Sette note in nero

The Psychic finds Italian film-maker Lucio Fulci in a decidedly more restrained mood. Never a director to shy away from excessive sex and violence, this entry in his cannon is far more an exercise in suspense with a real focus on presenting an interesting mystery. There is an early scene where a character falls off a cliff resulting in their face being bloodily shredded by rocks as they fall - basically a scene repeated from Fulci's earlier giallo classic Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) – but apart from this, there is no real excessive blood-letting at all. The story is essentially about a psychic woman who experiences premonitions about mysterious murders, before long she finds herself in the midst of a dangerous situation.

The atmosphere of this one generates a real sense of dread. This is mainly on account of the quite distinctively structured mystery that underpins the story-line. The mixing of visions of the past and events yet to come was clever. It means that there is a real sense of intrigue to this one, with lots of visual clues thrown at us that progressively make sense, while often setting us off to entirely the wrong conclusion. It's a jigsaw puzzle of a movie and this is a very nice touch. Because it came quite late in the giallo cycle I guess it was for this reason that it adopted a more original approach, mixing the standard tropes of the genre with a supernatural angle. Whatever the case, this is one of the better written and thought out story-lines from the sub-genre and what it lacks in visceral excess it does make up for with a well-conceived mystery. It benefits too from a good leading lady in Jennifer O'Neill who later starred in David Cronenberg's excellent sci-fi/horror Scanners (1981). In addition it also features a Goblinesque score which was another nice touch.

Murder to the Tune of Seven Black Notes is the last of Fulci's pre-gore flick Giallo's, and it has to be said that it's the lowest quality of the bunch. That, however, is more down to the fact that the others are such brilliant films rather a shortfall with this one. Having already done straight murderers with A Lizard in Woman's Skin and Don't Torture a Duckling, Fulci has resorted to a supernatural plot line for his fourth Giallo feature and the plot draws its mystery and intrigue from it. Fulci has taken influence from the more psychological Giallo films made before this one, as well as a plentiful helping of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Black Cat". The plot kicks off properly with the uncovering of a skeleton inside the walls of a villa belonging to the husband of our young lady protagonist. Clairvoyance is the reason for finding the skeleton, and naturally it isn't long before the husband is put under suspicion for the murder given that the body was uncovered inside his house; and he finds himself on the inside when it turns out that the body belonged to one of his ex-lovers...

Despite the fact that this film serves as something of a prelude to the latter half of Fulci's career, there is a surprising lack of blood and guts, and this film isn't even as gory as the earlier Don't Torture a Duckling. Fulci presents his plot with a surprising amount of restraint, and doesn't even take the opportunity to show a heavily decomposed corpse as he did in the largely gore-less One on Top of the Other over a decade earlier. While the plot itself does serve up intrigue, it has to be said that it's a little too bare to cover the running time properly. The suspense is there throughout, but Fulci's script certainly could have benefited from adhering a little more to the common convoluted Giallo plot. The technical side of the film makes up for this shortfall, however, as Fulci's use of the camera is excellent and he continually presents a morbid and foreboding atmosphere, particularly inside the central villa location. The tension mounts as we approach the ending, and Murder to the Tune of Seven Black Notes boils down to a satisfyingly macabre - if a little abrupt - conclusion. This film may not be Fulci's best Giallo attempt, and it is liable to disappoint fans of his later, bloodier films; but if you like your atmospheres grim and your plots suspenseful; Fulci's fourth Giallo comes recommended.

"The Psychic" is probably one of Fulci's most plot-based movies. It also is fairly restrained; it is surprising that this was not issued a PG-13 rating. The only real gore was in the beginning of the movie when a woman falls off a cliff. Her face is shown hitting the side of the cliff repeatedly. Don't let the lack of gore stop you from renting this, though, because this movie is well worth it.

The story is as follows: A clairvoyant of sorts has a vision of a murder taking place in the house in which she lives. She then digs a skeleton out of the wall of the house. She calls the police, who in turn arrest her husband, the longtime owner of the house. In attempts to get her husband out of jail, she tries piecing together what happened based on her vision. It should be noted that the major plot twists are given away on the back of the box, so avoid reading it if surprise is wanted.

"The Psychic" is one of Fulci's few technically competent movies, containing few plot holes and a great storyline. Unfortunately, the same can not be said about the dialogue, which is subpar, and the quality, which takes away from the movie's viewing experience. Also, the first half of the movie drags, but luckily things pick up for the second half. Be sure to listen for the tune in the watch; it starts out like the theme song to "Zombie!"

This is an enjoyable movie for all audiences. My rating: 7 out of 10.

It's nice when the main character of the giallo you're watching receives all their clues in one huge psychic download five minutes into the film.

Psychic lady, who has already remotely viewed her mother's suicide when she was a child (the only truly gory bit of the film), gets her vision when driving away from the airport after dropping off her new hubby (the always great and glary Gianni Garko of I Am Sartana, I will Kick Your Arse fame).

From then on out it's up to psychic lady to figure out all the clues. Who has she witnessed being murdered and walled up? Why doesn't her vision add up to police evidence? Who done it? It's difficult to review gialli without ruining them so I'll stop there.

I've seen this reviewed as Fulci's best film and his best Giallo, but personally I'd rate Lizard In A Woman's Skin higher (it's more surreal for starters). I would put in on a par with Don't Torture A Duckling though - I was glued to the screen. This man had talent at this point in his career.

Next up: Ghosts of Sodom. I'm thinking the next review won't be so glowing.

Attempting to help herself, a woman marred by psychic visions finds a long-missing body walled up inside her husbands' house which puts him in the police's custody for the crimes and forces her to set out to save him, but soon becomes troubled when the vision leads to something else.

This proved to be an incredibly enjoyable giallo. Among the film's best qualities here is the sparkling setup that gets the film going and gives this one plenty of strong aspects. That we're given enough early on to show her abilities and gifts into the paranormal where we can both see the past as well as into the future, this becomes a driving force throughout the rest of the film. As the initial sequence of her coming under the influence of her latest vision as an adult, going through the contents of the room and looking over everything she finds there gives quite a fantastic setup to the film focusing on this aspect. Once that's firmly in place, the idea of the film resorting to an investigation into the cause of the woman that's found there death within the house gives this an intricately developed and played out mystery. The connection and build throughout the film, generated mainly from the need to prove her husband innocent of the crimes, is quite far-reaching as she goes through each of the clues from her vision and goes through each step, from the photograph to the investigation into the taxi company's history and even what the cigarette brands she finds. This is an important aspect that keeps the film going along nicely and logically with plenty of strong leads and reasoning done to keep throwing everything off. That this still keeps some thrilling suspense present in this section gives this a fantastic finish. As the final stages of the investigation take her into the sphere of the politician who's trying to keep the dead body a secret, there's a great enhancement of the action featured here were the series of chases and confrontations they have. From the back-and-forth hide-and-seek game through the apartment to the chase through the church, this all sets up the dark and chilling finale where the real meaning to her visions and gifts gets into some dark areas with how everything gets played out. It's a fun finale and gives this one a lot to like overall. There are a few minor flaws here. The main issue here is the notable lack of a nominal killer knocking victims off which plays such an integral part of the genre. This one tends to introduce the threat to her life so late here with the majority of time investigating the crime that it's almost entirely possible to forget she's in danger without threats on her or her friends which are quite important. The other issue is the finale, where the twisting plotlines are so over-the-top in how they get resolved in the context of the story as well as what emerges with the final revelation that's not nearly as shocking as it thinks it is. These here are enough to lower this one overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.