilliant scene! The constant presence of priests and the creepy atmospheres, reminded me a bit of The Exorcist and some of its decent Italian rip-offs, but this was going to be something completely different... This is more like Hitchcock meets Italian thriller! Very well written and directed, good actors, interesting plot... OK, I've tried not to spoil the viewing of "7 Hyden Park" for you, which I'd highly recommend to everyone.

P.S. Am I wrong, or when Joanna crawls or tries hard to stand (she's paralyzed from the waist down) her feet and legs move a little too much? (... And I'm not talking of the "bad dream" sequence.)

One of the least known of the gialli but it is rather different. It doesn't have much logic to it and certainly not the most sexy giallo and it does have rather a lot of hallucinations but it does have more one or two priests, good, bad or unfortunate. There are some rather nasty kills even if we are not too surprised they really are bloody. Carroll Blumenberg only had this one film and Christina Nagy really worked in TV in the UK. David Warbeck was born in the New Zealand but well known in the UK with TV and with Twins of Evil (1971) and Duck, You Sucker ( 1971) and with Lucio Fulci and The Beyond and The Black Cat both in 1981. This was Alberto De Martino's last film but had had a couple of gialli also with Exorcist inspired, The Antichrist (1974) one of my favourites. He made a decent effort to make this swan song and it should be better known.

Paralyzed after being attacked as a child by a priest, Joanna (Christina Nagy) finds love in her handsome fencing instructor Craig (David Warbeck). The two quickly marry and all seems bliss until Joanna starts having terrible visions about this lecherous priest. Is she really crazy or is someone trying to drive her insane? Warbeck and director Alberto De Martino re-teamed for this murder mystery following the dreadful Miami HORROR of the same year. With some location work done in Boston and New York City, this is a much better film for De Martino to finish his career with, but not by much. First, the mystery is overly simple. Here is a tip for future filmmakers - if one of your actors has a distinctive chin, don't film only that part of them when you are trying to disguise who the killer is! Second, the film is filled with dimwit moments like our lead finally getting to use the phone while being attacked and she calls her doctor. He doesn't answer so she - you guessed it - tries him again! Still, the film features a nice score, a few evocative dream sequences and a great performance from the criminally underrated Warbeck. Plus, it goes by quickly, which is more than I can say for the painful Miami HORROR.

A passable Giallo containing thrills , chills , bloody effects , and gory body-count. An instructor: David Warbeck marries a sad woman : Christina Nagy hooked on a whelchair . As a little girl the deranged wife suffered a traumatic event that is still unsettling her . Later on , various people start being murdered and a high body count begins to mount , resulting in fateful consequences .

A stylish and late Giallo packing suspense , thrills , effective easthetic , brief nudism, gory scenes , twists and turns . Functional and routine Giallo but delivering the goods with mystery and tense enough . There's a stunning final in which several terror set pieces happen and shot in eye-poping style . The movie is a fair murder mystery in which a lot of grisly killings occuring here and there with people are reletlessly butchered . 7 Hyden Park is slim on story and a bit too talky , though it makes up for a thrilling climax . Stars the unknown Christina Nagy as the unfortunate wife and the British David Warbeck who starred various B films in Italy. Accompanied by some Italian familiar faces as Loris Loddi, Andrea Bosic and Rossano Brazzi. It is an Eighties's Giallo , this sub-genre got its maximum splendor in the Seventies with "Mario Bava" films : A bay of blood , The Girl who knew too much , Kill baby kill, Hatchet for the honeymoon, 5 dolls for an August Moon and "Dario Argento" : The cat of 9 tails , 4 flies on Gray Velvet , Bird with the crystal plumage , Creepers , Suspiria , Deep Red.

Here stands out the thrilling and suspenseful musical score by Francesco De Massi, he was a prolific musician who composed a large number of scores in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties and in all kinds of genres . As well as the colorful cinematography by Gianlorenzo Battaglia, shot in the United States . The motion picture was regular but professionally directed by Alberto de Martino . This Italian writer/director was a good artisan who wrote and directed several movies in all kinds of Italian sub-genres and exploitation movies , and various straight rip-offs with little attention to plot detail . He often shot flicks to cash in other hugely boxoffice hits as "The Exorcist" Martino made "Anti Christ" , "The Godfather" he made "The Counsellor" , and "the Omen" he filmed "Holocaust 2000" . As Martino shot Peplum or Sword and Sandals movies : "Spartan Gladiators" , "Invincible Gladiator" , "Seven Spartans" , "Valley of Stone men" , "Secret Seven" . Spaghetti Western sub-genre : "Django shoots first" , "Providence", "Charge of Seven Cavalry" . Euro-Spy sub-genre : "Ok Connery" , "Operation Lady Chaplin". Wartime : "Dirty Heroes" .Terror : "The AntiChrist" , "Miami Golem" , "Horror", "Holocaust 2000" or The "Chosen" . And Giallo : "The killer is on the phone" , "Blazing Magnums" , "7 Hyden Park" . Rating : 6/10, acceptable and passable. The pic will appeal to Giallo followers .