Umberto
Lenzi, 1972
Starring:
Uschi Glas, Antonio Sabàto, Pier Paolo Capponi, Marisa Mell
A
number of women are murdered by a mysterious, black-gloved killer. The only clue
left at each crime scene is a piece of jewelry: an ornate, half-moon pendant.
The only victim to escape is the third intended victim, Giulia. The police help
her fake her death, while her boyfriend, Mario, tries to get to the bottom of
the mystery and figure out the identity of the killer before it is too late.
They soon trace the half-moon pendant back to a hotel Giulia once worked in; the
other dead woman can also be linked back there in some way, and Giulia and
Mario make a list of potential future victims. But will they locate the killer
in time?
One
of Lenzi’s few traditional giallo films, Seven
Blood-Stained Orchids, also known as Puzzle
of the Silver Half Moons, is also one of his most accessible. It’s a great
place to start for relative giallo newbies, who are ready to move past Bava and
Argento to other directors, as the film has some great murder set pieces and the
plot is certainly less ridiculous than some other giallo scripts I can think of.
To Lenzi’s credit, and things generally move towards a logical conclusion. The
story is credited to both Edgar Wallace and Cornell Woolrich. Wallace was a
British writer whose mystery/suspense novels kicked off an entire German genre
in the ‘60s known as krimi films (read my
introduction to this fun series for more information).
Cornell
Woolrich, one of my favorite American writers, penned a series of bleak crime
novels known as the Black series, which influenced film noir. They are
generally all concerned with revenge killings. Rendezvous in Black, which supposedly influenced Seven Blood-Stained Orchids, follows a
man whose fiancée died in an accident the night before their wedding. He tracks
down the group of men responsible and, every year on the anniversary of his bride’s
death, he murders one of their loved ones. While Seven Blood-Stained Orchids does not follow this frankly absurd
plot about a drunken flight and deadly projectile, Lenzi’s killer mimics this
pattern. In order to get revenge for a past trauma – equally as coincidental as
the death in Rendezvous in Black – this
incident has driven the killer mad and he murders every woman associated with
the event, because he doesn’t know the identity of the responsible individual.
The
themes of past traumas haunting the future, guilt, and evaded responsibility
coming home to roost are standard giallo themes, but there is something
light-hearted and almost innocent about Seven
Blood-Stained Orchids. While so many giallo characters – including
protagonists, victims, bystanders, and killers – are often portrayed as
immoral, possessing dirty secrets, and capable of dark deeds, Mario and Giulia
are surprisingly likable and oddly innocent. This may be something of an
unintentional spoiler, but it would be only too easy for either Mario or Giulia
to be the killer, but instead, they are refreshingly devoted to one another.
While
I enjoy the general irrationality that comes with most giallo films, the killer
here even has something of a reason for his/her crimes. There are still a fair
amount of red herrings, including a case of identical twins, and some
wonderfully suspenseful moments, such as a scene where a future victim finds her dying cats – recently poisoned by the killer – sprawled out on the floor of
her home. Despite its title, Seven
Blood-Stained Orchids is not dependent on gore. Several death scenes are
implied, relying on tension alone, though there are some well-executed scenes
of violence. In one such moment, the lovely Marisa Mell (Danger: Diabolik) meets a sticky end at the pointy end of a power
drill. The film’s final reveal – no actual spoilers here – is also carefully
controlled as Mario and the killer battle in a pool, allowing for a tense scene
that takes its time to reveal the killer’s face. Guilia, who was nearly drowned
to death, waits helplessly by.
Seven Blood-Stained
Orchids
is a pleasant, if run-of-the-mill affair that hits all the giallo notes,
including a black-clad killer with leather gloves, but doesn’t offer anything
particularly noteworthy or unique. Antonio Sabata (Beyond the Law) and German actress Uschi Glas (The College Girl Murders) are not the most compelling of giallo
protagonists, and there are some glaring plot holes – namely the fact that I
have no clue what the pendants actually have to do with anything. Despite these
routine flaws, it’s a solid watch and is available
on DVD from Shriek Show, and, as I mentioned, is a good starting place for
giallo newcomers. It’s light-heated with plenty of funny moments and has an
up-beat, jazzy score from the underrated Riz Ortolani. When you consider that
1972 was one of the giallo genre’s most prolific years, with films like Death Walks at Midnight, Who Saw Her Die?, The Killer is On the Phone, What Have You Done to Solange?, Case of the Bloody Iris, Delirium, and many more, Seven Blood-Stained Orchids is a level-headed, quality entry that proves Lenzi is capable of restraint, a fact belied by his later, gore-drenched works.
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