SEVEN BLOOD STAINED ORCHIDS

Directed by Umberto Lenzi
Produced by Lamberto Palmieri
Written by Roberto Gianviti & Umberto Lenzi
Cinematography by Angelo Lotti
Music by Riz Ortolani
Cast: Uschi Glas, Antonio Sabato, Marisa Mell, Pier Paolo Capponi, Rossella Falk, Marina Malfatti, Gabriella Giorgelli & Renato Romano

1972/92 mins/Color/2.0 Dolby Digital
2.35:1 anamorphic/English/Italy/NTSC Region 1

Review from the Media Blasters DVD

Three women are brutally murder by the hand of a black gloved maniac who leaves a half moon locket on each of its victims. Later, the beautiful Giulia (Uschi Glas) is attacked in a train and left for dead. Her fashion designer husband Mario (Antonio Sabato who we would later see in ESCAPE FROM THE BRONX) becomes the prime suspect so he decides to make is own investigation.

Things get kinda complicated and rather dumb when Guilia, who's still very much alive and faked her funeral, remembers seeing the half moon locket a year before at a home. Soon its a race to find the next victim before the killer.

This is another interesting gialli from director Umberto Lenzi. The movie features some very easy on the eyes females such as Marisa Mell in a double role, a brutal power drill murder and unfortunately one very predictable killer for anyone's familiar with the genre. Thankfully the movie has another great musical score by Riz Ortolani. The movie was made as a co-production between West Germany and Italy and was marketed in Germany as one of the last of the Edgar Wallace inspired Krimi's (the series of films that predated and certainly inspired the Giallo).

Media Blasters have released SEVEN BLOOD STAINED ORCHIDS on DVD in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and it is anamorphic. It is its first ever North American release in any format. The image looks good with rich color saturation but since it is interlaced, the movie suffers from seom artefacts, a shame. The Dolby Digital 2.0 English track sounds good but nothing spectacular. It would have been a plus if the Italian track would have been included. No subtitles are available.

We get a 3 minutes interview with actress Gabriella Giorgelli, that has aged badly, who play the prostitute brutally killed. There's also a 7 minutes interview with Umberto Lenzi who once again comes off as an arrogant and pretencious prick. We also get Liner Notes, trailers for EATEN ALIVE, SPASMO and SEVEN BLOOD STAINED ORCHIDS and an art gallery featuring many lobby cards and various posters. The movie is separated in 12 chapters, features static menus, comes in a keep case with an inlay card but features a terrible cover.

( Original title: Sette Orchidee Macchiate di Rosso )

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Review by Kim Dubuisson. All Right Reserved. 2006. ©

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