(1972)
Dir - Emilio P. Miraglia
Overall: MEH
The final film by Emilio P. Miraglia, (who also made The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave the previous year), was yet another elaborately silly giallo made during the sub-genre's prime era. Combining a ghostly legend straight out of any Gothic horror film and fusing it with a typically complex, "whodunit" premise posing practically every character we meet as a possible suspect, The Red Queen Kills Seven Times, (La dama rossa uccide sette volte), is especially difficult to follow even compared to most. For one, it does not help that nearly every female in it looks exactly the same and one male character seems to be romantically involved with most of them which kind of makes you scratch your head regularly as to who the hell you are watching do what. Naturally though, the killer reveal is even more head-scratching and involves switched identities, perplexing us even more as to who is who and supposed to be who else. Miraglia and cinematographer Alberto Spagnoli thankfully save the film from being completely bland. The first official kill scene is fantastically done, but also raises expectations that perhaps the supernatural details would be further emphasized before the movie switches into predictable mode and goes through the commonplace motions of people killing people over money and making them think ghosts are real and blah, blah, blah.
(1974)
Dir - Paul Morrissey
Overall: MEH
What can fairly be described as one of the dumbest movies ever made, Paul Morrissey's Flesh for Frankenstein was the first of two Italian scam productions along with Carlo Ponti that he made, (Blood for Dracula being the other also ridiculous one). Antonio Margheriti was credited as a director in Italy due to some legal loopholes that needed to be bypassed and by all available accounts, Margheriti directed virtually nothing and same as "producer" Andy Warhol, was only on set one or two times tops. Morrissey wrote dialog for his actors on the spot and the words spoken in this trash-fest are as ludicrous as they come, ("To know death Otto, you have to fuck life...in the gallbladder!" deserves its own standing ovation). Udo Kier for whatever reason dove in, full-tilt and his is an exaggerated performance few can hold a candle to, one which single handedly saves the film from being a waste of time. It is still ultimately a terrible movie due to the fact that Morrissey has not the skill to successfully parody either the European, Gothic horror movies nor the counterculture trash films that he himself was responsible for making. It is unmistakably funny at times and as distasteful as anything from the time period ever got, yet it drags for large chunks, becoming more incompetently laughable than creatively in on its own joke. I will say that the movie looks pretty excellent with the Baron's laboratory being effectively spacious and decorated. Also, the gore is plenty eye-popping and gross.
(1979)
Dir - Joe D'Amato
Overall: MEH
Joe D'Amato was a shameless proprietor of sleaze throughout his career and Beyond the Darkness, (Buio Omega, In quella casa Buio omega), is his repugnant, gory, and utterly tasteless remake of Mino Guerrini's The Third Eye. None of these adjectives that I am using to describe the man's work are meant to be defamatory by the way, but one would be misinformed to make the assumption that really any of his movies, (particularly this one), were made to be anything besides exploitative trash. Allegedly, D'Amato told his actors on set "We're making a movie to make people throw up. We must make 'em vomit!", so the guy knew his trade and knew it well. In the "eeewww" regard, this has a generous amount to offer. A woman gorges on a human heart in a stew, (with extreme, food and slobber pouring out the mouth close-up and sound effects to boot!), a guy gets jerked off by his motherly housemaid who also feeds him her boobs to suckle on, she announces that they are going to get married, she then stabs him in the dick and rips his eye out before he bites her face off, and plenty of other women get tortured and mutilated in graphic fashion. The ending which brings in a twin sister, (of all things), for no reason is fittingly ridiculous as well. Goblin actually did the music for this one which is always appreciated, but it is still pretty much your typical keyboard-laced, occasionally funky, late 70s thriller/action movie score and nothing as bloodcurdlingly awesome as Suspiria. Then again, what is?
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