Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1971)
Umberto Lenzi does himself proud here. The director of exploitation classic
Cannibal Ferox (1981) really turns on the sleaze in the opening half hour of
Seven Blood-Stained Orchids, treating us to four murders and three sequences of nudity in the opening 20 minutes. Setting his stall out from the get-go.
I like
Seven Blood-Stained Orchids. Based on a story from German Krimi writer Edgar Wallace, it has a linear plot that's easy to follow. Basically, Antonio Sabato attempting to track down a savage killer who leaves crescent moon shaped pendants on his victims. A failed attempt to murder Uschi Glas gives Sabato chance before the killer realizes she's still alive.
It can be argued that Lenzi doesn't have the style of some of his contemporaries and whilst this is probably true his no-nonsense approach to film making benefits this film as the story races along. As well as Sabato and Glas, Lenzi assembles a first rate cast including the gorgeous Marisa Mell and Rosella Falk who has been in, and indeed been hideously murdered in several of the gialli i've watched recently. Her demise at the hands of Umberto Lenzi is just as memorable as it was in the hands of Luigi Bazzoni and Paolo Cavara.
A Giallo wouldn't be a Giallo without classy kills and Lenzi gives us a taste of things to come in the next decade with a plethora of inventive murders ranging from drowning (Hi Rosella) to power drills. He directs them with flair and no shortage of suspense. The film also has it's fair share of intrigue and plot subtleties especially when it comes to Mell's character. I'd forgotten the twist with her and it came as a pleasant surprise.
Seven Blood-Stained Orchids, the title does mean something, isn't a top level example of Italian thriller cinema but it is a bloody (pun intended) good one.