Jack el destripador de Londres

The giallo was an Italian invention; however, there were several Spanish movies that are accepted entries in the genre. Seven Murders for Scotland Yard is a pretty typical example of this sub-genre of the sub-genre. It stars Iberian horror icon Paul Naschy in the lead role. In it he plays medical student turned acrobat who is the chief suspect in a series of prostitute murders in London. The killings recall the work of Jack the Ripper.

This is a pretty routine murder-mystery. It's hampered a bit by its low budget. It lacks the sense of style that most of its Italian counterparts had, so it comes across as somewhat more rough-edged. The murders themselves have pretty crude gore effects, while there is a distinct lack of nudity. The latter is clearly as a result of the Spanish origins, seeing as this was made in Franco's Spain and film nudity was a bit of a no-no – Spaniards like Jesus Franco had to make films in France and West Germany in order to ramp up the sex. The mystery itself isn't bad as such but the small cast means that there really aren't a lot of suspects to begin with. Still, it's certainly an entertaining enough flick, just don't go into it expecting too much.

This had been shown on late-night Italian TV some years back and, later, I recall it being mentioned favorably online; hence, given its theme of an updated version of Jack The Ripper and the fact that it starred Euro-Cult icon Paul Naschy, I decided to check it out this time around. However, it turned out to be quite a mess: not so surprising when considering that the only other J.L. Madrid film I've watched was the similarly dispiriting THE HORRIBLE SEXY VAMPIRE (1970)!; as in that film, the women here are mainly on screen in order to disrobe and get butchered.

The plot provides three possible suspects of the serial killings: a crippled and bitter ex-trapeze artist (Naschy) whose wife is among the victims, a handsome schoolteacher of noble birth but who's actually impotent and, surprisingly, a police commissioner who just happens to be the latter's boyhood chum and is also secretly in love with his wife (Orchidea De Santis, whom I saw in the flesh and on screen – in Luciano Salce's equally obscure but infinitely superior political satire, COUP D'ETAT [1969] – at the 61st Venice Film Festival)!

The Swinging London locations are just about the only authentic element here: both the gore and the occasional action scene look extremely phony; another clear measure of the film's lack of budget is that Naschy's accident (which continues to haunt him) is hilariously depicted simply by having the actor throw himself in front of the camera and utter a couple of none-too-convincing groans!

This Spanish Giallo contains suspense , thrills , chills , intrigue and plot twists . In this peculiar version of the famous story of the London serial killer set in contemporary time , here Jack the Ripper not only likes to kill prostitutes but also other beautiful women . Naschy movie with usual elements of the ¨Gialli¨ sub-genre : suspenseful intrigue , twisted killings executed by a brutal killer , violence , sadism , physical abuse , sensationalist murder pieces and nudism . Dealing with a series of murders are happening in London , these killings seem connected to a hunk gammy named Bruno Dorlani (Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina). The frustrated and bitter ex-acrobat Bruno tries to exculpate himself by sending a letter to the police superintendent via his friend (Patricia Loran) , resulting in fateful consecuences . Meanwhile , the police commissioner , Inspector Henry Campbell (Renzo Marignano) and his agents are investigating the heinous crimes , helped by a handsome schoolteacher of noble birth called Winston Darby Christian (Andrés Resino) married to a beautiful wife (Orchidea De Santis) , all of them being drawn into a twisted criminal plot and hot on Bruno's heels as prime suspect , as they can bring down the killer to the justice .

This is the typical European co-production , a giallo style which copies usual ingredients with a number of suspect people , red herrings and grisly murders against unfortunate victims , being committed by an unknown assassin who executes macabre killings on the body his victims by slashing , cutting or hacking . This is a whodunit in which there are various suspicious people who , as usual , happen to be the protagonists , as the main question of the movie results to be to find out the following : who is the murderer ? .There're various candidates, it may be a wise , well-considered teacher (Andrés Resino) or his vindictive spouse (Orchidea De Santis) or a lame former trapeze artist (Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina) whose wife is among the victims or even the commissioner Inspector Campbell (Renzo Marignano) himself . Lurid and gut-wrenching criminal drama made during the Francoist period in which abounded co-productions especially in horror and Spaghetti Western genres . As in Terror genre excelled Jacinto Molina who created his particular style where most of his raids would be perpetrated by the emblem of his own company in Spain , this actor, screenwriter and director Jacinto Molina - Paul Naschy , at times , collaborated with writer/filmmaker José Luis Madrid ; the result of whose collaboration are 'Jack the Ripper of London / Sette Cadaveri per Scotland Yard' (1971) and crimes of 'Petiot' (1972). Here Paul Naschy is an ex-circus artist who helps his friend a police inspector to discover who is the ominous murderer , resulting in himself to be the prime suspect . Filmmaker José Luis Madrid designs an average thriller , including some regularly staged murders plenty of startling visual content with blood similar to tomato and adding gore scenes , as well as brief nakedness, though in Spain it was submitted to limited censorship.

It contains atomspheric cinematography by cameraman Diego Úbeda , showing Swinging London locations from the Seventies , as well as some Madrid places , though a perfect remastering being extremely necessary because of the film copy is worn-out . Along with thrillling and intriguing musical score by Italian composer Piero Piccioni , an expert on Giallo soundtracks . The motion picture was regularly directed by José Luis Madrid. He was a craftsman who directed all kinds of genres. As he made Españoladas such as : ¨Lucecita¨ or ¨Strip-tease a la Inglesa¨ ; Spaghetti/Paella Westerns such as ¨The Ballad of Johnny Ringo¨ , ¨Seven Jackals¨, ¨The revenge of Clark Harrison¨ , ¨A Tomb for an outlaw¨; Eurospy movies such as : ¨Chineses and minishorts¨, ¨Ok Yetvtushenko¨ ; Crime movie such as ¨The Hyena¨ , and for the famous Spanish Werewolf , Paul Naschy , directed 2 movies : ¨Jack Ripper of London¨ and ¨Crimes of Petiot¨ and political/historical films such as : ¨Memorias del General Escobar¨ and ¨Command Txiquia¨ concerning the assassination of President Carrero Blanco . He also worked for the powerful German producer Arthur Brauner from Constantine Films with whom José Luis Madrid made a lot of uncredited films . Most of them were Krimis , a subgenre very popular in Germany . Throughout his long career he also showed a sense of opportunism with sensationalistic productions , such as : ¨The motorway Vampire¨ , about a vampire killer and ¨Last Tango in Madrid¨, there badly imitating ¨Bertolucci's Last tango in Paris¨. Rating : 5.5/10 . Average but passable Giallo .

7 Murders For Scotland Yard? There might have been… to be honest, I wasn't keeping a tally of the killings; instead, I was counting down the minutes to the end of this dreadfully dull Spanish giallo starring Iberian horror icon Paul Naschy as Pedro, an ex-trapeze artist (sh'yeah right!) with a manky leg who is suspected of committing a series of grisly London murders in which the young female victims have their organs surgically removed, Jack the Ripper style.

With way too much in the way of boring police procedure, repetitive killings that deliver minimal (and unconvincing) gore, and very little of the style to be found in many Italian giallos, about the only thing that the film really has to offer fans of '70s Euro horror are a few reasonably attractive women in various states of undress (although there's no actual nudity, quite the rarity for this kind of film) and some authentic location work (that said, the scene where Naschy has a knife fight with three men clearly wasn't shot in London—we don't have crickets chirping loudly in the evenings).

3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 4 for the hilarious scene in which a victim's severed head is delivered to a police inspector, and then casually passed around the station so that everyone can take a look.

JACK THE MANGLER ( 1971 ) starring Paul Naschy aka SEVEN CORPSES ( MURDERS ) FOR Scotland YARD This is a very hard to see film, but is worth the hunt for fans of Naschy and also giallo knock offs. It's a decent thriller with a mysterious Jack the Ripper wanna be who kills each victim with a distinctive blade, each from a different country. One by one, prostitutes are turning up dead and missing various body parts, a set of eyes here, a heart there. One of the early victims is Naschy's whore for hire wife, and he becomes a suspect in the early investigations, despite the fact that a younger, athletic man is the type sought, and Naschy has a gimpy leg from a high wire accident that ended his circus career. The local criminal element has it in for him as well, the murders bring the cops down on them and it's hurting business. The mystery of who the killer is and why he's so eager to carve up the local tarts is decent giallo fodder and satisfied me. Orchidea de Santis provides some hotness and Andres Resino ( the boyfriend in WEREWOLF SHADOW ) does OK as a friend of the cop running the investigation. The copy I watched is from VSoM and looks like a 3rd gen dub. It's in Italian with English subs that get the job done. Sadly, it's also the covered version of the film and not the nude version that was prepared for export. The film was dubbed into English had played the US in 1976, and this presumably was the uncovered variant, but it's whereabouts are unknown. A real shame as it's up there with a lot of the Italian giallos and without the nudity, it comes off as a bit tame considering it's subject matter. Here's hoping it turns up someday, it's on the list with a few others that really need their nude versions found so these films can be properly appreciated. The plot description that mentions Jack's a cannibal this time around is bogus BTW.