The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1972)

Troubled aristocrat Alan Cunningham lures red headed prostitutes and strippers to his castle, to torture and kill them as a means of coming to terms will the death of his beloved wife Evelyn. Within the first few minutes he's pouring Polly a glass of that giallo staple J&B while she promptly strips. And this pretty much sets the theme for the remainder. This movie combines the whodunnit of the giallo with gothic horror (a decaying castle, medieval armour and torture devices, a crypt, seances, etc) and manages to do so marvellously. As with so many of these Italian movies it's stunningly filmed and comes with a great Bruno Nicolai score. Yes, it has twists and red herrings, but thankfully the plot is reasonably easy to follow (unlike many giallo). There are plenty of gorgeous women who shed their clothing. However, it is flawed. For some ridiculous reason the film is set in England, yet all the architecture is obviously Italian (Ok, there are Italian style buildings here in Britain but that doesn't serve as a good argument), and all of the vehicles are left hand drive (they do drive on the left along minor roads but in the opening credits a main road is seen on which every vehicle is driving on the right). Alan lives with his rather attractive aunt who looks no older than he (again, that is possible, just not very convincing). Flaws aside I really enjoyed this and watched it on a great quality blu rau. Highly recommended

Emilio Paolo Miraglia created two giallo — this film and The Red Queen Kills Seven Times. This one goes more into the horror realm than the typical themes of the genre.Lord Alan Cunningham starts this movie off by running away from an insane asylum, a place he's been since the death of his redheaded wife, Evelyn, who he caught having sex with another man. To deal with his grief, Alan does what any of us would do — pick up redhead prostitutes and strippers, tie them up, then kill them.A seance freaks Alan out so badly he passes out, so his cousin — and only living heir — Farley moves in to take care of him, which basically means going to strip clubs and playing with foxes. Alan nearly kills another stripper before Farley gives him some advice — to get over Evelyn, he should marry someone that looks just like her. Alan selects Gladys (Marina Malfatti, All the Colors of the Dark) as his new wife and comes back home.Sure, you meet someone one night and marry them the next. But nothing could compare Gladys for the weirdness of living in an ancient mansion, along with a staff of identical waitresses, Evelyn's brother and Alan's wheelchair-bound aunt. Our heroine is convinced that Evelyn is not dead. And the other family members get killed off — Albert with a snake and Agatha is eaten by foxes!Gladys even looks at the body in the tomb before Alan catches her and slaps her, as he is going crazier and crazier. Finally, Evelyn rises from her grave, which sends him back to a mental institution.The big reveal? Gladys and Farley were in on it all along. But wait, there's more! Susan, the stripper who survived Alan's attack, was the one who was really Evelyn and Gladys has been poisoned! Before she dies, the lady who we thought was our heroine wipes out the stripper and Farley gets away with the perfect crime.But wait! There's more! Alan had faked his breakdown and did it all so that he could learn that it was Farley who was making love to his wife and killed her when she refused to run away with him. A fight breaks out, sulfur goes into the pool and Farley gets burned by acid. He's arrested and Alan — who up until now was pretty much the villain of this movie — gets away with all of his crimes!This is a decent thriller, but it really feels padded in parts and tends to crawl. That said, it has some great music, incredibly decorated sets and some twists. Not my favorite giallo, but well worth a Saturday afternoon watch. There are some moments of sheer beauty here, such as the rainstorm where Alan sees Evelyn's ghost rise.

A deranged aristocrat lures women to his mansion so that he can murder them. He is only interested in red heads because his late wife, Evelyn, was one. He caught her cheating prior to her death so now wants to punish all red headed women.Then all hell breaks lose. This is a giallo, so of course nothing is as it seems. "Lord Alan" apparently really is a murderer, but he isn't the only one. He's wealthy and he's crazy, so there is an elaborate scheme afoot with people making plans to separate him from his sanity and his money, whichever comes first.The plot is just far too complicated, and the movie far too boring, to be bothered keeping up with. The idea of an aristocrat taking babes back to his villa to toy with before killing seems to have promise, but there's not a single memorable scene in this boring movie.

At times incoherent, this Italian Gothic horror piece has a wealthy aristocrat (Steffen) suffering from a psychotic in-balance that causes him to lure pretty red-heads and lookalikes of his deceased wife Evelyn to his dilapidated castle, for S&M and more. His doctor (Rossi-Stuart) is concerned about his condition and recommends he find a new wife - which he does in Malfatti, but things quickly deteriorate between the newlyweds when "Evelyn" appears to rise from her crypt.Disjointed in parts with hokey special effects and poorly contrived plot set-ups, it's often described as "giallo", but I'd disagree with that definition being applied. Gothic horror perhaps, but the essence of giallo (everyday man witnesses an apparent crime, assumes amateur detective role, becomes the target of the killer) isn't present. The cast is reasonably proficient, although the dubbing is atrocious.Not as violent or sadistic as I'd read, the scene in which the pet foxes "dine-in" on one of the scheming relatives isn't nearly as brutal as reputed (it's also very difficult to discern what's happening by virtue of the poor lighting). Atmospheric at times, the suspense never holds you for very long before it's back to the awfully dubbed dialogue and somewhat puerile haunted castle effects (endless mist, storms, creaking boards and cobwebs). There's a twist ending which partially redeems the movie, but it's too little too late and leaves a gaping plot hole in its explanation that won't go unnoticed.