Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso (1972)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Umberto Lenzi

Writers:

Roberto Gianviti (screenplay)
Paul Hengge (credited on German prints)
(more)

Release Date:

24 February 1972 (Italy)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Plot Keywords:

Skirt | Dead Woman | Cult Director | Psycho Killer | Corrupt

Cast

Antonio Sabato	...	Mario
Uschi Glas	...	Giulia (as Uschi Glass)
Pier Paolo Capponi	...	Inspector Vismara
Rossella Falk	...	Elena Marchi
Marina Malfatti	...	Kathy Adams
Renato Romano	...	The Priest
Claudio Gora	...	Raffaele Ferri
Gabriella Giorgelli	...	Inez Tamborini
Aldo Barberito	...	Lt. Palumbo
Bruno Corazzari	...	Barrett
Franco Fantasia	...	Lt. Renzi
Petra Schürmann	...	Concetta di Rosa
Ivano Davoli
Linda Sini	...	Juanda
Nello Pazzafini	...	Raoul
Carla Mancini	...	Anna's maid
Enzo Andronico	...	Hotel Porter
Fulvio Mingozzi	...	Agent
Nestore Cavaricci	...	Agent
Marisa Mell	...	Anna Sartori & Maria Sartori
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Friedrich G. Beckhaus	...	Lt. Renzi (voice: German version) (uncredited)
Andrea Bosic	...	Palmieri (uncredited)
Armand Cava	...	Man (uncredited)
Thomas Danneberg	...	Mario (voice: German version) (uncredited)
Carolyn De Fonseca	...	Elena Marchi (voice: English version) (uncredited)
Filippo Del Bello	...	Parroco (uncredited)
Vera Drudi	...	Mad (uncredited)
Arne Elsholtz	...	Barrett (voice: German version) (uncredited)
Tom Felleghy	...	Dr. Harris (uncredited)
Hans W. Hamacher	...	Raffaele Ferri (voice: German version) (uncredited)
Beate Hasenau	...	Anna Sartori (voice: German version) (uncredited)
Ursula Herwig	...	Concetta di Rosa (voice: German version) (uncredited)
Ursula Heyer	...	Kathy Adams (voice: German version) (uncredited)
Lucretia Love	...	Woman (uncredited)
Alba Maiolini	...	Mad with the doll (uncredited)
Gerd Martienzen	...	The Priest (voice: German version) (uncredited)
Gould Maynard	...	Anna's Son (voice: German version) (uncredited)
Klaus Miedel	...	Lt. Palumbo (voice: German version) (uncredited)
Ivana Novak	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Edgar Ott	...	Inspector Vismara (voice: German version) (uncredited)
Peter Schiff	...	Man (voice: German version) (uncredited)
Klaus Sonnenschein	...	Palmieri (voice: German version) (uncredited)
Luca Sportelli	...	Conduttore (uncredited)
Enzo Tarascio	...	Man (uncredited)
Alfred Vohrer	...	Edgar Wallace (voice: German version) (uncredited) (archive footage)
Sandra Wolf	...	Secretary (uncredited)

Directed by
Umberto Lenzi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Roberto Gianviti		screenplay
Paul Hengge		credited on German prints
Umberto Lenzi		screenplay
Umberto Lenzi		story
Edgar Wallace		story (uncredited in italian version)
Cornell Woolrich		novel "Rendezvous in Black" (uncredited)

Produced by
Lamberto Palmieri	....	producer

Original Music by
Riz Ortolani

Cinematography by
Angelo Lotti

Film Editing by
Eugenio Alabiso
Clarissa Ambach		(German version)

Production Design by
Giacomo Caló Carducci

Costume Design by
Giulia Mafai

Makeup Department
Sergio Angeloni	....	makeup artist
Anna Graziosi	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Sergio Borelli	....	production manager
Herbert Kerz	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fulvio Barresi	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Renato Marinelli	....	sound effects
Bruno Moreal	....	sound mixer
Guido Ortenzi	....	sound engineer

Camera and Electrical Department
Mario Sbrenna	....	camera operator

Editorial Department
Amedeo Moriani	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Rosaria Cilento	....	continuity

Production Companies

• Flora Film
• National Pictures
• Rialto Film

Distributors

• Constantin Film
• Shriek Show (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Gemelli  sound

Also Known As:

Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (International: English title) (dubbed version) (USA) (DVD title)
Das Rätsel des silbernen Halbmonds (West Germany)
Edgar Wallace - Das Rätsel des silbernen Halbmonds (West Germany) (series title)
Puzzle of the Silver Half Moons
Sette volti per l'assassino (Italy)
Sieben Gesichter für die Mörderin (West Germany)

Runtime:

Finland:88 min | Germany:85 min | Greece:88 min

Country:

Italy | West Germany

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:VM14 (new rating) | Italy:VM18 (original rating) | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Spoleto, Perugia, Umbria, Italy

Company:

Flora Film

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Pastewka: Die Strategie der Schnecke (#2.2)" (2006)

Textbook early 70's giallo

Seven Blood Stained Orchids is a textbook early 70's giallo. There are no real surprises in this one, it plays by the genre rules closely – a black leather glove wearing maniac picks off a succession of women in a variety of ways while the police are ineffectual and an amateur sleuth saves the day. This is the type of synopsis that could be given to umpteen gialli of the period. Orchids displays in abundance both the strengths and weaknesses of the sub-genre.

The story involves the murders of a succession of women who are killed by a maniac who leaves ornamental half-moons in their dead hands. The reason for this carnage has something to do with events revolving around a hotel one night several years previously...

The murder routines are standard giallo material. Beautiful women, often in a state of undress, are killed by a variety of methods – club, strangulation, drowning, power-drill, etc. It is, of course, quite a sleazy set up but there is no point denying the frisson of these scenes. The mix of sex and violence is pretty much essential to giallo cinema. The first two murders in particular are examples of this – in the first, a prostitute is beaten to death with a club and left for dead half-naked with her breasts covered in blood; in the second, an artist is strangled but this time paint fills the role of the red stuff, as it drips onto her chest like she was a Jackson Pollock canvas. Later in the movie Lenzi introduces death by power-drill which may or may not be a first but it certainly is no surprise from the man who would go on to make a few notorious cannibal movies. In fairness, some of the murder routines display a genuine understanding of suspense. In particular, the demise of the madwoman (Rossella Falk) is claustrophobic and genuinely creepy. Sadly, Lenzi decides to have some of the murders committed off-screen. This isn't particularly clever, as the murders in gialli are so central to the experience that having any off-screen just seems lazy.

I guess with its emphasis on female slaughter, Seven Blood Stained Orchids is a good example of a giallo that could be considered misogynistic. I'm not really going to argue this general point one way or the other, except to say that things never get too lurid and, as is often the way with giallo cinema, the women characters are a hell of a lot more interesting than the men. Orchids is no exception here. Antonio Sabato is, at best, adequate and the police and authority figures that make up the majority of the other males in the film are all pretty dull; the exception being Barrett, the junkie homosexual. The heteros aren't too interesting at any rate. The women, on the other hand, are much more absorbing. Uschi Glas is a far better lead than Sabato; Rossella Falk - a very unusual looking woman - is unforgettable as the disturbed patient in the asylum; and Marisa Mell in the double role of the identical twins is just, well, stunningly beautiful really. Horror cinema favours women but giallo cinema actively depends upon them, this film is no exception.

For fans of the giallo, this is good fun. It's sleazy, violent and full of the glorious bad-taste colourful décor and fashions of the time. If you're not a full-on fan of this type of film you may have some problems with it though. The script is full of ridiculous dialogue which can be good for a cheap laugh – Antonio Sabato, in particular, delivers some hilariously silly lines in an earnest and deadpan manner. And while the mystery is generally compelling, the resolution – both the climatic confrontation and killer's motivations – isn't brilliant. Not that gialli are exactly famed for their great plotting and convincing explanations for their homicidal maniacs but the casual viewer may have issues with these weaknesses. However, fans of this kind of movie really can't go wrong here. This is a straight-ahead giallo that delivers the thrills and spills expected. Umberto Lenzi doesn't display the craft of an Argento, Bava or Fulci; however, there is something appealing about his slightly sleazy no-nonsense approach.