Seven Murders for Scotland Yard

This had been shown on late-night Italian TV some years back and, later, I recall it being mentioned favorably online; hence, given its theme of an updated version of Jack The Ripper and the fact that it starred Euro-Cult icon Paul Naschy, I decided to check it out this time around. However, it turned out to be quite a mess: not so surprising when considering that the only other J.L. Madrid film I've watched was the similarly dispiriting THE HORRIBLE SEXY VAMPIRE (1970)!; as in that film, the women here are mainly on screen in order to disrobe and get butchered.

The plot provides three possible suspects of the serial killings: a crippled and bitter ex-trapeze artist (Naschy) whose wife is among the victims, a handsome schoolteacher of noble birth but who's actually impotent and, surprisingly, a police commissioner who just happens to be the latter's boyhood chum and is also secretly in love with his wife (Orchidea De Santis, whom I saw in the flesh and on screen – in Luciano Salce's equally obscure but infinitely superior political satire, COUP D'ETAT [1969] – at the 61st Venice Film Festival)!

The Swinging London locations are just about the only authentic element here: both the gore and the occasional action scene look extremely phony; another clear measure of the film's lack of budget is that Naschy's accident (which continues to haunt him) is hilariously depicted simply by having the actor throw himself in front of the camera and utter a couple of none-too-convincing groans!

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.

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.

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 .

Seven Murders for Scotland Yard is pretty much your standard Giallo fare, and that is no bad thing! The plot revolves around a vicious psychopath who goes around brutally slaying prostitutes. You would expect a film with this sort of plot to be a completely brutal and sleazy affair, but Seven Murders for Scotland Yard is surprising in that aspect as while there are murders aplenty, there's no real nudity, and the murders themselves have been heavily edited, so we don't get to see much more than a bit of blood. This is unfortunate as Seven Murders for Scotland could have done with these appealing elements to compliment the plot, but even so; it has to be said that this isn't a bad film on the whole, and it's certainly one of the better Spanish Giallo's. As mentioned, the plot focuses on the murdering of prostitutes, and as the title suggests, Scotland Yard are soon on the case. The main suspects in the murders is a Peter Dockerman, whose girlfriend was killed along with the prostitutes, but Commissioner Henry Campbell of Scotland Yard doesn't believe Dockerman to be the one they're looking for.

It's clear just looking at this film that it didn't benefit from a large budget, and indeed the locations do all look very cheap. Of course, the fact that my copy isn't exactly brilliant doesn't help, but it is obvious that director José Luis Madrid was merely cashing in on the popular formula of the day. Like a lot of seventies Spanish horror films, this one stars Paul Naschy. Naschy has given some good performances in the past; but this isn't one of his better ones. In fact, none of the performances in this film really inspire anything from the audience and it doesn't seem like anyone is really putting any effort in. The plot is fairly standard stuff too, though it never completely dries up as there's always another murder just around the corner. The identity of the murderer becomes obvious early on in the film, and the twist I was expecting never came. The ending itself is decent enough, however, as we finally get to see the killer's lair and the climatic struggle is decent despite the fact that you wont really care who comes out victorious. Overall, Seven Murders for Scotland Yard is a decent enough Giallo, but there are many, many better ones out there!