Seven Blood-Stained Orchids

Undoubtedly Lenzi's best film. More of a giallo than anything else he's made, af usually seems to deal in standard Hitchcock- influenced thrillers and forego the giallo tropes. Here however, all of the giallo trademarks are at play, and come together beautifully with a very well written story line.

Umberto Lenzi delivers a giallo that has all the trademark elements fully in place, but somehow fails to achieve the right level of madness to produce a true classic. I'm not quite sure why, though. Let's blame Antonio Sabato!

No – let's get to the story instead. Someone wearing the standard issue giallo killer uniform (black gloves, floppy hat, raincoat) is murdering women in and around Rome, at rather a rapid rate, too! This guy knows how to create a giallo atmosphere – not only does he shake things up on the variety side, he also leaves a weird silver crescent next to the bodies.

His third victim (I think) is the bride of Antonio Sabato, and she gets cut up on a train while her husband out buying McEwan's Export from the train bar. He attends her funeral while the cops take everybody's pictures covertly, but it's all a ruse! She's still alive though I'm sure her relatives are going to be chuffed when they find that out.

Antonio then gets on the job of finding out who the killer is, with the aid of the police to a certain extent. He discovers that all the woman being offed all stayed at a certain hotel at a certain time, but why are they being killed? And who is this American people keep referring to? And did Bruno Corazarri just say he gave the American a chewie?

So we've got the stupid clues, the Euro-babes, the set piece kills, what have you, but I couldn't help but feel that Antonio Sabato wasn't pushing himself as the hero (and I felt the same way about him in The Man with Icy Eyes), so his lack of animation made the film at bit dull. Or maybe that was due to the film following the giallo formula a bit too strictly (although the 'death by drill' was an eye opener). It could because I've watched about a hundred of these films in about six months. YOU DECIDE!

A serial-killer is attacking women in Italy, leaving a silver moon near their corpses. While traveling to Paris by train with her fiancé, the famous designer Mario Gerosa (Antonio Sabàto), Giulia Torresi (Uschi Glass) is assaulted by the serial-killer in her cabin. Police Inspector Vismara (Pier Paolo Capponi) decides to hide that Giulia has survived to protect her. Mario decides to investigate the victims and finds that six women had been in the hotel Giulia owned in the past. They travel expecting to save the women that have not been attacked before the killer finds them.

"Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso", a.k.a. "Seven Blood-Stained Orchids", is a thriller that could have been better. The plot is not engaging but there are violent murders. Indicated only for fans of giallo. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Sete Orquídeas Manchadas de Sangue" ("Seven Blood-Stained Orchids")

From adventures movies ("Il Trionfi Di Robin Hood") to spy thriller ("A 008 (sic) Operation Termini") ,from sword and sandal ("I'Ultimo Gladiatore ") to horror ("Cannibal Ferox") Umberto Lenzi has tried his hand at all the genres .

"Sette Orchidee Macchiate Di Rosso ":the title recalls those of Dario Argento but ,although there are sadistic scenes ,the movie is primarily a detective story:the screenplay was made with a certain care ,which in this kind of low-budget movie is to be underlined.A whodunit and seven women who have something in common and a killer who is doing away with them one by one, a plot in the tradition of Agatha Christie.Most famous name is probably Austrian Marisa Mell ("Diabolik") whose career was already on the wane when she played this supporting part in Lenzi's movie.

Like this ?try these

"Sans Mobile Apparent " (Philippe Labro,1971)

"Le Dernier Des Six" (Geoge Lacombe ,1941)

"Sei Donna Per L'Assassino" (Mario Bava ,1963)

In this film, women keep getting murdered after receiving a phone call to ascertain their whereabouts, and each time, a crescent moon medallion is left in their hands. At first there seems to be no connection, until it's realized that all of the women happened to stay at the same hotel one night several years earlier. One victim escapes, fakes her own death, and sets off to find the killer... but will he find her first?

The main strength of "Seven Blood-Stained Orchids" was its tightly-woven "whodunnit" mystery plot, which contained tons of red herrings but felt much more coherent than many other movies in this genre. It played out in such a way that there was no real way the viewer could beat the camera to the big reveal in terms of deduction, but it still felt engaging throughout. I also thought the main characters were all quite likeable, and I especially appreciated the surprisingly good survival instincts of the main hero and heroine -- not a trait this type of character often has. The kills were suitably thrilling, the acting was good, and the music was solid without being a standout. The opening title track, "Ozarks", might be an exception to that statement, as its groovy base line strikes a great balance between sinister menace and smooth funk.

The only real negative I have to say about it is that the movie felt a bit lacking in artistry on the visual front. Most of my prior experience with gialli is that they're visually incredible, but the plot is a bit of a mess. This movie takes the polar opposite route, with almost no memorable or striking visual moments but a plot that feels tightly-scripted. Also, because so much of the film relies on the "whodunnit" element, I can't imagine that this movie would be particularly engaging as a rewatch in the same way that something like "Blood Red" or "All The Colors of the Dark" are.

All told, maybe not one to buy sight-unseen, but if you can rent or stream it somewhere, it's absolutely worth a watch at least once.