The Red Queen Kills 7 Times
Italy/Germany 1972. Director: Emilio P. Miraglia
Cast: Marina Malfatti, Barbara Bouchet, Sybil Danning
Aka: La Dama Rossa Uccide Sette Volte

Hundreds of years ago two fighting sisters, the Red and the Black Queen, were the subject of a tragedy that ended with the Black Queen killing her sister, stabbing her seven times. After her death the Red Queen came back for revenge, killing seven people including her sister the Black Queen, causing a family curse to arise. Every 100 year since then history will repeat itself. There will be a Red Queen and a Black Queen and it will end in bloodshed.

When ancestor Kitty Wildenbrück, some hundred years later, accidentally kills her sister Evelyn she and her eldest sister Fanzisca hides the body in a crypt under the castle where they live, telling everyone Evelyn have just disappeared. When their grandpa dies some time later the sisters inherit his stuff and fortune, but before they can say hooray people around them are killed mysteriously, according to witnesses by a laughing crazy lady dressed in black leather, red cape and white mask. Could it be the legend of the Red Queen? Or has Evelyn come back for revenge?

Emilio Miraglia's The Red Queen Kills 7 Times is based around the typical giallo thriller premise: a masked somebody is killing a bunch of people and is unmasked at the end, but it has a few things going for it that sets it apart from other movies in this genre. The first thing is, obviously, the costume of the perpetrator, the Red Queen, who looks very surreal in the red cape and white mask, like some wicked superhero from the past. It could easily have turned into a parody but fortunately the director doesn't overdo it. However, some of the killings are rather ham-handed, though often compelling with plenty of the red stuff flying (lookout for the volkswagen bus sequence).

A special superextra credit must also go to the gorgeous cinematography (by Alberto Spagnoli who went on to work for Peter Bogdanovich) and the colorful set design (Lorenzo Baraldi) which makes the film a feast for the eyes. Add to that a great soundtrack by Bruno Nicolai and more beautiful women than in any other European thriller I can remember. Speaking of beautiful women, leading ladies Barbara Bouchet and Marina Malfatti both puts in good honest performances, but best of them all is a young Sybil Danning. Yes, über-bitch Ericka from Chained Heat, almost unrecognizable in red hair but seriously seductive as she tries to snatch the heart of her boss. All of this has quickly made The Red Queen Kills 7 Times an absolute favorite. It's freaky, fabulous and highly recommended.

Watch trailer here ››