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5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Formula murder mystery, 29 March 2007
2/10
Author: Charlotte Kaye from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I don't get the praise for this one at all. It is one of the first of these Italian horror thrillers ("giallo") I have watched and color me unimpressed. Antonio Sabato and Uschi Glas star as newlyweds caught in the middle of a psychopath's killing spree. Well actually she's caught in the middle and he's just deciding to spend his free time playing Sherlock Holmes since the cops on the case are incompetent. Glas' character, along with six other females, are the targets and the killer knows that one of these seven ladies was involved in a car accident that left a man dead. Since he cannot prove which lady was involved he decides to murder them all to get his revenge. This movie plays out like a bland made-for-TV thriller, with stale dialogue, unimaginative direction, a weakly written screenplay and a few supposed twists thrown in, but it's all rather mundane and formulaic. The identity of the killer is a huge disappointment also because all they do is make it one of those minor characters who has maybe one scene before he's is revealed to be the psycho. The person isn't sufficiently developed or menacing enough to build much interest, and everyone who appears in a major role is nondescript and dull. Most of the run time is uninteresting dialogue scenes that constantly make the film come to a screeching halt. It's not thrilling, scary or suspenseful at all. And that is a shame because I normally love Italian horrors and thrillers. Many are among the most beautifully made films I have seen with good casts, outstanding cinematography, creepy music scores and wonderful art direction and sets. Sadly, this very dull movie has no style to speak of and the well of imagination must have run dry.

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6 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
A fair murder mystery .., 8 January 2005
4/10
Author: Space_Lord from Auckland, New Zealand

Handsome Antonio Sabato (father of Antonio Sabato Jr of such films as THE BIG HIT) and his wife are on the trail of a cold blooded killer whose only clue is the crescent shaped locket he leaves behind at every murder he commits. The killer has already tried and failed to kill her, will he be able to finish the job? This is just one of the questions that SEVEN BLOOD STAINED ORCHIDS asks. Another is how the hell did I manage to sit through this without falling asleep? I guess it was the funky retro finger painting free loving SWINGIN' SEVENTIES STYLES!! Seriously though, while this film has dated a little, director Umberto Lenzi crafts a moderately engaging murder mystery. Plus there's a fair amount of gore and nudity to engage the rest of us.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
SEVEN BLOOD-STAINED ORCHIDS (Umberto Lenzi, 1972) **1/2, 25 October 2011
6/10
Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta

Although this was director Lenzi's fifth (virtually) successive entry in the Giallo subgenre, as the title itself indicates, it was his first real 'body count' effort; it also turned out to be the last film produced by German company Rialto, noted for making Krimis which, for all intents and purposes, featured many traits of the later and more violent Italian Gialli. Composer Riz Ortolani's typically cool lounge tune over the opening credits is virtually the whole score here since variations of it are played throughout the film and, in hindsight, emerges as easily the most memorable thing about this average thriller; incidentally, I knew I had heard the song featured towards the midpoint of the film somewhere before and, as it turned out, it was lifted from an earlier genre effort by the same director – SO SWEET…SO PERVERSE (1969)!

While even the casting here is somewhat subpar with bland leading man Antonio Sabato and underused Rossella Falk and Marisa Mell (albeit in an unconvincing dual role), most of the girl victims (including Uschi Glas, Marina Malfatti, Gabriella Giorgelli) are certainly attractive as per the standard formula requirements but, atypically, none ever get truly naked. The rest of the male cast is made up of Pier Paolo Capponi (as the investigating Inspector), Claudio Gora (as an enigmatic clue-dropping stranger) and ubiquitous character actor Nello Pazzafini as the obligatory brutish but ultimately innocent suspect grilled by the Police. Needless to say, the presence of the equally mandatory gloved killer makes itself felt right from the very first scene but, funnily enough, here he is also made to dispose of his first victim's elderly mother or concierge asleep in the next room!

Although the motive for the murders is the tried-and-tested one of revenge for the death of a relative, the way the serial killer obtains his list of potential victims (a page of a signing-in book at a hotel they had all worked at during the previous year) is far-fetched. The "half moon" talisman left by the killer as his signature on the scene of the crime coincidentally ties the film to the unrelated Hollywood fantasy flick THE MAN IN HALF MOON STREET (1944) that I have just watched as part of this ongoing "Halloween Challenge" and, indeed, the film was even released under the alternate title of PUZZLE OF THE SILVER HALF MOONS in some territories! Par for the course is the investigation independently initiated by fashion designer Sabato soon after his 'fresh' bride Glas is assaulted on the train taking them to their honeymoon destination; somewhat foolishly, the film makes use of the same ruse of purposefully misinforming the murderer firstly of the success of his latest attack (Glas eventually goes into hiding) and later of Sabato's arrest (thus giving him free rein to conduct his attempts at amateur detection). Ultimately, a Giallo is only as good as its group of assorted potential suspects and, in this case, there are only three: an American émigré leading a hedonistic lifestyle in a hippie-like commune, nervous socialite Mell (who also gets the film's premiere murder set-piece via a driller to the chest – but, unluckily for the killer, it is her lookalike 'innocent' twin who gets it!) and a mousey priest.

Once the lifeless body of the blond Yank is found hanged, the priest-killer reveal is rendered predictable (also because we keep going back to him for no evident reason) and links it with DON'T TORTURE A DUCKILING (1972) but his drowning comeuppance is pretty weak and anticlimactic – especially compared to the visceral one suffered by the child-killing clergyman in the latter Lucio Fulci film! Unfortunately, unlike the positive comments I had expressed regarding the English dubbing of Riccardo Freda's THE IGUANA WITH THE TONGUE OF FIRE (1971), the one present here is mediocre at best.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Blood of the Orchids, 20 February 2010
7/10
Author: (Vomitron_G) from the Doomed Megalopolis of Blasphemous Technoids

I first saw "Seven Blood Stained Orchids" about 3 years ago and I remember being extremely surprised by it. In a good way, that is. This was the first Umberto Lenzi film I saw that was actually really good and showed a lot more style than his trashy & gory outings from the 80's. I was initially to give this movie 8/10, but I had to subtract one point because I guessed who the killer was before the final scenes. And that's a bit too bad, because this is a really good giallo with a solid mystery story that makes sense. The good thing was that I only knew who the killer should turn out to be, and not what his relation was to the events and the characters. So there are enough interesting things happening and plot elements to keep you going. The music was simply groovy as hell. I would love to own that soundtrack . In recent years I've caught up with quite some giallo films, and "Sette Orchidee Macchiate Di Rosso" sure remains a winner! The odds are even very likely that when I re-watch this baby, I just might chip in an extra point again.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
A Fun If Middling Giallo, 9 February 2008
6/10
Author: ferbs54 from United States

"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!

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3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
I'm tired of being a live corpse., 28 June 2009
7/10
Author: lastliberal from United States

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.

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3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
A little dull., 26 April 2008
5/10
Author: Leonard Smalls: The Lone Biker of the Apocalypse from Arizona

When I first saw "Seven Bloodstained Orchids" I was pretty impressed. The acting is pretty good compared to some other giallos I've seen and the plot is actually coherent without having to watch it fifty times.

Now, over a year later, and having seen several more giallos, I think this film is rather bland. The suspenseful scenes with the killer are rather predictable. This film is not only tame for a Lenzi film, but tame for a giallo. There is really only one memorable murder sequence: the one with the drill.

I'd recommend several before recommending this one. I'd also recommend a cup of coffee before viewing because it drags in parts and the ending is a bit lackluster.

5 out of 10, kids.

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7 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Boring clichéd film, 28 July 2006
3/10
Author: Oslo Jargo (osloj@yahoo.com) from FINLAND

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I wonder what film the other reviewers saw that they garner with such praise, this is a dull 'thriller' that doesn't have anything new to offer. It is lacking in terror, music or even atmosphere and anyone with half a brain can guess already who the killer is. It isn't really even a "giallo" type film because it lacks anything pertinent to that type. Lenzi meanders from point A to point B fairly rapidly, minus the chills one normally gets from any "creepy moments" or sustained plot. He has the boring clichés to "inform" the audience (a news station, a car radio, talking about the murders). A routine everyman (Sabato) is uninspired in the lead role, how the killer never managed to kill him or the dumb waif he is protecting is beyond intelligence. The film lacks excitement and therefore it is only "average", just barely at that even. And be prepared for the biggest let down when the killer is exposed.

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Seven, 16 January 2011
Author: dbdumonteil

From adventures movies ("Il Trionfi Di Robin Hood") to spy thriller ("A 008 (sic) Operation Termini") ,from sword and sandal ("I'Ultimo Gladiatore ") to horror ("Cannibal Ferox") Umberto Lenzi has tried his hand at all the genres .

"Sette Orchidee Macchiate Di Rosso ":the title recalls those of Dario Argento but ,although there are sadistic scenes ,the movie is primarily a detective story:the screenplay was made with a certain care ,which in this kind of low-budget movie is to be underlined.A whodunit and seven women who have something in common and a killer who is doing away with them one by one, a plot in the tradition of Agatha Christie.Most famous name is probably Austrian Marisa Mell ("Diabolik") whose career was already on the wane when she played this supporting part in Lenzi's movie.

Like this ?try these

"Sans Mobile Apparent " (Philippe Labro,1971)

"Le Dernier Des Six" (Geoge Lacombe ,1941)

"Sei Donna Per L'Assassino" (Mario Bava ,1963)

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5 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Lenzi's best 1970's giallo, 28 October 2001
Author: Nilbog!

Despite some unfavorable reviews (notably Adrian Smith's), this is a classic giallo that really works. The puzzle of the half moon lockets is classic Edgar Wallace and is the tenuous thread that connects the set-piece murders and keeps the story moving. Sabato and Glass race around to solve the mystery and clear Sabato's name but, as per usual, the killer is one step ahead of them. It all ends in a hand to hand fight in a swimming pool that's a cut above the usual giallo climax, and everything is nicely resolved. In 1972 plot still mattered to the giallo genre (1973's Torso would change that) and the films were a lot better for it. This one goes high on the list of gialli and was a peak for Umberto Lenzi.

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