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The Emilio Miraglia Killer Queen Box Set [1971] (NTSC)


Our Price: £14.82 (subject to change)

The box set is probably too good for the films in it
Review date: 2006-06-30 Rating: 6 out of 10

A double box set with a free figurine of the "Red Queen" from the second movie...who would have imagined such lavish treatment for a pair of obscure Euro-horrors like these? The figurine is a fun oddity, but it's the films that I am primarily interested in.

"The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave" has apparently never been available before in widescreen and has something of a cult following, which led me to believe it was going to be something special, but actually I was quite disappointed.

The story tells of a wealthy but troubled man called Alan, who pays red-haired women to come back to his massive stately home for a night of passion, but he actually wants to beat and murder them due to a fixation with his dead wife Evelyn, who he once caught cheating on him. His mental state is not helped by the fact that Evelyn also seems to be haunting him, appearing and beckoning to him at odd times, and he fears that she really has "come out of the grave", as the title suggests.

Now this sounds like it could be quite gothic and exciting, but sadly, it's not. Nothing of what goes on is explained very clearly or convincingly. The plot is full of massive holes and unexplained nonsense that just confuses you or wastes time. The first 30 minutes is fairly intriguing, but when Alan meets his third victim, he decides, instead of assulting her, to immediately marry her, and it's after the marriage that the film really comes unravelled. The new wife (obviously played by an Italian actress but hilariously named Gladys) has a wardrobe that seems to consist of nothing but stripper's outfits, which leave her breasts nearly hanging out, and she parades around like this all the time, even when dining with Alan's family or meeting the servants. Mysterious, meaningless things start to happen, like a glass of milk gets misplaced (ooh, scary), or one of the maids is suspected of having red hair (all the maids are wearing obvious wigs anyway, so I didn't see the big hoo-haa), and some of the family silverware disappears (oh, the horror!). None of this actually means anything important, it just drags the story on interminably. Oh yes, and some of Alan's relatives start getting killed, which I suppose is rather more important. After a lot of meandering in this way, the film suddenly chokes into life with an incredible double-double-cross twist ending that is way too implausible, and leaves massive chunks of the mystery still unexplained.

There, I admit it, I didn't think much of this film. Probably the only memorable part of it is cult actress Erica Blanc, who has a small role that features a really daft striptease but not a lot else. As usual, I probably did the film a disservice by watching the English dub, and it was truly terrible, especially as the film is supposed to be set in England, so all these exotic looking actresses speak with horrible flat British accents which look completely out of place. I hate to say it, but by the time the climax was reached, I had no interest left in any of the characters.

The second film is "The Red Queen Kills Seven Times", and I prefer it out of the two, although it's less famous and still quite hard going. A woman named Kitty (who picks these names???)is terrified that she has become the target of a bizarre, costumed murderer known as the Red Queen, and all the evidence points to this being her unbalanced and vengeful sister. Trouble is, Kitty has been spreading the lie that her sister is out of the country to cover up for the fact that she accidently killed her in a fight, a year before the murders began...So she couldn't be the Red Queen ...or could she?

Yes, well it's time for another confusing mystery as the complicated story demands your deep concentration to understand what is going on, over all the plot holes and more very bad English dubbing. Luckily the lead in this film is played by Euro fave Barbara Bouchet, who does a far better job than the mess made by the heroine of "Evelyn". She's very beautiful and makes a sympathetic and interesting character. The trouble is due to all the surrounding cast, as there are just too many people with not enough expanation of who they are and what they are doing. "Red Queen" benefits from a jolly "family curse" subplot, complete with a morbid painting and the bizarre get-up of the murderous Red Queen, who's appearance you can see by the free figurine! Like "Evelyn", the film benefits from being filmed in a gorgeous ornate castle, but it also fails similarly by trying to dress up a pretty ordinary who-dunnit by using impressive Gothic locations and a silly "return from the dead" sub-plot. I didn't actually understand the twist ending of this film, it's something to do with an inheritance, but it's not very well explained. At least the murder are fun, in fact "Red "Queen" is probably more violent than "Evelyn", despite the former's far more ghoulish premise. It also has a better ending with it's moderately thrilling flooded dungeon scene.

Two films for collectors of the obscure, then. Both the prints are great and in fantastic widescreen. I love No Shame's presentation, I just hope they start finding some better films. I look forward to seeing more from them. They won't have to give away toy action figures next time if the films are better.

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Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Anthony Steffen
Giacomo Rossi-Stuart
Erika Blanc
Enzo Tarascio
Marina Malfatti

Creators:
Anthony Steffen (Primary Contributor)
Marina Malfatti (Primary Contributor)
Alberto Spagnoli (Cinematographer)
Gastone Di Giovanni (Cinematographer)
Emilio Miraglia (Writer)
Romeo Ciatti (Editor)
Fabio Pittorru (Writer)
Massimo Felisatti (Writer)

Director(s):

Recording label: No Shame Films/Ryko Distribution
Manufacturer: No Shame Films/Ryko Distribution
EAN: 0882853002598
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: Collector's Edition, Colour, DVD-Video, Limited Edition, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, Widescreen, PAL,
Release date: 2006-04-25
Universal product code (UPC): 882853002598
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Running time: 201 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1971
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: Italian (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitled)

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