7, Hyden Park - La casa maledetta

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 .

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.)

Formula for a Murder completely lacks the mystery of an unknown killer, a key element of so many Italian movies known as Giallo. These combine horror with a series of murders, often involving a police investigation. The British DVD covers gives away the killers identity, and it is not long into the film before that is confirmed. However, there is plenty of shock and style, though it is not on par with the classics in this sub genre. David Warbeck gives a satisfying performance, though I fear he was dubbed.Some great kills (thankfully the British release is uncut), a little bit of sex and a decent, if somewhat predictable finale.

A Formula For Murder isn't a well known Giallo, but that isn't to say it's not a very good one! The film is directed by Alberto De Martino, the man behind cult classics such as The Antichrist and Blazing Magnums. The film was released late on in the Giallo cycle, but more than stands up to many of the films released around the 'golden' period in the early seventies. Despite a lack of logic in some areas, the film works mainly due to the competent way it mixes Argento style death scenes with some genuinely surprising plot twists, and a host of well defined characters. The film is, perhaps, not as exciting overall as many other films in the genre; but this is more than compensated for by the assured way that the central situation is fed to the audience, and the tension resulting from that. The plot begins by showing a fake priest raping a young girl named Joanna, before pushing her down a flight of steps. We then fast forward several years and the girl is now a woman, who is unfortunately in a wheelchair. She is being trained for a sports event by Craig; a man who also has romantic designs on her. However, his proposal isn't met with glee by Joanna's personal assistant, who also has romantic designs on her.

The film features a plot twist half way through that makes up the backbone of the movie, and while it's not exactly logical; it's good to watch and hints that you're in for an interesting movie. Director Alberto de Martino is clearly not afraid to show a few outrageous gore scenes, and the best of which in this film features a priest being battered to death by a spade - and I personally wouldn't hesitate to name that sequence as one of my favourite Giallo murder scenes! The plot can be a little uneven at times, but generally the action is very good. The director spends what seems like an eternity on the conclusion to the film; but it's absolutely packed with tension, and the way that it plays out is good in that it takes advantage of all the plot points that have gone before it. The musical score, taken from Fulci's The New York Ripper, works well in this film also and, breaking a Giallo tradition, de Martino's film also features some rather good acting performances from cult veteran David Warbeck and Christina Nagy, in her only feature film role. Overall, this film isn't one of the easiest Giallo's to come across; but its well worth tracking down and comes recommended to fans of this sort of film.