The Devil has Seven Faces

Hiya gang! We have two interesting things today. It is International Women's Day, showcasing women in life of what has been and what is yet to come. Ask your mom, aunt, grandma what contributions women have given to science, engineering, plans that have shaped the future and written works. Today is also a very good woman's birthday and to show how hard a worker she is, yeah you guessed it. She has to work today.

So Happy Birthday Wendy! Sorry the price of success means not too many days off but you're doing what you like.

Today we have intrigue, a double-cross, a mistaken identity and a jewelry heist!!! c'mon this is good stuff. Okay menfolk it is a Giallo as well. There, gain some of you back? Muhahahahaha, dance puppets,dance. This is The Devil has Seven Faces a.k.a. Bloody Mary a.k.a. The Devil has 7 Faces a.k.a. Nights of Terror

Yes these borders are ridiculous.

Our trek into this film is with cinematographer/director Osvaldo Civirani (Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun, Kindar the Invulnerable, Operation Poker, The Beckett Affair, Return of Django, and the Two Sons of Trinity) brings us a thriller Giallo with a pair of twins and some mayhem ensues.

Julie Harrison (Carroll Baker of Baby Doll, Something Wild, How the West Was Won, the Sweet Body of Deborah, Paranoia, A Quiet Place to Kill, Knife of Ice, Bait and Star 80) is a conservative, straight laced businesswoman. Mary on the other hand, is foot loose and fancy free. A girl that is a love 'em and leave 'em kind of gal. Julie starting receiving threats, harassment at home in the night and even unwanted and less than welcome visitors dropping by. Having no idea what is going on until...they call Julie Mary; her sister's name.

A pack of thieves proceed to scare Julie and don't believe she isn't Mary, trying to pull a fast one on them. They already can't trust Mary so this must be another one of her tricks, yet they can't help but think they may have the wrong girl.

Okay, fine. It's a wig. Jeez

With this relentless terror happening; Julie turns to two friends, Dave Barton (Stephen Boyd of Seven Days from Now, Island in the Sun, Ben-Hur, Lisa, Imperial Venus, The Fall of the Roman Empire, The Third Secret, Genghis Khan, Fantastic Voyage and Carter's Army) a hotshot lawyer and Tony Shane (George Hilton of Any Gun Can Play, Sartana's Here...Trade Your Pistol for a Coffin, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, Holy God, Here Comes the Passatore!, Double Game and College) a race car driver with guts and glory mentality.  Both men are not competitive with each other, in spite of they are both attracted to her. With a bit of cooperation and knowing shady men in dark places they found out a group of jewel thieves lifted a massive diamond from the Maheraja and one of the crew got left behind holding the bag.

Julie starts looking into the theft to encounter an insurance investigator by the name of Steve Hunter (Luciano Pigozzi of Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory, The Castle of the Living Dead, The Devil's Man, Vengeance, Blackie the Pirate, Yor, Hunter of the Future, Escape from Hell, The Exterminators of the Year 3000, Strike Commando and Zombie 3) hot on the trail.

Can Julie get out of this pickle? Will the thieves get their justice?

The film is pretty solid. We got a lot of association with slasher infecting Giallo with the cliche' POV wearing leather gloves and a blade slicing up topless jiggly girls. The most important elements in Giallo is mystery, dark story line, murder and a bit of nudity. A lot of critics professional and amateur alike treat this almost like a buddy cop drama mixed with a crime thriller.

Just go through IMDB on Mario Bava and you will see different examples of Giallo and you'll understand my meaning. I'm not bashing fellow critics, just asking them to do a bit more research into the subject matter you are praising or damning and I sat through that abysmal Zombie Lake!!

Lemme in! I GOTTA PEE!!!

Shot in the Netherlands, this 90 minute thriller was a good cast, Stelvio Cipriani's (The Lickerish Quartet, Guns for Dollars, A Bay of Blood, Death Walks on High Heels, Baron Blood, The Killer Is on the Phone and Tragic Ceremony) composure was spot on.  For my younger readers you would have heard his compositions in Death Proof, Planet Terror and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

All praising goes to Carroll Baker. She really pulls off her double roles, the intensity of the film and the complete opposites of the twins. We have a good screenplay with dare I say, a bit too many subplots and red herrings. It was almost they were trying to outdo each scene.Clever camera work with the Eastman Reversalscope, a good enough car chase (Could have been better) and suspenseful argumentative and physical fighting in a windmill of all places. At the end of the day, this was a decent mystery and not the typical sleazy look most Giallo get labelled due to the use of so much nudity. I would recommend this one for the causal viewer and the Giallo fan alike.

Think we oughta let that girl in?