The Emilio Miraglia Collection-
The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave/
The Red Queen Kills 7 Times
(No-Shame Films Region 0 NTSC DVD)
(1971/1972)
review by Head Cheeze

No-Shame Films has been churning out a steady diet of giallo goodness that’s certainly hit the spot for hardcore fans of the genre, but, with their latest release, No-Shame’s given giallo fans the sort of collector’s edition usually reserved for the likes of James Cameron or Peter Jackson…not someone like Emilio Miraglia.

Ah, but here it is! A boxed set of two of Miraglia’s best-known and most beloved genre classics; The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, and The Red Queen Kills 7 Times, not only packaged in a two-disc set loaded with goodies, but also sporting-get this-a PVC figurine of The Red Queen herself! Do these films deserve such royal treatment? Well, certainly No-Shame thinks so!

Personally, I’ve never been a huge fan of The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave. I’ve seen the film in many of its guises, but never in the uncut form that it’s presented in, here. Still, I find Evelyn to be one of the slower moving giallis that I’ve come across, and, while the payoff at the end is quite nice, what leads up to it is something of a tedious affair. The film tells the story of a lovelorn royal who may or may not be killing off women who resemble his dearly departed wife, Evelyn. There’s nudity and gore in gleeful abundance, but the story moves along at such a dawdling pace that even that becomes something of a chore to sit through as we await the traditional unmasking of the real killer/killers.

Personally, I prefer the second film in this set; the comparatively obscure The Red Queen Kills 7 Times, as this one moves along at a brisk pace, features some standout scenes (there’s a dreamily filmed long shot in which the Red Queen is running down a corridor toward a victim, her black and red cape flowing against a backdrop of institutional white, that is at once gorgeous and terrifying), and a cast of lovelies that includes Barbara Bouchet as well as a young Sybil Danning. Like Evelyn, Red Queen has a very gothic vibe that calls to mind the earlier works of Bava, but here, in his last feature, Miraglia seemed to be crafting a look and style all his own.

No-Shame presents these two films in a two-disc set, with fantastic widescreen transfers, and choice of English (DD 2.0 mono) or Italian (DD 2.0 mono) soundtracks. Each disc is loaded with its own extras that include several interview segments with actors and crew members from both films, as well as introductions to each film, an alternate opening sequence for The Red Queen Kills 7 Times, posters and stills gallery, and more. Rounding out the tangible extras are a 20-page, full-color booklet and lobby card reproductions, which are all stuffed into an oversized box to accommodate the aforementioned Red Queen figurine.

Wow. Once again, No-Shame has simply blown me away with their deluxe treatment of a pair of films that- while not the finest examples of their genre-obviously hold a place in not only the hearts of the many fans of Miraglia’s work, but in the hearts of the people who put this amazing package together.