7, Hyden Park - La casa maledetta

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.)

A very suspenseful giallo from the director of "L'Anticristo"(1974),this one begins with a brilliantly-handled sequence involving a priest,a little girl,and a broken doll.However the main story is about maniac(David Warbeck)marrying a traumatized cripple to kill her for her money.The plot,whilst not original,is really suspenseful,the acting is good and there are several skillful and gory murders.The score by Francesco de Massi is quite effective,some of which can also be heard in Lucio Fulci's "The New York Ripper"(1982).Highly recommended for fans of Italian cinema!

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.

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.

My review was written in October 1986 after a screening at Selwyn theater on Manhattan's 42nd Street.

"Formula for Murder" is an above-average Italian thriller. Concurrent with its U. S. theatrical release, pic is available on video cassette under the slightly different title "Formula for a Murder" from Lightning Video.

Set in Boston, where most of the film was shot, pic falls loosely into the "Gaslight" genre, as Craig (British thesp David Warbek, dubbed with an American accent) trains paraplegic Joanna (Christina Nagy) for special athletics events to be held in New York City. They fall in love and plan to marry, which makes Joanna's lovely live-in companion Ruth (Carroll Blumenberg) very jealous.

Carried by fine acting by Christina Nagy, pic drags a bit halfway through as Warbeck procrastinates while Blumenberg urges him to kill Nagy, but it picks up again with okay twists. Tech credits are okay and, except for the post-synchronized dialog, pic adequately passes for a U. S.-style production.