Seven Blood-Stained Orchids

Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (Italian: Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso) is a 1972 giallo film directed by Umberto Lenzi, who also co-wrote the screenplay.[3][4][5]

Seven Blood-Stained Orchids
Italian film poster
Directed byUmberto Lenzi
Produced byLamberto Palmieri[1]
Screenplay by
  • Roberto Gianviti

Umberto Lenzi[1]

Starring
Music byRiz Ortolani[1]
CinematographyAngelo Lotti[1]
Edited byEugenio Alabiso[1]
Production
companies
  • Flora Film S.r.l.
  • Rialto Film Preben Philipsen GmbH & Co. KG[2]
Country
  • Italy
  • West Germany[1]

Plot

A serial killer is on the loose, murdering certain women around the city. While travelling on a train on his honeymoon, Mario (Antonio Sabato) sees his wife brutally attacked aboard the train and after the killer gets away, the police accuse Mario of attacking his newlywed wife. The Police decide to hide the fact that Giulia (Uschi Glas), Mario's wife is alive in order to protect her from the killer. Mario sets out to prove his innocence by attempting to solve the "Puzzle of the Silver Half Moons", which leads him to the hotel where he met his wife, a man named Frank Saunders, Christian Church's tour, a group of hippies, and Frank's ex-mistress. The film contains some very violent murders, some shown from the point of view of the knife-wielding, black-gloved killer, as he stabs a woman in her bed, bashes in the head of a prostitute, strangles a female artist with a telephone cord, drowns a mental patient in her bathtub, and even uses a power drill on one unfortunate victim. Mario must catch the real killer in order to prove his own innocence and save his wife.

Cast

Production

Towards the 1970s, Umberto Lenzi began focusing his attention on poliziotteschi films and his contributions to making gialli began to deteriorate.[1] The score in the film by Riz Ortolani borrows liberally from his previous scores, including So Sweet...So Perverse and Perversion Story.[6]

The appearance of German actress Uschi Glas was imposed on by the German co-producers, who promoted the film as both a krimi film and an Edgar Wallace adaptation.[6] Editor Clarissa Ambach is credited only in the German version of the film.[1]

Reception

Lenzi later declared the film to be "superbly shot" as well as having a "pendantic" story.[6]

Releases

There are several releases of the film on DVD, as well as a recent 2018 transfer to Blu-ray by Code Red.

References
  1. Howarth 2015, p. 204.
  2. "Das Rätsel des silbernen Halbmonds" (in German). Filmportal.de. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  3. Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Enrico Lancia. Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film. Gremese, 1991. ISBN 8876059695.
  4. Paolo Mereghetti. Il Mereghetti. B.C. Dalai Editore, 2010. ISBN 8860736269.
  5. Giancarlo Grossini. Dizionario del cinema giallo. Dedalo, 1985. ISBN 8822045106.
  6. Howarth 2015, p. 205.

Footnotes
  • Howarth, Troy (2015). So Deadly, So Perverse. 1. Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 1936168502.
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