Sette note in nero (1977)

Director:

Lucio Fulci

Writers:

Lucio Fulci (screenplay)
Lucio Fulci (story)
(more)

Release Date:

March 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery

Plot:

A clairvoyant woman, inspired by a vision, smashes open a section of wall in her husband's home and finds a skeleton behind it...

Plot Keywords:

Giallo | Italian Horror | Beautiful Woman | Cult Favorite | Cult Director

Cast

Jennifer O'Neill	...	Virginia Ducci
Gabriele Ferzetti	...	Emilio Rospini
Marc Porel	...	Luca Fattori
Gianni Garko	...	Francesco Ducci
Ida Galli	...	Gloria Ducci (as Evelyn Stewart)
Jenny Tamburi	...	Bruna
Fabrizio Jovine	...	Commissioner D'Elia
Riccardo Parisio Perrotti	...	Melli
Loredana Savelli	...	Giovanna Rospini
Salvatore Puntillo	...	Second Cab Driver
Bruno Corazzari	...	Canevari
Vito Passeri	...	Caretaker
Franco Angrisano	...	First Cab Driver
Veronica Michielini	...	Giuliana Casati
Paolo Pacino	...	Inspector Russi
Fausta Avelli	...	Virginia as a Girl
Elizabeth Turner	...	Virginia's Mother
Ugo D'Alessio	...	Art Gallery Owner
Luigi Diberti	...	Judge

Directed by
Lucio Fulci

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Lucio Fulci		screenplay
Lucio Fulci		story
Roberto Gianviti		screenplay
Roberto Gianviti		story
Dardano Sacchetti		screenplay
Dardano Sacchetti		story

Original Music by
Franco Bixio		(as Bixio)
Fabio Frizzi		(as Frizzi)
Vince Tempera		(as Tempera)

Cinematography by
Sergio Salvati

Film Editing by
Ornella Micheli

Art Direction by
Luciano Spadoni

Costume Design by
Massimo Lentini

Makeup Department
Maurizio Giustini	....	makeup artist
Antonio Maltempo	....	assistant makeup artist

Production Management
Roberto Cocco	....	production manager
Carlo Cucchi	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Roberto Giandalia	....	assistant director

Art Department
Goffredo Massetti	....	props
Roberta Tomassetti	....	assistant production designer

Sound Department
Gianni D'Amico	....	sound mixer
Anthony La Penna	....	dubbing editor: English version (as Tony La Penna)
Renato Marinelli	....	sound effects
Alfonso Montesanti	....	boom operator
Raul Montesanti	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Luciano Adiutori	....	still photographer
Franco Bruni	....	camera operator
Claudio Farinelli	....	assistant camera
Alfredo Fedeli	....	chief electrician
Maurizio Lucchini	....	assistant camera
Luciano Micheli	....	key grip

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Carmen Pericolo	....	seamstress

Editorial Department
Mario D'Ambrosio	....	assistant editor
Bruno Micheli	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Vince Tempera	....	conductor

Other crew
Rita Agostini	....	continuity
Marco Giannoni	....	production secretary
Roberto Penna	....	administrator
Roberto Penna	....	production accountant

Production Companies

• Cinecompany
• Rizzoli Film

Distributors

• Group 1 International Distribution Organization Ltd. (1979) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• CBS Television (1981) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Frontier Amusements (1980) (Canada) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Catalina Video (198?) (USA) (VHS)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (video)
• Fotomat (Drive-Thru Movies) Video (1979) (USA) (VHS) (as "The Psychic")
• Lightning Video (198?) (USA) (VHS)
• Severin Films (2007) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Digitmovies Alternative Entertainment  soundtrack

Also Known As:

Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes
Seven Notes in Black
The Psychic (USA)

Runtime:

95 min | USA:90 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Telecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:VM14 | France:-12 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Arezzo Airport, Tuscany, Italy

Company:

Cinecompany

Goofs:

Factual errors: The opening sequence set in Dover England, and Florence Italy at the exact same time show the time set as 11:45. Continental Europe is one hour ahead of the British Isles time zone in which the time in Florence should read 12:45.

Movie Connections:

Remade as 100 Days (1991)

Soundtrack:

With You

Tame, arty, and underrated Fulci movie

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. She tries to solve the crime, but there ends up being an effective if very predictable twist at the end. (The film is basically a variation on Nicholas Roeg's "Don't Look Now" with yet another European homage to Edgar Allen Poe's "The Black Cat").

Jennifer O'Neil was a beautiful and interesting, if not particularly good, actress but she acquits herself well here. Gianni Garko plays her Italian husband who becomes an increasingly important character by the end. Ida Galli, who plays her sister-in-law, had supporting roles in any number of these kind of movies (usually under the anglicized pseudonym "Evelyn Stewart"), so she is very proficient if nothing else. The luscious Jenny Tamburi also has a small role as a resourceful secretary (and while it's nice to see her move beyond her usual role of the naked sexpot, she plays a naked sexpot so well...).

One reason this movie is not very highly regarded might be because it doesn't have nearly as much violence as a typical Fulci movie, nor does it have the sex and nudity of a typical gialli (especially the latter-day ones). It was also released only briefly on a horribly-cropped VHS tape under the title of "The Psychic". I saw a much better wide-screen, Italian version on the insufferably arty EuropaEuropa channel (available in Latin but not Northern America). The fact that a Fulci movie would ever appear on THAT highbrow channel has to say something about it.