Seven Murders for Scotland Yard

This Spanish Giallo contains suspense , thrills , chills , intrigue and plot twists . In this peculiar version of the famous story of the London serial killer set in contemporary time , here Jack the Ripper not only likes to kill prostitutes but also other beautiful women . Naschy movie with usual elements of the ¨Gialli¨ sub-genre : suspenseful intrigue , twisted killings executed by a brutal killer , violence , sadism , physical abuse , sensationalist murder pieces and nudism . Dealing with a series of murders are happening in London , these killings seem connected to a hunk gammy named Bruno Dorlani (Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina). The frustrated and bitter ex-acrobat Bruno tries to exculpate himself by sending a letter to the police superintendent via his friend (Patricia Loran) , resulting in fateful consecuences . Meanwhile , the police commissioner , Inspector Henry Campbell (Renzo Marignano) and his agents are investigating the heinous crimes , helped by a handsome schoolteacher of noble birth called Winston Darby Christian (Andrés Resino) married to a beautiful wife (Orchidea De Santis) , all of them being drawn into a twisted criminal plot and hot on Bruno's heels as prime suspect , as they can bring down the killer to the justice .

This is the typical European co-production , a giallo style which copies usual ingredients with a number of suspect people , red herrings and grisly murders against unfortunate victims , being committed by an unknown assassin who executes macabre killings on the body his victims by slashing , cutting or hacking . This is a whodunit in which there are various suspicious people who , as usual , happen to be the protagonists , as the main question of the movie results to be to find out the following : who is the murderer ? .There're various candidates, it may be a wise , well-considered teacher (Andrés Resino) or his vindictive spouse (Orchidea De Santis) or a lame former trapeze artist (Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina) whose wife is among the victims or even the commissioner Inspector Campbell (Renzo Marignano) himself . Lurid and gut-wrenching criminal drama made during the Francoist period in which abounded co-productions especially in horror and Spaghetti Western genres . As in Terror genre excelled Jacinto Molina who created his particular style where most of his raids would be perpetrated by the emblem of his own company in Spain , this actor, screenwriter and director Jacinto Molina - Paul Naschy , at times , collaborated with writer/filmmaker José Luis Madrid ; the result of whose collaboration are 'Jack the Ripper of London / Sette Cadaveri per Scotland Yard' (1971) and crimes of 'Petiot' (1972). Here Paul Naschy is an ex-circus artist who helps his friend a police inspector to discover who is the ominous murderer , resulting in himself to be the prime suspect . Filmmaker José Luis Madrid designs an average thriller , including some regularly staged murders plenty of startling visual content with blood similar to tomato and adding gore scenes , as well as brief nakedness, though in Spain it was submitted to limited censorship.

It contains atomspheric cinematography by cameraman Diego Úbeda , showing Swinging London locations from the Seventies , as well as some Madrid places , though a perfect remastering being extremely necessary because of the film copy is worn-out . Along with thrillling and intriguing musical score by Italian composer Piero Piccioni , an expert on Giallo soundtracks . The motion picture was regularly directed by José Luis Madrid. He was a craftsman who directed all kinds of genres. As he made Españoladas such as : ¨Lucecita¨ or ¨Strip-tease a la Inglesa¨ ; Spaghetti/Paella Westerns such as ¨The Ballad of Johnny Ringo¨ , ¨Seven Jackals¨, ¨The revenge of Clark Harrison¨ , ¨A Tomb for an outlaw¨; Eurospy movies such as : ¨Chineses and minishorts¨, ¨Ok Yetvtushenko¨ ; Crime movie such as ¨The Hyena¨ , and for the famous Spanish Werewolf , Paul Naschy , directed 2 movies : ¨Jack Ripper of London¨ and ¨Crimes of Petiot¨ and political/historical films such as : ¨Memorias del General Escobar¨ and ¨Command Txiquia¨ concerning the assassination of President Carrero Blanco . He also worked for the powerful German producer Arthur Brauner from Constantine Films with whom José Luis Madrid made a lot of uncredited films . Most of them were Krimis , a subgenre very popular in Germany . Throughout his long career he also showed a sense of opportunism with sensationalistic productions , such as : ¨The motorway Vampire¨ , about a vampire killer and ¨Last Tango in Madrid¨, there badly imitating ¨Bertolucci's Last tango in Paris¨. Rating : 5.5/10 . Average but passable Giallo .

7 Murders For Scotland Yard? There might have been… to be honest, I wasn't keeping a tally of the killings; instead, I was counting down the minutes to the end of this dreadfully dull Spanish giallo starring Iberian horror icon Paul Naschy as Pedro, an ex-trapeze artist (sh'yeah right!) with a manky leg who is suspected of committing a series of grisly London murders in which the young female victims have their organs surgically removed, Jack the Ripper style.

With way too much in the way of boring police procedure, repetitive killings that deliver minimal (and unconvincing) gore, and very little of the style to be found in many Italian giallos, about the only thing that the film really has to offer fans of '70s Euro horror are a few reasonably attractive women in various states of undress (although there's no actual nudity, quite the rarity for this kind of film) and some authentic location work (that said, the scene where Naschy has a knife fight with three men clearly wasn't shot in London—we don't have crickets chirping loudly in the evenings).

3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 4 for the hilarious scene in which a victim's severed head is delivered to a police inspector, and then casually passed around the station so that everyone can take a look.

A serial killer is on the loose in modern day London, committing a series of murders that echo the work of Jack the Ripper from the previous century. Scotland Yard is once again on the case and their no. 1 suspect is Peter Dockerman (Paul Naschy), a drunk former trapeze artist (!) whose wife was one of the earliest victims.

This Naschy vehicle is a real snoozer. A majority of the time is comprised of stuffy Brits talking up their theories over and over. This is the kind of movie where you will guess the killer 20 minutes in (a small cast and telling line of dialog helps out here) and then you wait the next hour as they try to mislead you. It also doesn't help that the TeleVista DVD appears to be a clothed version (although sharp-eyed viewers will note that a flashback by the killer features a quick snippet of nudity). The DVD is nice though in that it is widescreen. The crew did a few days of actual shooting in London as Naschy limps around various tourist spots. It is quite fun watch the polite Brits always duck out of the way real quick as the camera pans to them.

The giallo was an Italian invention; however, there were several Spanish movies that are accepted entries in the genre. Seven Murders for Scotland Yard is a pretty typical example of this sub-genre of the sub-genre. It stars Iberian horror icon Paul Naschy in the lead role. In it he plays medical student turned acrobat who is the chief suspect in a series of prostitute murders in London. The killings recall the work of Jack the Ripper.

This is a pretty routine murder-mystery. It's hampered a bit by its low budget. It lacks the sense of style that most of its Italian counterparts had, so it comes across as somewhat more rough-edged. The murders themselves have pretty crude gore effects, while there is a distinct lack of nudity. The latter is clearly as a result of the Spanish origins, seeing as this was made in Franco's Spain and film nudity was a bit of a no-no – Spaniards like Jesus Franco had to make films in France and West Germany in order to ramp up the sex. The mystery itself isn't bad as such but the small cast means that there really aren't a lot of suspects to begin with. Still, it's certainly an entertaining enough flick, just don't go into it expecting too much.

Someone is jabbing the life out of hookers in London and Scotland Yard are up to finding out who is responsible. It seems that Jack the Ripper has come back from the dead, but the police actually suspect hard drinking, limping, fat tiny Spaniard Paul Naschy for the murders.

Paul plays Pedro, a retired trapeze artist with a bum leg whose hooker wife is murdered early on by our douchebag killer, who also frames Pedro, who can't seem to go anywhere without dead hookers turning up.

A certain inspector is out to catch the killer, and has some suave mate whose wife he might be in love with. It's all like EastEnders only with murders and translated through a Spanish eye. It doesn't have the style of an Italian giallo (hence the accusations of it being drab and flat) but it does have a good pace and plenty of sauce.

It also has plenty of cheeseball moments, from when a hooker has a speech about how all men are bastards or the various moments when members of the British public try and avoid the camera that has no doubt appeared undeclared right in front of them! This film also has a fairly high body count so I'm a bit unclear on how it can be boring. Cheap looking, yes, but entertaining throughout.

Also, I went to London a few days ago, all jazzed to see Piccadilly Circus the way it appears in this film, and they've replaced it with a giant TV screen! What a let down.