The Night Evelyn
Came out of the Grave (1971)
By: David Michael Brown on October 18, 2006.
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| Big Sky Video (Australia). All Regions, NTSC. 2.35:1 (16:9 enhanced). English DD 2.0. 101 minutes |
| The Movie |
| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director: Emilio Miraglia
Starring: Erika Blanc, Anthony Steffen, Marina Malfatti, Rod Murdock
Screenplay: Massimo Felisatti, Fabio Pittorru, Emilio Miraglia Music: Bruno Nicolai
Tagline: The worms are waiting. Country: Italy
AKA: La Notte che Evelyn uscì Dalla Tomba |
Anyone expecting a zombie with a flame haired
wig running around with a severed head, as depicted
on the DVD sleeve and poster art of The
Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, will
be sorely disappointed. However, those willing to
take their time with this languid and sordid little
affair will be rewarded with a truly strange and
bizarre film that confounds and confuses as often
as it shocks and disturbs.
Erika Blanc made quite a name for herself in
many a Giallo thriller during the Sixties and
Seventies including Mario Bava's wonderful Kill Baby Kill and Jean Brismée's The Devil's Nightmare.
Here she plays Susie, an early victim of the psychotic
aristocrat Lord Alan Cunningham. Distraught at
the loss of his beloved Evelyn and wracked with
suspicion that his wife had been having an affair,
Cunningham does what every man would do. He hangs
out in dingy clubs picking up red haired prostitutes
who remind him of his dead spouse so he can take
them to his castle and brutally murder them. Slowly
losing his mind he tries to sort out his life
by getting married and banning red heads from
his palatial mansion but this only adds to the
confusion. Not knowing who to trust and with redheads
mysteriously appearing left right and centre it
soon looks as though the demented lord is returning
to his murderous ways.
There is a lot of strange goings on in this movie;
mild sadism, coffin striptease, death by fox,
the lord's truly outrageous Austin Powers
style wardrobe. It's all clad in cinematographer
Gaston Di Giovanni's beautifully gothic
compositions. The film looks marvellous and despite
a few pacing issues director Miraglia handles
the films more horrific moments well. The usual
failings of the genre show their faces; some dreadful
over acting, preposterous plotting and a complete
lack of reality but then again that's why
we love these vintage Italian thrillers.
Bruno Nicolai is second only to his regular collaborator
Ennio Morricone as the maestro who scored an entire
generation of Italian shockers. The Italian giallo
thriller would not have been what it was without
the great man's sonic contributions to the
likes of All the Colours of the Dark and Sergio Martino's Curse of the
Scorpion's Tale and Excite
Me. His score for The Night Evelyn
Came Out of Her Grave is a surreal mix
of orchestra, psychedelic guitar and female choir
and sounds wonderful. It is quite bizarre setting
the film in England. No one looks English and
the policeman in particular look ill at ease in
their British "Bobby" outfit. I guess
they really wanted you to believe that Cunningham
was an English Lord but it even sounds wrong when
they start talking about the British pound. |
| Video |
| The picture is crystal clear and the razor sharp
close ups and shimmering Seventies photography look
great. As to be expected to there is a certain amount
of print damage but on the whole the transfer adds
to the enjoyment of the film. There does, however,
seem to be an issue with the aspect ratio that had
been brought up by some reviewers, regarding playback
on 4:3 televisions, that the film won't be
displayed in it's correct 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
It looked fine on my set-up but the disc should
be approached with caution until we hear more reports. |
| Audio |
| The 2.0 audio mix is fine, nothing spectacular
to report. |
| Extra Features |
| All you get is the trailer and a collection
of stills and posters, not bad you think but pitiful
when you see the wealth of extras included in
the US release of The Emilio Miraglia
Killer Queen Box Set. That box includes
an introduction by Erica Blanc, interviews with
Blanc and production designer Lorenzo Baraldi
along with another disc, The Red Queen Kills 7
Times and a sculpted figure of the red queen herself!
You can't help but feel a bit short changed. |
| The Verdict |
| One of the stranger Giallo thrillers from the
Early Seventies, by the time The Night Evelyn
Came Out of the Grave reaches its conclusion
everyone has double-crossed everyone else and almost
everyone has been stabbed, killed or fed to the
foxes. It's a bizarre plotting and impenetrable
characters won't be for everyone but if you're
willing to descent into the demented Lord's
mindset there is much to enjoy. |
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