Claudio Carvalho In 1959, in Florence, the girl Virginia sees her mother committing suicide jumping off a cliff in England. Twenty-eight years later, Virginia Ducci (Jennifer O'Neill) is married with the wealthy Francesco Ducci (Gianni Garko). Out of the blue, Virginia has a vision of a walled dead woman and when he goes to his house in Italy, she sees the wall of her vision. She opens a hole in the wall and finds a skeleton inside. When her husband returns from London, he is arrested and becomes the prime-suspect since the woman was his lover. Virginia discusses the subject with her psychiatrist and friend Luca Fattori (Marc Porel). They find differences between her vision and the location where the skeleton was found and Luca suspects that she might have had a premonition. Virginia decides to investigate the case to find evidences to prove the innocence of Francesco and she suspects that a man called Emilio Rospini (Gabriele Ferzetti) is the killer. When Francesco is released from jail, she becomes obsessed to find the truth and does not stop to snoop around. What will happen to her?"Sette note in nero", a.k.a "The Psychic", is an entertaining but flawed and full of clichés giallo. It is irritating to see the cliché of a woman hiding from a serial-killer and stumble upon something to make noise. Or the alarm in the watch in the exact moment that the killer is leaving. Or the woman seeking out a dangerous criminal without any weapon or plan B. the cinematography and the locations are beautiful and the open conclusion is another plus in this film. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Premonição" ("Premonition")

Wizard-8 I see from the other user comments here that this movie is highly regarded by both fans of Lucio Fulci and fans of the giallo genre. But for some reason, this one didn't do much for me, which is a surprise since I usually like giallo movies, and I had previously enjoyed Fulci's giallo movie "Don't Torture a Duckling". The first ten to fifteen minutes of the this movie aren't too bad, despite Fulci's blatantly recreating in the opening a shocking visual he used previously in "Don't Torture a Duckling". But after this fairly solid opening, things soon fall apart. The lack of gore and blood didn't bother me. What went wrong was that the movie quickly becomes a plodding and slow mystery, with way too much talk and investigation, and not enough creepiness or suspense. I will admit that the ending of the movie does provide a neat twist, one that *almost* makes it worth sitting through the drab middle section. But not quite. Not the worst giallo movie, or the worst Fucli movie, but I was all the same somewhat disappointed.

Michael_Elliott Seven Notes in Black (1977) ** (out of 4) Italian giallo about a woman (Jennifer O'Neill) who sees a vision of a woman dying. Soon she moves into her fiances house and realizes it to be the house in her dreams so she breaks down a wall and discovers a skeleton of a woman. Her fiancé is thrown in jail but she sets out to prove he isn't the killer. Here's another film that I had heard plenty of good things about but it didn't work for me. I was really letdown by the story, which was just too simple and boring to be entertaining. Most giallos from this era are full of twists and turns but that's not the case here as Fulci seems to just be trying to tell a straight story. Another problem with the film is the lead O'Neill who comes off very stiff and not once did I buy her in the role. Fulci's direction is pretty good throughout and he handles the material quite well but one wishes the story had been stronger. There are several good moments in the film including O'Neill's visions at the start of the film, which are handled very well. Another big plus is the music score by Franco Bixio, Fabio Frizzi and Vince Tempera. Then, there's the ending where things really start to come to life. I won't spoil anything but the twist that's added here makes up for all that came before it and Fulci really manages to make some nice suspense in the closing minutes. Originally released in America as The Psychic. Original title: Sette note in nero.

Schwenkstar I must confess: I do not like the cinema of Lucio Fulci. 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. The main character (Jennifer O'Neal) sees a barrage of images in the opening of the film, like pieces of a puzzle, and as the film progresses we see the pieces beginning to come into place and form a whole picture. All of this creates a very engrossing experience as we get en-wrapped within he mystery.That is not to say the film is totally devoid of visceral thrills. The suspense sequences are genuinely suspenseful, with the chase scene in the run-down church being almost unbearable in its potent tension. 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. Also, the music by Bixio, Frizzi, and Tempera is hypnotic, creating a very much palpable atmosphere of dread and ominous foreboding.However, I don't mean to sound like this is a masterpiece of Italian cinema - it's not. I am merely so shocked at how good this film is considering its film-making pedigree. 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.