The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972) Director: Emilio P. Miraglia
Recently released by Arrow Video as part of the double bill Dual-Format Blu-Ray and DVD ‘Killer Dames: Two Gothic Chillers by Emilio P. Miraglia’, The Red Queen Kills Seven Times is a captivating Italian giallo movie that explores a hundred year-cycle curse from a family painting where a Red Queen rises to…you’ve guessed it… kill seven times.
Family members Kitty (Barbara Bouchet) and Franziska (Marina Malfatti) suspect the curse after the death of Kitty’s grandfather, and that the back-from-the-dead Red Queen could be Kitty’s deceased sister Evelyn. The grandfather had told Kitty and Evelyn about the curse when they were children – always fighting – and when older in another fight with Kitty, Evelyn accidentally hits her head and dies in a moat. Kitty blames herself for her sister’s death but the family covers it up as ‘Evelyn has gone to America’. Has Evelyn now risen again to take her revenge? Was the curse inevitable?
The film is stylish and thrilling, with some truly memorable shots from Kitty’s dreams of how the Red Queen strikes. It ramps up well with suspense towards the final big reveal, and there’s some elaborate deaths for the Red Queen’s victims including a man being dragged along and squashed on the side of the road by a car, and a nasty end for a fashion house mogul.
A solid part of any giallo collection, The Red Queen…is well worth checking out.
3/5 red cloaks running
Recently released by Arrow Video as part of the double bill Dual-Format Blu-Ray and DVD ‘Killer Dames: Two Gothic Chillers by Emilio P. Miraglia’, The Red Queen Kills Seven Times is a captivating Italian giallo movie that explores a hundred year-cycle curse from a family painting where a Red Queen rises to…you’ve guessed it… kill seven times.
Family members Kitty (Barbara Bouchet) and Franziska (Marina Malfatti) suspect the curse after the death of Kitty’s grandfather, and that the back-from-the-dead Red Queen could be Kitty’s deceased sister Evelyn. The grandfather had told Kitty and Evelyn about the curse when they were children – always fighting – and when older in another fight with Kitty, Evelyn accidentally hits her head and dies in a moat. Kitty blames herself for her sister’s death but the family covers it up as ‘Evelyn has gone to America’. Has Evelyn now risen again to take her revenge? Was the curse inevitable?
The film is stylish and thrilling, with some truly memorable shots from Kitty’s dreams of how the Red Queen strikes. It ramps up well with suspense towards the final big reveal, and there’s some elaborate deaths for the Red Queen’s victims including a man being dragged along and squashed on the side of the road by a car, and a nasty end for a fashion house mogul.
A solid part of any giallo collection, The Red Queen…is well worth checking out.
3/5 red cloaks running
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