SEVEN BLOOD STAINED ORCHIDS (1972)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological, sociological*

ORCHIDS was the next directing-and-co-writing giallo project for Umberto Lenzi after he finished the last of his four Carroll Baker thrillers. He didn't execute too many more works in this subgenre after that, and until I get a chance to rewatch one or two of these, I can't be sure that this is Lenzi's best-looking giallo. But I don't think there's likely to be much competition.

ORCHIDS displays as diverse a color palette as the best of Argento, though Lenzi's murders here downplay gore and emphasize the sculpted poses of the slain women. By 1972 I imagine the visual trope of the black-garbed killer-- particularly with regard to his black gloves-- had become so familiar that it was almost de rigeur. There's nothing startlingly original about most of the murder-methods of "the Half Moon Maniac"-- edged weapons, drowning in a bathtub, a garotte-- though he does up his game with a power drill for just one victim. Oh, and he gets his name from his habit of leaving on his victims small trinkets that look like half-moons carved from silver.

After slaying two victims, the Maniac blunders and fails to slay newlywed Giulia (Uschi Glas). The police talk Giulia and her husband Mario (Antonio Sabato) into keeping Giulia's survival a secret so that she'll be off the killer's list while the cops try to solve the case. But because Giulia has some theories about the commonality between her and the previous victims, and because she and Mario don't have much faith in the police, they undertake to find the murderer themselves. Lenzi and his co-writer choose a good variety of Italian locales-- churches, an insane asylum, a swinger's sordid digs-- and two of the victims are well-known Euro-beauties, Marisa Mell and Rosella Falk.

Possibly the most Argento-esque touch is that, even if there's little overt gore, Mario sometimes comes across consequential clues to the mystery by fateful juxtaposition rather than by logic. Given the information that the suspected killer may have been a faithful Protestant, Mario inquires at local churches. He learns nothing, but by chance one pastor recommends-- for no particular reason-- that Mario might talk to some of the "hippie" community. Sure enough, this leads Mario to a vital step in his investigation. Yet as with Argento, this convenient revelation doesn't seem arbitrary. It seems as if it's a natural result of the chaotic nature of a big city.

ORCHIDS' only failing is that Lenzi throws a few too many red herrings. It's particularly egregious when one of the suspects was responsible for giving Mario one of those important clues. But Glas and Sabato have good chemistry and the visuals are never dull, so this gets a strong recommendation from me.