brilliant actors, brilliant editing

A Disappointing Continuation

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

In the 1950s-70s, many American movie stars appeared in Italian-made movies. I assume that they employed these Americans in order to increase the drawing power of the movies--and in most cases, these folks were dubbed into Italian or whatever language where the film was being marketed. This explains why Jennifer O'Neill stars in this film.The film begins with a poorly filmed suicide scene. It was a neat idea to show the face of the victim but it was clearly plastic! Oops. Other than this one scene, however, the rest of the film was well made. Anyway, the daughter of this now dead woman has psychic powers--as she SEES this as it happened even though she was no where near the scene of the death.Years pass, the child has grown up and Virginia (O'Neill) still has psychic flashes. In this new case, she sees a dead body walled up inside her husband's home. She tells the police and indeed a body is found there. As for the police, they accept that she's psychic and use her other flashes to investigate this crime. However, late in the film the scenes she sees and tells the police would indicate that the crime involves a murder in the future! In other words, in the same space where they found a body, another will be placed--unless they can be stopped. What's next? Well, I won't say more because I don't want to ruin it for you--but the ending comes as quite a surprise--and I appreciate that.Overall, this is a strong suspense/horror film whose only real weakness is the sloppy opening as well as too many sound effects used by the lead. In other words, when they dubbed her, they made O'Neill groan, moan and simper way too much. Apart from that, it's exciting and well worth your time.

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

In 1959 Virginia Ducci (Jennifer O'Neill) has a vision of her mother's suicide. Virginia was in Florence, Italy and at the very same time her mother committed suicide in England. In the 70's, Virginia is married to Francesco (Gianni Garko) When she goes to the old abandoned house of her husband, for redecorated it, she found the rests of a dead body and is all related to a vision that Virginia previous has. When Francesco is accused for the murder Virginia must find the proofs, for her husband's freedom, thought her vision.This is the plot of this terrific giallo of Lucio Fulci. "Sette Note In Nero" is the only film of Fulci that has been released on DVD in Mexico and was my introduction to Fulci's work. The plot is great showing a simple murder mystery story with suspense all of its 95 minutes. The unexpected change in the plot is great just as the end.First the film is about one murder mystery with Virginia relating all to her vision but later her vision doesn't agree with the case and we realize that she saw the future. So is great how the film suddenly has two different murder cases unsolved, one of the past and the other that is going to happen in a very near future. The climax and the end are just excellent and it was because of the music that Virginia was saved or at least we like to imagine that.Conclusion: I love this film that was just a terrific introduction to Lucio Fulci. It has a great atmosphere, perfect for a story full of suspense. The cast is good, with the amazing beauty of Jennifer O'Neill that here's plays a brave role. If you're expecting to see a very bloody film, maybe because you have hear something about Fulci, this is not what you're looking for but I do recommend this film. 9.5 out of 10Region 4 DVD: Like I said, this is the first film of Fulci on DVD in Mexico and the presentation is just good. Is a single disc edition without extras but the quality of the image is just terrific and is great that is in Italian with Spanish subtitles. So is always great to can get this kind of films. We need more films of Fulci on DVD in Mexico!

I must confess: I do not like the cinema of Lucio Fulci. Although he is often considered a top tier director of Italian horror/gialli, I found his films to be nothing more than exploitative and shameless, capitalizing on violence and sex to appeal to nothing but the viewer's carnal desires while providing little (if any) intelligence for the viewer's mind and cognitive thinking.Imagine my surprise when I found this not only to be a *good* movie, but also quite possibly one of the best gialli I have ever seen (second only to some of Dario Argento's best work).Despite a rather unnecessarily violent and gory opening (which is more laughable than shocking), the film is very subtle and restrained, with no nudity and very little violence, focusing upon its labyrinthine mystery to provide the thrills rather than anything visceral.And the mystery is superb, playing out very much like a jigsaw puzzle. The main character (Jennifer O'Neal) sees a barrage of images in the opening of the film, like pieces of a puzzle, and as the film progresses we see the pieces beginning to come into place and form a whole picture. All of this creates a very engrossing experience as we get en-wrapped within he mystery.That is not to say the film is totally devoid of visceral thrills. The suspense sequences are genuinely suspenseful, with the chase scene in the run-down church being almost unbearable in its potent tension. Not to mention, the very last sequence in the house will also have you on the edge of your seat.And the story isn't the only thing that makes this giallo work so well - the direction by Fulci (I can't believe I'm saying this) is magnificent, with such stunning sequences of camera movements and edits that just draw the viewer into the action. Also, the music by Bixio, Frizzi, and Tempera is hypnotic, creating a very much palpable atmosphere of dread and ominous foreboding.However, I don't mean to sound like this is a masterpiece of Italian cinema - it's not. I am merely so shocked at how good this film is considering its film-making pedigree. The opening scene, as mentioned earlier, is entirely out of place, and the plot, while complex, is strangely predictable once you begin to understand what's happening.Despite this, the plot is tight, focused, and clever, with genuine suspense, which makes it one of the best giallo films ever.Essential viewing for not only giallo fans, but also any lover of a good mystery.