Often nicknamed the 'Godfather of Gore', cult-director Lucio Fulci is doubtlessly most famous for his gruesome Zombie films. The man's greatest achievements, however, are (in my humble opinion), his comparatively gore-less, but spine-chilling and extremely elegant Gialli from the 70s. After the brilliant "Non Si Sevizia Un Paperino" (aka. "Don't Torture A Duckling", 1972), which I would name as one of the top-5 Gialli of all-time, "Sette Note In Nero" aka. "Seven Notes in Black"/"Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes" of 1977 is a close second on my list of the greatest Fulci films, and it also ranks among the true greats of the Giallo genre in general.
As a child, the clairvoyant Virginia has a vision of her mother's suicide at the very moment of its occurrence. As an adult, Virginia (Jennifer O'Neill), who has recently married the wealthy Francesco Ducci (Gianni Garko) continues to have menacing visions. One day, she has the disturbing vision of a gruesome murder, in which a woman is being walled in...
I do not want to go deeper into the plot, because this brilliant film is filled with clever twists from the very beginning. "Seven Notes in Black" contains no sleaze and hardly any gore, but has an incredibly intriguing and suspenseful plot containing ingenious red herrings and unpredictable plot twists, and is filmed in an incredibly beautiful yet unspeakably creepy visual style. While the film includes little blood and only very few gruesome scenes, the suspense-level is extremely high and intense, and the mystery is maintained until the very end. A fascinating plot, a truly haunting atmosphere and uncanny visual style make this one of the most tantalizing Giallo-experiences ever brought to screen. The score is another insanely brilliant aspect about "Seven Notes in Black" - Seldom is a soundtrack as successful in building up tension, and beautiful to listen to at the same time. Especially the haunting 'Seven Black Notes' theme is incredible; I'm sure Quentin Tarantino had good reasons to re-use it for "Kill Bill". The performances are also very good. The ravishing Jennifer O'Neill is great as the original and likable protagonist Virginia. The biggest name in the cast is doubtlessly Gianni Garko, who is most famous as star of many Spaghetti Westerns, and who delivers another great performance here. However, all cast members (many of them Italian Horror regulars) fit greatly in their roles. Overall, I can not come up with a single negative aspect about this film. "Sette Note in Nero" is incredibly suspenseful, genuinely creepy, extremely elegant and simply brilliant in all regards. No lover of Italian Horror can possibly afford to miss this tantalizing Giallo-gem, which is yet another proof that Fulci was a Horror-genius! 9.5/10
