The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1972)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Some things I liked some I did not.

Best movie of this year hands down!

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

If 90 plus minutes of women's crotch shots, bulging breasts and naked butts give you a cinematic thrill, then this movie should be right up your porn drenched alley. But for lovers of Gothic horror with a grand sense of guignol, then skip it. The sadomasochistic themes are overdone with wealthy Anthony Steffan the sleaziest of all Euro trash lovers using every beautiful female he meets for his sick pleasures. Whipping their almost completely naked bodies, he simply gets off on the pain he makes them endure. Finally finding one he claims to love, he gets impulsively married, and even his proposal seems perverted. Well, certain strange occurrences makes the new bride suspicious, leading to the possibility of her own fate being just as violent. Then, there's the revelation about the title character, Steffan's first wife, whose apparent infidelities drove him over the edge in the first place.Set in the present day, this tries to give off a feeling of period Gothic horror but fails on every level. The film manages to be perverse and disturbingly violent with such sequences as a man in the way getting a sudden snake bite and realizing that his assassin is burying him while his last few breaths struggle to leave him. A wheelchair bound Aunt (who appears to be younger than her nephew) also gets a disturbing fate. I get a sense of hatred towards women in this, both through Steffen and the writer and director, making all of the women passive and subservient sexually and emotionally. The film becomes difficult to tolerate and poor quality in the editing and musical score gives it a truly dated feel. With all the badly made cheap horror films of the late 1960's and early 70's, I rank this among the worse. The conclusion makes absolutely no sense. I subtitle it "Taste the Blood of Perversion".

The first of Emilio Miraglia's "Evelyn" films, "The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave" is one hell of a sexy, creepy and ultimately beautiful slice of Italian horror, that is considerably superior to it's much highly praised successor "The Red Queen Kills Seven Times".Just like "Queen...", this one combines elements of Gothic horror and gialli. As a Gothic horror, it is a very unique one, using the basic elements that made so many other genre films successful, but adding a a sensual, dreamy tone to the mix. The ethereal, ghostly images of Evelyn's ghost wandering half naked through castle grounds, accompanied by Bruno Nicolai's haunting soundtrack are a good example of this - bearing an entrancing, lyrical quality to them.That being said, the 'giallo' part of the story is the total opposite, being sleazy, predictable and often unintentionally funny. Miraglia doesn't seem to know which direction to take, and at the end it seems like two distinct pictures randomly put together, and wrapped up with one of the silliest endings to an Italian horror ever, up there with that of Dario Argento's "Opera". Aside from that, the mediocre acting doesn't help overcoming it's flaws. Though Anthony Steffen does his best in his extremely demanding role, Marina Malfatti doesn't make for a very interesting protagonist, and would rather stick to supporting roles, which is what she does best. Though there is a huge gap of quality between the first two acts and the final one, the film has several redeeming qualities. Miraglia manages to keep the viewer interested throughout, with lots of suspense and, as mentioned above, visual flourishes galore. It is interesting to note how both Miraglia's films suffer from the same issues in scriptwriting, and one could only wish these two would live up to the potential they had. While they can be considered obscure gems of spaghetti-horror, they could and should've been classics. This one manages to be the best of the two though, if only because of it's unique, hypnotic style and some unforgettable set pieces. Overall, 7/10

The majority of posters here have plainly viewed this giallo on DVD, on a small screen. I saw this film at the old UA Academy Of Music on East 14th Street, NYC on its opening day, and while not quite up to the level of Il Maestro (Bava), it is one of the better giallos of the period. The original color-scope print was fine---this sort of film was meant to be viewed on a *big* screen (=seats 800+). Viewing a film like this on a small screen gives no hint of its original impact. I know from bitter experience that the modern prints of old films seldom live up to the original release prints' quality. Indeed, in too many cases, all that is left is a bleached, ragged fossil of the original. This is something that must be borne in mind when viewing old films. The poster art for EVELYN is a classic---I wear a t-shirt with the poster on the front. This, and many others, are available from Filmfax.com. Cheers!

Nice mix of giallo an Gothic horror, brought to you by Emilio Miraglia, writer/director of Red Queen Kills 7 Times. Maybe Miraglia likes red, as this is a tale of a dead red-headed wife, and a series of red-headed prostitutes brought home by the rich widower, Lord Alan Cunningham (Anthony Steffen).Not only does Alan bring a lot of redheads home to his castle, which means a lot of flesh for your enjoyment, but he has a propensity to engage in a little sadism while he is at it, as Susan (Erika Blanc) finds out.After Susan, he meets Gladys (Marina Malfatti) at a party. He is instantly attracted (and who wouldn't be?) even though she is a blond, not a redhead. So much so, that he asks her to marry before he even gets her in bed. She is much more practical, and goes to bed without marrying, though I suspect she feels it will lead there eventually.When they are married, the title comes alive as does Evelyn, his first wife. Naturally, I suspected Albert (Roberto Maldera) and Aunt Agatha (Joan C. Davis) in this ruse, but that is quickly dispelled. Needless to say, the foxes didn't have any appetite for breakfast after a late night snack.Things move forward with a double double cross and a surprise ending. Interesting giallo with boobilicious treats.