Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Nigel P The number seven crops up more than once in Giallo films – 'Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye', 'Seven Blood Stained Orchids', and this. Doll faced beauty Barbara Bouchet plays Kitty, surviving sister to Evelyn, a precocious, violent creature, who has seemingly perished. However, events seem to emulate the old family curse in which, every hundred years, the 'Red Queen' is raised from the dead to kill seven times. Classic images of stabbings by an unknown black-gloved figure with dark hair and a red cloak (1973's 'Don't Look Now' imagery seems to owe a lot to this) follow.Red actually crops up rather a lot in this, on clothes and cars – splashes of crimson in the midst of pleasingly rainy night scenes; either a subtle clue as to the identity of the killer or a 'red' herring.Magnificently moustachioed Marino Masé plays the chief inspector (Toller), the dapper gentleman trying to unravel this enigma, whilst looking uncannily like Freddie Mercury in certain scenes. This whole dark mystery is presented very much as a television horror/thriller than a film – more so than most giallos, I'd say.The ghost-faced killer is featured only very sparingly, which is a shame as she is featured prominently on promotional material and looks effectively sinister.Another well crafted, solid giallo film.

Leofwine_draca This obscure giallo flick from director Emilio Miraglia is a typically muddled entry for the genre, and certainly one that's not to be recommended to those who don't even know what a giallo is! For those familiar with these types of films, THE LADY IN RED KILLS SEVEN TIMES is even more incomprehensible than most movies, as a mysterious killer named Evelyn slaughters her way through much of the cast – and, get this, she's dead! I first got this confused with the director's other giallo, THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE, the title of which perfectly describes the events in this movie, but rest assured they are two separate films. The plot of this one is quite slow-paced, with lots of padding in the form of '70s Italian cheese which some will love, and others (like me, I'm afraid) will hate. The ending makes an effort to explain things with one of those big twists, but I was still scratching my head come the closing credits! Now on to the good stuff…this film's cast is better than usual, with a bunch of actors who actually do what they get paid to do – act! Barbara Bouchet is lovely as the put-upon heroine, especially in the climatic sequences in which she's trapped in a dungeon rapidly filling with water (and rats) – okay, so this finale belongs more in a '30s American serial than a '70s Italian giallo, but at least it offers excitement and acts as a wake-up call to audience members who may have fallen asleep through the slow first hour. Other good actors include the moustachioed cop who sweats his way through the police procedurals and the other pretty female victims who inevitably find themselves on the receiving end of a sharp knife! One to look out for is Sybil Danning, who is very young here but not at all shy! She and all the other female cast members routinely shed their clothing in a bid to retain the male viewer's interest.Sometimes the best thing about the giallo films are their inventive death sequences, with Dario Argento the acknowledged master of the genre in this respect. Sadly, the murders in this film, although bloody, are completely unconvincing, with the actors shuffling around in the gloom with dubbed screaming over the top. The film's best death comes when a blackmailer is dragged along by a car (shoulda taken your coat off, dude!), a totally hilarious moment. Watch out for the shifty guy with the moustache (no, not the cop, the other one) – it turns out he's crippled right at the end of the film, although no mention or sign has been made of this previously, and he apparently dies by falling into a stream of water; I can't explain it, maybe you'll do better.All that said and done, THE LADY IN RED KILLS SEVEN TIMES isn't much cop; it remains routine and quite mundane throughout, with only the cast's best efforts to keep it afloat. There are many better giallo movies out there, so this one is only for the die-hard and dedicated fan.

tomgillespie2002 Emilio Miraglia only directed a handful of films throughout his career (though he was more prolific as an assistant to the likes of Luciano Salce, Carlo Lizzani and Lucio Fulci), the two films he made between 1971 and 1972 - The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave and The Red Queen Kills 7 Times - stand out most of all. Although the two films are pretty recognisable titles to any giallo enthusiast, Miraglia's name hardly echoes throughout the annals of the genre, most likely down to his slim body work as it certainly isn't down a lack of quality.The premise of The Red Queen is giallo at its most gleefully ludicrous. While the film is mostly a gory thriller, there are elements of Gothic with its cobwebbed, desolate mansion setting during the opening scenes. A dying grandfather tells two of his granddaughters of the tale behind the gruesome painting overlooking his death-bed, of one sister ('The Red Queen') who stabbed and murdered the other sister ('The Black Queen'). This cycle repeats itself every 100 years, due again in 1972. When the dreaded year comes, the grown up Kitty (Barbara Bouchet) works as a fashion photographer and believes that her sister Evelyn died in a freak accident years ago. When people start dying, murdered by a manic woman in red, has Evelyn returned from beyond the grave as the Red Queen or is something even more sinister at play?When the movie finished, I was left wondering how such a convoluted build-up could lead to such an easily-explained mystery, but that's the beauty of giallo and The Red Queen itself. The infusion of Gothic undertones peppered throughout the film only add to the fun of the piece, although its feet lie firmly in its pulpy paperback roots. Complete with impressively staged, gory set-pieces, this adds pretty much every element of the genre into the mix - the world of high fashion photography, beautiful, big-eyed women, a gruff detective, and plenty of sexual deviancy. So, it offers little in the way of originality, but it's certainly a lot of fun (the scene with the fence spike is a cracker). See it for the bonkers plot and ghostly, Hammer-esque sets if nothing else.

Rindiana Bottom-of-the-barrel giallo trash of the lowest order.Even the smallest things that make some of the better gialli somewhat watchable (despite this sub-genre's constant inadequacies) are missing in this thoroughly idiotic outing that's also quite lame in the gore and shock department.The culprit's identity is not just obvious, but completely irrelevant to even the most lowbrow spectator, since the crude and muddleheaded story and lazy direction make sure that any interest about the outcome wanes early on.1 out of 10 lethal stabbings