You must pay attention when you’re reading subtitles in a foreign film. When an inexplicably curious guest at Sir Reginald Thorne’s castle in The Seventh Grave (1965) stumbles upon a dead body, another guest asks, “Did you see something in his buttonhole,” I did a double take. I know, my mind is in the gutter, but the alternative would have been more entertaining.
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SPOILER ALERT! When a movie provides a “Scooby-Doo ending,” yet concludes with the moral, “Unleashing occult forces that can’t be controlled is always dangerous,” it’s got to be at least a little inconsistent, if not incompetent. Likewise, we’re reminded that it’s a “sensible precaution” to not hold any more seances.
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The movie does have some interesting camerawork, especially during the aforementioned séance. I’ve never seen participants in a séance keep their arms raised with fingers touching instead of resting on the table, but doing so allows room for the camera to get under them and shoot upwards. Likewise, the camera shoots from above and circles them in close-up.
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After being summoned by a notary, Jenkins (Antonio Casale), Mary (Bruna Baini), and Fred (Gianni Dei) arrive at the old dark house for a reading of the will for a man who died three years earlier, Sir Reginald. Young stud, Fred, picks up Betty (Germana Dominici), a lovely barmaid, along the way and drags her along for the ride.
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Various other characters are already there. However, except for Katy (Stefania Nelli), the psychic, I couldn’t tell you who they are. They’re all potential heirs, I suppose. Inspector Martin Wright (Armando Guarnieri) arrives late, supposedly to investigate the body with the… buttonhole.
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Two other lawmen arrive and poke around for the escaped leper who used to be Sir Reginald’s assistant in the laboratory where they worked on “strange experiments.” Except for a couple people from among the crowd, there’s not much of a body count. This allows for multiple scenes of them walking around fearlessly in the dark.
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Fred and Betty aren’t the only lovebirds. The notary and Katy do more than make googly eyes at each other, but they don’t want anyone to know. Then, Jenkins crawls into bed with someone, but it’s too dark to see who it is. It is fun, though, then we think he’s going to strangle this person before he moves in for the kiss.
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There are bits and pieces I enjoyed; however, with all the nighttime exploring that builds little suspense, it’s mostly dull. There’s a noble effort at the end to surprise its audience, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Maybe that’s why there’s a Psycho epilogue that attempts to explain, but instead contradicts.
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