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The Red Queen Kills Seven Times - Blu-ray Review

3 beers“I’m the red queen.  She’s the black queen,” chants Kitty’s sister, Evelyn.  The two siblings have grown up raised by their grandfather.  The family mansion has been their playground, but the two sisters have always been fighting.  His stories have often revolved around a bizarre painting in his study depicting a woman stabbing another. 

The opening minutes of director Emilio Miraglia’s The Red Queen Kills Seven Times establishes the main conflict of the narrative as Kitty (Barbara Bouchet) and Evelyn grow up to be mortal enemies, seemingly affected by the 100-year curse in the family that suggests a red queen will return from the dead to kill seven times.  And, after a scuffle leaves one sister down for the count for good, the whereabouts of Evelyn becomes Kitty’s secret…

…until their grandfather is murdered and the vultures in her family descend to claim what they believe is rightfully theirs.  None but Kitty’s eldest sister Franziska (Marina Malfatti) considers the strange details surrounding his death.  She suspects the curse.  Kitty knows it to be true.  Her sister, the red queen, has returned and her revenge will be seven times more deadly.

But how could she? Co-starring B-movie legend Sybil Danning (Howling II), The Red Queen Kills Seven Times is both daring and demented in its depravity.

Miraglia’s The Red Queen Kills Seven Times is a solid offering in the giallo genre of Italian filmmaking.  As Kitty has grown up to be a model photographer, the women haunting this twisted tale of family treachery are absolute knockouts, too.  The thrills tucked deep within the shadows as a woman in a red cape – who is thought long dead – knocks about slicing throats and laughing maniacally as she scurries away.  

You know giallo: European locations, black-gloved killers, lots of sex, high fashion elements, and then there’s the general European oddness of it all.  Think David Lynch and you’ll understand.  Miraglia’s second giallo is no different.  It’s got a better visual palette than his first stab in the genre, The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, yet closes in on everything that made his previous one work.

About halfway through the film, there’s an unsettling slow motion dream sequence in which Kitty, well aware that the red queen is almost to the top of her seven victim list, an invisible killer queen inching her way toward the bed while she dreams.  We get a sped-up tracking shot matched with an in-camera optical sequence as the killer thrashes her way through the fashion offices to get her.  As deft as it is loopy, there’s enough misdirection in this thriller to keep audiences on the edge of their seat.

Watch as a 100-year-old curse revisits the Wildenbrück family once again in The Red Queen Kills Seven Times.  The giallo is now available on blu-ray thanks to the efforts of Arrow Video.  Killer Queens unite!

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The Red Queen Kills Seven Times - Blu-ray Review

MPAA Rating: Not rated.
Runtime:
100 mins
Director
: Emilio Miraglia
Writer:
Fabio Pittorru
Cast:
Barbara Bouchet, Ugo Pagliai, Marina Malfatti
Genre
: Horror | Mystery
Tagline:
The Corpse That Didn't Want to Die!
Memorable Movie Quote:
Theatrical Distributor:
Cannon Film Distributors
Official Site:
Release Date:
1976
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
April 18, 2017
Synopsis: In The Red Queen Kills Seven Times, an age-old family curse hits sisters Kitty (Barbara Bouchet, Milano Calibro 9) and Franziska (Marina Malfatti, All the Colours of the Dark) following the death of their grandfather Tobias (Rudolf Schündler, The Exorcist, Suspiria). Every hundred years, so the legend goes, the bloodthirsty Red Queen returns and claims seven fresh victims. Was Tobias just the first... and are Kitty and Franziska next?

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The Red Queen Kills Seven Times - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Arrow
Available on Blu-ray
- April 18, 2017
Screen Formats: 2.35:1
Subtitles
: English
Audio:
Italian: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono; English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Region A

Arrow Video presents this demented giallo thriller on 1080p is punctuated by the pop of color in a seriously impressive manner. The new 2k scan is impressive and soaks up the colors and inky blacks quiet well.  Shadows go deep and colors – especially reds and greens – pop like few other restorations.  Using the original camera negative, Arrow Video has framed their transfer in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and provided composer Bruno Nicolai’s score with a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio track.  Clothing fibers are detailed and backgrounds are crisp.  Lines are strong, too.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • This release contains a feature length commentary recorded by Alan Jones and Kim Newman.

Special Features:

Complete with reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx, Arrow Video has loaded this release with a lot of interesting nuggets – both NEW and archival – about the movie.  The transfer has been newly minted from a a new 2K restoration of the film using the original camera nevatives.

  • Exclusive interview with actress Sybil Danning
  • New interview with critic Stephen Thrower
  • Archival introduction by production/costume designer Lorenzo Baraldi
  • Dead à Porter – archival interview with Lorenzo Baraldi
  • Rounding Up the Usual Suspects – archival interview with actor Marino Masé
  • If I Met Emilio Miraglia Today – archival featurette with Erika Blanc, Lorenzo Baraldi and Marino Masé
  • My Favourite… Films – archival interview with actress Barbara Bouchet
  • Alternative opening
  • Original Italian and English theatrical trailers

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[tab title="Art"]The Red Queen Kills Seven Times - Blu-ray Review

 

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