Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso

A serial-killer is attacking women in Italy, leaving a silver moon near their corpses. While traveling to Paris by train with her fiancé, the famous designer Mario Gerosa (Antonio Sabàto), Giulia Torresi (Uschi Glass) is assaulted by the serial-killer in her cabin. Police Inspector Vismara (Pier Paolo Capponi) decides to hide that Giulia has survived to protect her. Mario decides to investigate the victims and finds that six women had been in the hotel Giulia owned in the past. They travel expecting to save the women that have not been attacked before the killer finds them.

"Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso", a.k.a. "Seven Blood-Stained Orchids", is a thriller that could have been better. The plot is not engaging but there are violent murders. Indicated only for fans of giallo. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Sete Orquídeas Manchadas de Sangue" ("Seven Blood-Stained Orchids")

"Seven Blood-Stained Orchids" (1971) is a middling, fairly goreless giallo from director Umberto Lenzi that should just manage to please fans of this genre. In it, a hunky-dude designer, played by Antonio Sabato in a one-note performance, investigates when his pretty fiancée becomes the latest target of yet another Italian serial killer. With the help of this fiancée, appealingly played by German actress Uschi Glass, the couple realizes that all previous murder victims had stayed at the same countryside hotel several years before. But will this bit of knowledge enable them to save future targets of the killer? And why does this homicidal whack job insist on leaving crescent-moon medallions (NOT half-moon, as widely reported elsewhere!) at the site of his slayings? The film, as you may have discerned, tells an interesting story, with a twisty, slightly confusing plot that does ultimately manage to hang together. Lenzi has directed his film in a competent, no-nonsense manner, while the picture's score, from Riz Ortolani, is alternately somber, cool, menacing and lovely. The film's killer utilizes many expedients to off his victims, including beating, drowning, strangulation and--in a scene that should please most gorehounds--a power drill, and this many years before similar nut cases picked up their Black & Deckers in films such as "The Tool Box Murders," "The Driller Killer" and "The Slumber Party Massacre." Several scenes are indeed quite suspenseful, such as the ones with the poisoned kitties and the female mental patient. Shriek Show is to be thanked for this fine-looking DVD (sadly, with no subtitles) of a film never before released in the U.S. Oh...one other thing. Do NOT watch the film's trailer before viewing this picture. Amazingly, it reveals the killer's identity not once but several times! Talk about spoilers!

In this film, women keep getting murdered after receiving a phone call to ascertain their whereabouts, and each time, a crescent moon medallion is left in their hands. At first there seems to be no connection, until it's realized that all of the women happened to stay at the same hotel one night several years earlier. One victim escapes, fakes her own death, and sets off to find the killer... but will he find her first?

The main strength of "Seven Blood-Stained Orchids" was its tightly-woven "whodunnit" mystery plot, which contained tons of red herrings but felt much more coherent than many other movies in this genre. It played out in such a way that there was no real way the viewer could beat the camera to the big reveal in terms of deduction, but it still felt engaging throughout. I also thought the main characters were all quite likeable, and I especially appreciated the surprisingly good survival instincts of the main hero and heroine -- not a trait this type of character often has. The kills were suitably thrilling, the acting was good, and the music was solid without being a standout. The opening title track, "Ozarks", might be an exception to that statement, as its groovy base line strikes a great balance between sinister menace and smooth funk.

The only real negative I have to say about it is that the movie felt a bit lacking in artistry on the visual front. Most of my prior experience with gialli is that they're visually incredible, but the plot is a bit of a mess. This movie takes the polar opposite route, with almost no memorable or striking visual moments but a plot that feels tightly-scripted. Also, because so much of the film relies on the "whodunnit" element, I can't imagine that this movie would be particularly engaging as a rewatch in the same way that something like "Blood Red" or "All The Colors of the Dark" are.

All told, maybe not one to buy sight-unseen, but if you can rent or stream it somewhere, it's absolutely worth a watch at least once.

Undoubtedly Lenzi's best film. More of a giallo than anything else he's made, af usually seems to deal in standard Hitchcock- influenced thrillers and forego the giallo tropes. Here however, all of the giallo trademarks are at play, and come together beautifully with a very well written story line.

Before Cannibal Ferox and Eaten Alive!, Umberto Lenzi had his Giallo films. They are different from the American murder-mysteries in that we actually see the crime taking place, not just CSI showing up to process the scene, and we usually get lots of blood and tits with the deed.

OMG! A scene from The Driller Killer. The "Half-Moon Maniac" uses what is convenient to get the job done.

The last "victim" sets herself up for the kill to catch the maniac.

It doesn't work, and Mario (Antonio Sabato) keeps looking. Can he get home and save his wife, Giulia (Uschi Glas) before the killer strikes?

Great film, even though it was dubbed.