Pretty Good

People are voting emotionally.

Beautiful, moving film.

As Good As It Gets

Emilio Paolo Miraglia created two giallo — this film and The Red Queen Kills Seven Times. This one goes more into the horror realm than the typical themes of the genre.Lord Alan Cunningham starts this movie off by running away from an insane asylum, a place he's been since the death of his redheaded wife, Evelyn, who he caught having sex with another man. To deal with his grief, Alan does what any of us would do — pick up redhead prostitutes and strippers, tie them up, then kill them.A seance freaks Alan out so badly he passes out, so his cousin — and only living heir — Farley moves in to take care of him, which basically means going to strip clubs and playing with foxes. Alan nearly kills another stripper before Farley gives him some advice — to get over Evelyn, he should marry someone that looks just like her. Alan selects Gladys (Marina Malfatti, All the Colors of the Dark) as his new wife and comes back home.Sure, you meet someone one night and marry them the next. But nothing could compare Gladys for the weirdness of living in an ancient mansion, along with a staff of identical waitresses, Evelyn's brother and Alan's wheelchair-bound aunt. Our heroine is convinced that Evelyn is not dead. And the other family members get killed off — Albert with a snake and Agatha is eaten by foxes!Gladys even looks at the body in the tomb before Alan catches her and slaps her, as he is going crazier and crazier. Finally, Evelyn rises from her grave, which sends him back to a mental institution.The big reveal? Gladys and Farley were in on it all along. But wait, there's more! Susan, the stripper who survived Alan's attack, was the one who was really Evelyn and Gladys has been poisoned! Before she dies, the lady who we thought was our heroine wipes out the stripper and Farley gets away with the perfect crime.But wait! There's more! Alan had faked his breakdown and did it all so that he could learn that it was Farley who was making love to his wife and killed her when she refused to run away with him. A fight breaks out, sulfur goes into the pool and Farley gets burned by acid. He's arrested and Alan — who up until now was pretty much the villain of this movie — gets away with all of his crimes!This is a decent thriller, but it really feels padded in parts and tends to crawl. That said, it has some great music, incredibly decorated sets and some twists. Not my favorite giallo, but well worth a Saturday afternoon watch. There are some moments of sheer beauty here, such as the rainstorm where Alan sees Evelyn's ghost rise.

Adding to the incredible amount of horror films released during the first few years of the 1970's, this giallo features Anthony Steffen as Lord Alan Cunningham, who spends the early part of this looking distraught whilst sporting the most magnificent clothes (my genuine favourite is velvety suede burgundy suit). The death of his wife Evelyn had lead to a breakdown for the Lord, and subsequent incarceration at a mental institution. Now the aristocrat is intent on luring other eager young red-heads to his expansive, crumbling mansion (his chat-up method includes grabbing them by the hair to check whether or not they are wearing a wig) for his own fetishistic games, often including the wearing of exotic thigh-length leather boots.It's all a little ponderous for the most part. One girl follows the pattern of seduction and murder, and then the plot moves onto exactly the same scenario for the next. Only when he marries Gladys (Marina Malfatti) do things become less repetitive. Cunningham's homes and grounds (the film is set in England) is a jaw-dropping location. Alan fears his mental problems may be returning when he begins to see visions of his dead wife. His cousin Farley (Umberto Raho) reveals Alan was convinced Evelyn had a lover prior to her death.As Alan once again deteriorates, deaths begin to occur (including a briefly gory incident featuring foxes nibbling on various innards) This is a solid, a rather than spectacular, giallo film with lots of well-constructed twists (especially the final one). Occasionally, the villainy verges on pantomime levels of subtlety.

This film is known as 'The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave', 'The Night She Arose from the Tomb' and it's original title 'La Notte che Evelyn Usci dalla Tomba' (1971).The film is a horror and mystery with some sexploitation. A man's wife recently died and he was afraid she was cheating on him all along. He's starting to drive himself insane with these thoughts. He goes out and lures young women to his castle and has his way with them by having sex with them then torturing the women. His doctor is trying to help him by "freeing his mind" from his insanity but is this cure what he really needs? It's a somewhat entertaining film with seances, a ghost, a castle, torture chamber, insanity, and a possible hope for a cure. He is very sadistic madman towards the women who only wanted to have some kinky fun with him.6/10

Nice mix of giallo an Gothic horror, brought to you by Emilio Miraglia, writer/director of Red Queen Kills 7 Times. Maybe Miraglia likes red, as this is a tale of a dead red-headed wife, and a series of red-headed prostitutes brought home by the rich widower, Lord Alan Cunningham (Anthony Steffen).Not only does Alan bring a lot of redheads home to his castle, which means a lot of flesh for your enjoyment, but he has a propensity to engage in a little sadism while he is at it, as Susan (Erika Blanc) finds out.After Susan, he meets Gladys (Marina Malfatti) at a party. He is instantly attracted (and who wouldn't be?) even though she is a blond, not a redhead. So much so, that he asks her to marry before he even gets her in bed. She is much more practical, and goes to bed without marrying, though I suspect she feels it will lead there eventually.When they are married, the title comes alive as does Evelyn, his first wife. Naturally, I suspected Albert (Roberto Maldera) and Aunt Agatha (Joan C. Davis) in this ruse, but that is quickly dispelled. Needless to say, the foxes didn't have any appetite for breakfast after a late night snack.Things move forward with a double double cross and a surprise ending. Interesting giallo with boobilicious treats.