Virginia Ducci (Jennifer O'Neill) is a woman with a gift; a gift that's more of curse. Having "seen" the death of her mother as a child, Virginia has since been plagued by visions of things to come. Returning to her husband's native Italy, she takes it upon herself to start some renovation work on her spouse's disused country home, while he's away in London. Upon entering a room of the house, she is instantly reminded of a terrifying vision she had had before leaving England; a dark glimpse into the fate of a poor woman who was attacked, left for dead and bricked-up in a wall cavity. Trusting her intuition, she smashes a whole in the wall where she suspects the girl may have been buried and lo and behold, finds a skeleton. After calling the police, she soon realises her motive for finding the body is completely unbelievable, and the investigating officer isn't interested in what he considers to be a mumbo jumbo.
After examining the body and determining the time of death, it's not long before the police have identified the victim as a young woman who had been romantically-linked to Virginia's husband, Francesco. With little else to go on, the police arrest Francesco. Alone, plagued with recurring visions of the murder and desperate to prove her husband's innocence, Virginia decides to pursue her own investigation. Are her other-worldly instincts reliable? Can she trust anyone? The only thing that is certain is that more blood will have flowed before the killer's identity is revealed...
So begins Lucio Fulci's THE PSYCHIC (aka SETTE NOTTE IN NERO, SEVEN NOTES IN BLACK), an excellent addition to the director's rather limited giallo output, though to categorise the film as a giallo would probably be doing it a chronic disservice. The film is a giallo quintessentially, but the supernatural overtone and labyrinthine plot would suggest that THE PSYCHIC is a lot closer to Nicolas Roeg's classic DON'T LOOK NOW, rather than Fulci's own A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN and DON'T TORTURE A DUCKING. While THE PSYCHIC could never be held in the same esteem as the Roeg film, it's still an exemplary piece of filmmaking and definitely in the top tier of Italian genre films of the seventies.
I first saw THE PSYCHIC some years ago, and wasn't massive struck by it, in all honesty. However, watching the film for a second time, I was quite taken aback by how well-crafted the film was and just how well it works upon repeated viewing. Obviously, THE PSYCHIC was afforded a fairly descent budget—probably one of the biggest that Fulci had been given—secondly, the script, which was originated by Fulci and Roberto Gianviti before it was given to Italian exploitation stalwart Dardano Sacchetti, is a cut above the usual genre fair, with plenty of thought paid to the film's rational twists. Acting is fairly decent on the whole too and frequent Fulci-collaborator Sergio Salvati delivers some luscious cinematography. All these ingredients plus a truly memorable score by Franco Bixio, Fabio Frizzi and Vince Tempera (including the unforgettable melody later used in KILL BILL VOL.1) add up an excellent whole and easily one of Fulci's five best.
Severin's recently-released DVD presents the film in anamorphic widescreen, framed at 1:85:1. The transfer is excellent and serves Salvati's compositions well. The soundtrack is presented in 2.0 mono and although a little on the quiet side, is functional and as expected for a film of this age. The Severin disc also features a decent making of, featuring interviews with the likes of Sacchetti, among others. The package is rounded out with the original US theatrical trailer. Be warned, if you've not seen the film, there's a spectacularly revealing spoiler in the voice over.
All in all, this is another winner from Severin, and while the film itself doesn't reaching the dizzying heights or subversive nature of Fulci's earlier forays in the Italian thriller, both film and DVD transfer should be a most welcome addition to any EuroCult fan's collection.
(Paul Alaoui)
