Sette note in nero

Plot synopsis:
Dover, England, October 12, 1959, 11:45 AM. A distraught young woman (Elizabeth Turner) drives to a scenic cliff-top overlooking the English Channel and throws herself off. At exactly the same time in Florence, Italy, the woman's young daughter Virginia (Fausta Avelli) has a vision of her mother's gruesome fall.Italy, 1976. A grown-up Virginia Ducci (Jennifer O'Neill) happily bids farewell to her new husband Francesco (Gianni Garko) as he leaves their house for a business trip abroad. After dropping him off at a small airport and driving home, Virginia experiences a number of confusing, fragmented visions while driving through dark road tunnel; a broken mirror in a dimly lit room; a lamp; a yellow cigarette burning in an ashtray; a magazine with a young woman on the front cover; a stuffed bird; the blood soaked corpse of an old lady; a fresco of The Madonna and Child; the footfalls of a man with a limp; a blinking red light; a yellow taxi; and someone being walled up in a dark hole.Virginia turns to her friend Dr Luca Fattori (Marc Porel), who has an interest in the paranormal, and she describes to him what she has seen. Afterwards, Virginia drives over to a rambling villa owned by her husband. The recently married couple intend to redecorate and move into the dusty building, which Francesco hasn't used for four years. Alone, Virginia experiences a mounting unease as she removes the drapes of the living room to discover items from her vision. Recalling a hole in the wall, the finds traces of a plaster over recess, and attacks with a pickaxe and uncovers skeletal human remains.The police are curious as to how Virginia found the body, which was very well concealed. She describes her vision to them, but they remain skeptic. The police maintain that the dead person was a young woman killed between January and June 1972, and she was only 25 years old when she died. Back at the villa that evening, Virginia sees what she takes to be an apparision of the dead woman from her vision (Veronica Michielini) standing outside. When Virginia gives chase, the old woman runs away into the dark. Francesco returns from his business trip where Virginia updates him on everything that has happened. He urges her to dismiss the matter from her mind, but she instead grows more and more obsessed with learning this mystery.The police led by Commissioner D'Elia investigate further and they identify the entombed victim as Agneta Bignardi. Virginia recognizes her from a photograph; she's the girl on the cover of the magazine in Virginias vision. Francesco, already a suspect, can only provide an alibi for himself in half the possible murder period. After he admits that he did have an affair with Agenta back in 1972, he gets arrested.Virginia discusses the case with Francesco's sister Gloria (Evelyn Stewart), and Melli (Riccardo Parisio Perrotti), a lawyer friend of Glorias. Virginia notices that Gloria smokes distinctive yellow cigarettes which are a French brand called Gitanes, identical to the one in her vision. Virginia accepts an extra pack from Virginia to smoke, and the two women go to the old house to investigate. Gloria says that her brother left for a business trip to America in April 1972, and that she was the one who changed the furniture of the place. The room with the walled-in corpse had been Franceso's bedroom, but was the Gloria whod bought the furniture that Virginia saw in her vision, after Francesco's departure.Luca's secretary, the resourceful Bruna (Jenny Tamburi) discovers that there were only 16 yellow taxies operating in Rome in 1972. Luca and Virgina make contact with a driver (Francesgo Angrisano) who remembers taking a girl in the police photo to a picture gallery, and that her gentlemanly chaperone has a pronounced limp. At the gallery, Virginia recognizes a Vermeer painting from her vision. The superintendent of the gallery, Emilio Rospini (Gabriele Ferzetti) watches them as the leave. He is the man in Virginia's vision.A few days later, Virginia buys a magazine which runs a picture of the murdered woman on the front cover, the exact same magazine from Virginia's vision. When Luca notices that the magazine has only existed for a year, it becomes apparent to him that Virginia has experienced a premontion, not a vision of past crimes. Virginia and Luca find more evidence that appears to clear Francesco, allowing him to get released on bail. Gloria, in the meantime, gives Virginia a watch, one that plays a haunting tune on the hour.Details from the promotions start to occur in front of Virginia with greater and greater frequency. Virginia takes a yellow taxi, with a blinking CB radio light, from Luca's office to her home. The mysterious old woman calls Virginia, leaving a message on her answering machine, offering information about the case. When Virginia arrives at her house, she finds her dead (in the same position from Virginia's vision). Rospini appears and Virginia flees in panic. Grabbing a vital letter featured on a coffee table in her vision, Virginia escapes down the road to a neighboring church that is undergoing repairs. Virginias hiding place is given away when her wristwatch chimes go off. Rospini tries to reach her on a wooden scaffold, but slips and falls to the marble floor, many feet below.Virginia runs back to her husband's old villa nearby, and phones him at his office to come see her right away. When he arrives, Virginia is alarmed by his limp, which he claims to have twisted his ankle just a few hours before. They go inside to the fateful room. Francesco puts down a copy of the magazine with Agneta on the cover, right on the table as described in the vision. Growing more nervous, Virginia starts smoking one of Glorias yellow cigarettes, and places it in an ashtray also featured in the vision.At the hospital, the police talk to the badly injured Rospini, who can barely gasp out his explination of the events. Back in 1972, the old woman, Signora Casati, had an illicit buyer for a valuable painting in a nearby gallery. Francesco, Rospini and Agneta Bignardi had all bee involved in stealing it. Rospini killed a guard, a fact mentioned in a letter Agneta wrote to Casati. Rospini was not trying to kill Virginia, but only trying to retrieve the letter. Casati was already dead when he arrived, having been killed by Francesco, who sustained a twisted ankle after jumping out of a window. It was Francesco who murdered Agneta all those years ago after she enraged him by trying to make off with the painting alone.Alone with her husband, Virginia becomes more and more frightened by the gradual confluences of elements from her vision. The last crucial link in the chain occurs when Francesco sees the incriminating letter on the dresser. Virginia claims that she hasn't read it, but he refuses to believe her. He suddenly attacks his wife with a fireplace poker. His first blow misses as she ducks and it smashes a mirror. The next blow strikes her dead on the head. As she lies on the floor, bleeding profuesly, he prepares to wall her into the excavated hole in the wall. Finally, all the details of room fit with the vision: Virginia was foreseeing her own death.A little later, Luca figures out from the magazine cover about the real location and time which Francesco could have murdered Agneta Bignardi. He then races over to the Ducci villa, while being chased by two motorcycle cops who are trying to arrest him for speeding. He manages to keep their fingers off his collar long enough to elaborate his suspicions. Francesco invites them all into his house and into the room, expressing concern at his wife's dissapearance. Despite a war of nerves, Luca cannot break the sociopath Francesco's bland of self control. As Luca turns to leave, escorted by the police, everyone hears a haunting tune, like a music box chime, emerging from the wall....

Tags: mystery, paranormal, cult, horror, violence, flashback, insanity

Review:
The Psychic finds Italian film-maker Lucio Fulci in a decidedly more restrained mood.
There is an early scene where a character falls off a cliff resulting in their face being bloodily shredded by rocks as they fall - basically a scene repeated from Fulci's earlier giallo classic Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) – but apart from this, there is no real excessive blood-letting at all.
The story is essentially about a psychic woman who experiences premonitions about mysterious murders, before long she finds herself in the midst of a dangerous situation.The atmosphere of this one generates a real sense of dread.
Don't let the lack of gore stop you from renting this, though, because this movie is well worth it.The story is as follows: A clairvoyant of sorts has a vision of a murder taking place in the house in which she lives.
It should be noted that the major plot twists are given away on the back of the box, so avoid reading it if surprise is wanted."The Psychic" is one of Fulci's few technically competent movies, containing few plot holes and a great storyline.
"Seven Notes in Black"/"Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes" of 1977 is a close second on my list of the greatest Fulci films, and it also ranks among the true greats of the Giallo genre in general.
One day, she has the disturbing vision of a gruesome murder, in which a woman is being walled in...I do not want to go deeper into the plot, because this brilliant film is filled with clever twists from the very beginning.
"Seven Notes in Black" contains no sleaze and hardly any gore, but has an incredibly intriguing and suspenseful plot containing ingenious red herrings and unpredictable plot twists, and is filmed in an incredibly beautiful yet unspeakably creepy visual style.
Murder to the Tune of Seven Black Notes is the last of Fulci's pre-gore flick Giallo's, and it has to be said that it's the lowest quality of the bunch.
Having already done straight murderers with A Lizard in Woman's Skin and Don't Torture a Duckling, Fulci has resorted to a supernatural plot line for his fourth Giallo feature and the plot draws its mystery and intrigue from it.
Clairvoyance is the reason for finding the skeleton, and naturally it isn't long before the husband is put under suspicion for the murder given that the body was uncovered inside his house; and he finds himself on the inside when it turns out that the body belonged to one of his ex-lovers...Despite the fact that this film serves as something of a prelude to the latter half of Fulci's career, there is a surprising lack of blood and guts, and this film isn't even as gory as the earlier Don't Torture a Duckling.
It's nice when the main character of the giallo you're watching receives all their clues in one huge psychic download five minutes into the film.Psychic lady, who has already remotely viewed her mother's suicide when she was a child (the only truly gory bit of the film), gets her vision when driving away from the airport after dropping off her new hubby (the always great and glary Gianni Garko of I Am Sartana, I will Kick Your Arse fame).From then on out it's up to psychic lady to figure out all the clues.
It's difficult to review gialli without ruining them so I'll stop there.I've seen this reviewed as Fulci's best film and his best Giallo, but personally I'd rate Lizard In A Woman's Skin higher (it's more surreal for starters).
Fulci has a reputation as one of the kings of gore but here yet again he is restrained in that department, there's very little blood or gore and positively no nudity, but this film shows yet again that he could make really good films, "Duckling", "Lizard" and One on top of the other prove that he is a legend in the history of the giallo, Great story, Great score, Great ending, Superb Film!.
Well, I won't say more because I don't want to ruin it for you--but the ending comes as quite a surprise--and I appreciate that.Overall, this is a strong suspense/horror film whose only real weakness is the sloppy opening as well as too many sound effects used by the lead.
Jennifer O'Neill is a great leading lady who sees visions as she travels through a very dark tunnel in her car of a murder scene.
This underrated giallo is probably Lucio Fulci's best movie.
Without his usual gorie style, the film is about a clairvoyant woman, Virginia (Played by Jennifer O'Neill- Scanners), who has a vision of a murder that happened years ago.
But she doesn't think the same and does everything possible to prove he's innocent, so she start to investigate (giallo style of course)- Sadly ignored at the time of it's release (Maybe because it has almost no blood and no nudity), the film is filled with suspense, especially after the hour mark.
The score deserves a special mention as it is arguably the best giallo music ever, even beating Goblin's Deep Red. Recommended to anyone who likes the giallo genre, Lucio Fulci's fans and people who think he's a hack.
Overall, a fine giallo from Fulci and highly recommended, but keep in mind it's quite different from most Italian horror movies of the time..
Lucio Fulci is best known for his surreal and graphically gory horror movies of the early 80s {i.e.Zombie,The Beyond} but some of his most interesting work was made before.
Fans of Kill Bill will recognise one of the pieces of music used.Opening with a graphic but very unconvincing scene of a suicide off a cliff,the head bashing on the rocks,the film does not continue that way,but becomes a slow but intriguing supernatural mystery,with the suspense gradually building and Fulci showing himself quite capable of handling a relatively complex plot.
Nevertheless, Fulci really proves himself with a really exciting and suspenseful scene near the end where O'Neill is pursued by the killer,and there is clever and evocative use of props throughout.Interestingly,where most Italian films like this are dubbed by different actors,this one looks like it was dubbed by most of the actual cast,and unfortunately a couple of major plot revelations are hard to make out!
Although he is often considered a top tier director of Italian horror/gialli, I found his films to be nothing more than exploitative and shameless, capitalizing on violence and sex to appeal to nothing but the viewer's carnal desires while providing little (if any) intelligence for the viewer's mind and cognitive thinking.Imagine my surprise when I found this not only to be a *good* movie, but also quite possibly one of the best gialli I have ever seen (second only to some of Dario Argento's best work).Despite a rather unnecessarily violent and gory opening (which is more laughable than shocking), the film is very subtle and restrained, with no nudity and very little violence, focusing upon its labyrinthine mystery to provide the thrills rather than anything visceral.And the mystery is superb, playing out very much like a jigsaw puzzle.
Not to mention, the very last sequence in the house will also have you on the edge of your seat.And the story isn't the only thing that makes this giallo work so well - the direction by Fulci (I can't believe I'm saying this) is magnificent, with such stunning sequences of camera movements and edits that just draw the viewer into the action.
The opening scene, as mentioned earlier, is entirely out of place, and the plot, while complex, is strangely predictable once you begin to understand what's happening.Despite this, the plot is tight, focused, and clever, with genuine suspense, which makes it one of the best giallo films ever.Essential viewing for not only giallo fans, but also any lover of a good mystery..
Ever since her mother's suicide when she was a child,interior designer Virginia(Jennifer O'Neil)has had psychic abilities.Newly married she is heading out to her husband's old country estate to begin a surprise restoration.But on the way to the house she has a vision of a woman being killed and walled up by a limping assassin.When she arrives to the house she discovers the skeleton of a woman behind the living room wall..."The Psychic"/"Seven Notes in Black" is easily one of the best and most underrated Fulci's films.The film has wonderful dreamlike atmosphere and is reminiscent to Edgar Allan Poe's classic story "The Black Cat".The pace is pretty slow and there is virtually no gore,but the plot is extremely intriguing and full of twists.Fans of Fulci or Italian horror in general should see as soon as possible..
American actress Jennifer O'Neill ("Summer of '42") headlines this entertaining Giallo from Italian cult favourite Lucio Fulci, his last in this genre before beginning the gory horror movie phase of his career.
A skeleton is found walled-up inside the old family house of her husband (Gianni Garko, the "Sartana" films), and she becomes determined to solve the mystery.Once again, Jennifer is absolutely lovely, but doesn't register all that strongly.
Average (and surprisingly tame) Fulci giallo which means it's still quite bad by normal standards, but redeemed by its solid build-up and some nice touches such as a neat time twist on the issues of visions and clairvoyance.The genre's well-known weaknesses are in full gear: banal dialogue, wooden acting, illogical plot points.
Although this movie suffers in comparison to Fulci's other gialli like "A Lizard in Woman's Skin" and "Don't Torture a Duckling", it is somewhat underrated and easily better than anything he made in the 1980's after his famous zombie quadrilogy ("Zombie", "The Gates of Hell", "The Beyond", and "House by the Cemetery").
Brazilian-American actress Jennifer O'Neil is a psychic who moves with her husband to a house in Italy, where she begins to think she is having visions of a murder that was committed there in the past.
n Kill Bill: Vol. 1, the score heard as The Bride is about to attack and kill Buck is taken from 'Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes'.No, there are no zombies, and this is a mystery, not a gory thriller, even though the fall of a woman from a hill is gruesome.It is a methodical film with repeated visions and clues to lead the way to the murderer of a woman found during a vision.
Fulci's tendency to try to outdo his rivals in disgusting scenes ("L'Aldila") is not a problem in this film.This is a suspenseful story ,with an elaborate screenplay à la Argento (note the importance of pictures in both directors' works ,photographs or paintings)and special effects with make-up kept to the minimum level.Combining a subject dear to Edgar Allan Poe with a whodunit a la Agatha Christie and supernatural facts (O'Neil is some kind of medium) ,with a good supporting cast featuring Gabriele Ferzetti (Antonioni's "L"avventura" ) and French Marc Porel (sadly to die prematurely ) as a shrink whose assistant is smarter than him,"Sette Note In Nero" is worth seeing.Like this?Try these..."Eyes of Laura Mars" Irvin Kershner 1978 "Dead zone" David Cronenberg 1983.
Lucio Fulci does a pretty good job here bringing us a Giallo, but not one littered with crazy deaths or violent murders.
For a Fulci film has a lot less gore than his usual movie.
Believe it, or not - Aside from The Psychic's awful soundtrack music, the fake-looking blood, and the wooden performances by all - This 1977, Italian, Mystery/Thriller actually did have some promising potential, in the long run, to be something of a worthwhile view.But - The Psychic's one unforgivable flaw (that lost it some major points) had to do with the apparent "vision" that character, Virginia Dacci had in regards to her "psychically" witnessing a brutal, (and, of course) bloody murder.In this "vision" - Virginia sees everything (and, I do mean "Everything!") taking place in this murder with the most acute attention to detail that you could ever imagine possible.
But, of all the details revealed to her - There's one thing that Virginia's "vision" doesn't show her.Well - As I'm sure you can easily guess - The omission of this one detail was just an annoyingly cheap ploy by director, Lucio Fulci to keep the viewer wondering until this film's final climatic moment when (surprise!
Seven Notes in Black (1977) ** (out of 4) Italian giallo about a woman (Jennifer O'Neill) who sees a vision of a woman dying.
Although director Lucio Fulci had excelled in the early '70s with such marvelous gialli as "Lizard in a Woman's Skin" and "Don't Torture a Duckling," his 1977 offering, "The Psychic," is not really a giallo at all.
With a cleverly executed plot, Fulci & Co. bring all their great talents together to create one fairly suspenseful stew...especially as Virginia slowly begins to realize that her visions may not necessarily be of events already transpired.
Truly a masterpiece of giallo genre and one of the best Fulci movies!
It is truly sad that title is changed for international release :(From start to end, this little gem will force you to watch it with constant "brain work" about finding connections between visions and situations that happens around main characters.Hard Fulci fans would be disappointed because of very little gore scenes - but this movie doesn't need gore - it is "light" giallo with suspense, atmosphere and nice twists and turns and that's enough to see that Fulci can make something good even without buckets of blood.Highly recommended!.
The young Virginia is clairvoyant and almost 20 years later, she has a similar vision in which she witnesses a woman getting walled up in the house belonging to her husband.
With having been trying to find a Bollywood Giallo to introduce my friend to the fantastic sub-genre for a good while,I was thrilled when I found someone on the IMDb Horror board talking about a Bollywood Giallo remake called 100 Days.Reading up the plot outline for the "unofficial" remake,I was really surprised by the the plot,due to it sounding like a very Hitchcock inspired film,which seemed to be the complete opposite of Fulci being called "the Godfather of Gore".Due to now being very interested in seeing Fulci take on a Hitchcock style thriller,I decided to rush and get my hands on it,with a good feeling that I made be about to see something pretty special from Fulci..The plot:1959:As Virginia Ducci's mother commits suicide by jumping of a cliff in England,Virginia makes the painful discovery that she has a psychic ability,due to being able to "see" her mothers suicide, whilst staying at a school in Italy.Years later:Driving her car to a new mansion that her partner has recently brought,Ducci's "visions" come back with a vengeance,with Virginia seeing small glimpses of what looks to be a murder being done on an old woman.Arriving at the mansion (on her own),Ducci gets a strong sense that,although the interior of the building is vast,something seems to be trapped inside the walls.Breaking one of the walls down,Virginia discovers a skeleton which looks like its been there for a good number of years.After having gotten hold of the skeleton,the police become pretty uninterested in taking the investigation farther (which may be due to the superintendent of the police force,having had an affair with the deceased victim,shortly before she was reported "missing")Luckally for Virginia,her best friend/psychiatrist says that although he does have some doubts over the "accuratchy" of her visions,he is still extremely keen in getting to the bottom of the mystery of the skeleton girl,and Ducci's visions of a murder.Slowly,as the psychiatrist and Virgina start to find information about the skeleton girl,the psychiatrist begins to fear that Ducci may be putting her life in great danger,due to him beginning to suspect that her "visions" are not of a murder that has taken place in the past,but one that is going to take place in the near future...View on the film:Although Lucio Fulci is most famous for being a very gung-ho director,with some real eye-popping flair,here he astonishingly goes into the opposite direction.For the many,chilling scenes of Virginia being on her own in the disused mansion,Fulci stunningly uses the vast environment around Ducci to create a strong sense of Foreboding fear,that with all the emptiness around her,suggested that something (or someone) could pop out of nowhere at any moment.For the last 30 minutes of the film,Fulci and co-screenwriters Roberto Gianviti and Dardano Sacchetti turn the film into a (almost) dialogue –free blazing thrill-ride!,with Lucio delivering amazingly precise,stylised camera moves which could make even the Giallo genre's star director (Dario Argento) look on with envy,as Fulci delivers a classic Giallo with chilling atmosphere.Along with the mesmerising directing,and the brilliant supernatural-tinged Giallo screenplay,the film also includes some terrific performances,with lead actress Jennifer'O Neil doing really well at showing the increased pressure that Ducci puts herself under,as she begins to feel that her visions of murder are about to become true.For the last section of the film,O'Neil smartly avoids the character turning into a "Dumb Blonde",by having Virginia attempt to run away/fight back against the killer,which helps to give the film a tremendous edge of the seat rush to the finishing line.
Final view on the film:A gripping,atmospheric Giallo mystery/thriller,with a great tense screenplay,very good performances and absolutely stunning directing from Lucio Fulci..
In 1959 Virginia Ducci (Jennifer O'Neill) has a vision of her mother's suicide.
When Francesco is accused for the murder Virginia must find the proofs, for her husband's freedom, thought her vision.This is the plot of this terrific giallo of Lucio Fulci.
The plot is great showing a simple murder mystery story with suspense all of its 95 minutes.
The unexpected change in the plot is great just as the end.First the film is about one murder mystery with Virginia relating all to her vision but later her vision doesn't agree with the case and we realize that she saw the future.
The climax and the end are just excellent and it was because of the music that Virginia was saved or at least we like to imagine that.Conclusion: I love this film that was just a terrific introduction to Lucio Fulci.
Every single frame is important.I've seen a few Lucio Fulci films over the years, and this is one of his best-made.