La settima donna (1978)

Director:

Franco Prosperi

Writers:

Ettore Sanzò (story)
Romano Migliorini (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

20 April 1978 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | Horror

Plot:

Sister Cristina (Florinda Bolkan) plays a nun who takes the teenage girls in her care to a remote house where they rehearse A Midsummer Night's Dream...

Plot Keywords:

Nun | House | Revenge | Thug | Kicked In The Face

Cast

Florinda Bolkan	...	Sister Cristina
Ray Lovelock	...	Aldo
Flavio Andreini	...	Walter
Sherry Buchanan	...	Elisa
Stefano Cedrati	...	Nino
Laura Tanziani	...	Lucia
Laura Trotter	...	Claudia
Karina Verlier		(as Karine Velier)
Luisa Maneri	...	Matilde (as Annalisa Pesce)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Giuseppe Marrocco	...	Man in the Bank (uncredited)
Isabel Pisano	...	Maid (uncredited)
Luciano Zanussi	...	Man in the Bank (uncredited)

Directed by
Franco Prosperi

Writing credits
Ettore Sanzò		(story)
Romano Migliorini		(screenplay) &
Gianbattista Mussetto		(screenplay)

Produced by
Pino Buricchi	....	producer

Original Music by
Roberto Pregadio

Cinematography by
Cristiano Pogany

Film Editing by
Francesco Malvestito

Production Design by
Dario Micheli

Costume Design by
Dario Micheli

Makeup Department
Maria Teresa Corridoni	....	hair stylist
Corrado Cristofori	....	hair stylist
Claudia Giustini	....	makeup artist
Lamberto Marini	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Paolo Bistolfi	....	production supervisor
Francesco Giorgi	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Francesca Roberti	....	assistant director
Flavia Sante Vanin	....	assistant director (as Flavia Vanin)

Art Department
Augusto La Valle	....	props
Silvio Schettino	....	assistant production designer

Sound Department
Benito Alchimede	....	sound
Luciano Anzellotti	....	sound effects
Massimo Anzellotti	....	sound effects editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Walter Civirani	....	still photographer
Nunzio Colucci	....	chief electrician
Renato Doria	....	camera operator
Giancarlo Mentil	....	assistant camera
Orlando Zuccheri	....	key grip

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Clara Fratarcangeli	....	seamstress
Carmela Rimini	....	seamstress (as Maria Carmela Rimini)

Editorial Department
Alberto Vari	....	second assistant editor
Andrea Vari	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Edda Dell'Orso	....	backing vocals

Other crew
Romano Cannavacciuolo	....	administrator
Romano Cannavacciuolo	....	cashier
Giovanna Lai	....	script supervisor
Carmelo Occhipinti	....	production secretary

Production Companies

• Magirus Film

Distributors

• Sazuma Trading (2007) (Austria) (DVD)
• Severin Films (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Terror" - USA (video title)
"The Last House on the Beach" - USA (video title)
"The Seventh Woman" - International (English title) (informal literal title)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:18 (nf) | Germany:(Banned) | West Germany:(Banned)

Company:

Magirus Film

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Shocking Truth (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

Place for the Landing

Neither the best nor the worst of its kind

As successful as Wes Craven's "Last House on the Left" was, it was such an unpleasant and notorious film that it didn't spawn too many imitators in American. Italy, however, was a whole different story, There "Last House" and its home-grown, pseudo-sequel "Late Night Trains" spawned an entire subgenre (albeit a pretty small one) known as the "terror film". These films usually fell into two categories. Some are flat-out sexploitation films like "Terror Express" and "Escape from a Woman's Prison" that are pretty hard to take seriously, where others, like "Late Night Trains", are pretty disturbing but are also usually much more stylized and less graphic than the infamous American film (the one exception to all this was Ruggiero Deodato's "House by the Edge of the Park" which might even be MORE harrowing than the Craven film).

This movie falls more into the latter category. It is a more-or-less serious film about three fugitive bank robbers who rape, murder, and generally terrorize a nun and a gaggle of Catholic schoolgirls at an isolated cottage by the beach. The violence is pretty nasty, but not especially graphic. There are three rapes, including a fatal one involving a walking stick, but they are highly stylized and/or take place mostly off camera. There is a general lack of character development,however, so that even the strongest actors like Florinda Bolkan and Ray Lovelock are not as effective as they could have been (having seen "Flavia the Heretic" and "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" I would have expected more from a face-off between nun-heroine Bolkan and bank robber/villain Lovelock). The girls are all nubile but not particularly young or innocent looking (Sherry Buchanon, for instance, had been playing abused schoolgirls since "What Have They Done to Your Daughters?" in 1974). This is somewhat appropriate, however, since the movie seems unsure at times whether it wants to pity them or sexually exploit them.

The ending is interesting although I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Neither the best nor the worst of its kind.