So last night I watched THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVESTRENGTHS : Great title, movie poster, and the plot synopsis on IMDb are what hooked me. cinema photography is well done and the music is absolutely perfect. It begins with young beautiful women being seduced to a castle where the main protagonist has them undress and put on thigh high black boots before whipping them.. unfortunately from this point the plot takes a wrong turn into Scooby-doo town.WEAKNESSES: I know it is standard for 99% of Italian movies for this time period but the dubbing even when done well is still lacking. Dubbing is a sad substitute for true dialog spoken during a scene. It was even standard procedure to dub the native Italian spoken during film production. lame. The plot was seriously lifted straight from a Scooby-Doo cartoon.No good kills. a Scissor stab, Snake bite, and rock to head = boring.The story ruined it for me. 3 Stars ***- one for the eye candy, one for the music, and one for the cinema photography

A wealthy English lord is suffering a mental breakdown following the death of his red-headed wife, Evelyn, whom he feared was cheating on him. He tours local bars and dives, scouring for lovely red-heads willing to come back to his decaying castle in the country, where he seduces them, then tortures and kills them.This is the first of two giallo films directed by Emilio Miraglia, and both revolve around a woman named "Evelyn" who has died. Is there something behind this? Probably, but who knows. Miraglia had a bit of a history in Italian film at this point, working his way up to director after assisting others, including Lucio Fulci. Miraglia only directed a total of six films of any genre, so no surprise if you are less than familiar with him.Troy Howarth actually says the film is not strict giallo, but calls this a hybrid of giallo and modern Gothic, which is a fair claim. It stars Anthony Steffen, the royal-blooded Italian Clint Eastwood, best known for "Django the Bastard" (if he is remembered at all). But the biggest name in this film is Erika Blanc (known for Bava's "Kill Baby Kill" among others). She may in many ways be here more for her looks than her acting, but her acting is nothing to sneeze at.Bruno Nicolai, second only to Ennio Morricone (and maybe Caludio Simonetti) supplies the soundtrack, though not all of it is fresh. We have, for example, a re-use of Nicolai's "Criminal Sex" for the early, memorable naked whipping scene. But when you already have a good tune, why use something else?On VHS and DVD, the film has been released by various labels over the years with questionable legitimacy to the rights and subpar, truncated presentations. Finally, thanks to Arrow Video, we get the ultimate release -- uncut, in both English and Italian, and loaded with extras. Of particular interest is the audio commentary from author Troy Howarth, an expert on this sort of film. Erika Blanc also has an interview.

At times incoherent, this Italian Gothic horror piece has a wealthy aristocrat (Steffen) suffering from a psychotic in-balance that causes him to lure pretty red-heads and lookalikes of his deceased wife Evelyn to his dilapidated castle, for S&M and more. His doctor (Rossi-Stuart) is concerned about his condition and recommends he find a new wife - which he does in Malfatti, but things quickly deteriorate between the newlyweds when "Evelyn" appears to rise from her crypt.Disjointed in parts with hokey special effects and poorly contrived plot set-ups, it's often described as "giallo", but I'd disagree with that definition being applied. Gothic horror perhaps, but the essence of giallo (everyday man witnesses an apparent crime, assumes amateur detective role, becomes the target of the killer) isn't present. The cast is reasonably proficient, although the dubbing is atrocious.Not as violent or sadistic as I'd read, the scene in which the pet foxes "dine-in" on one of the scheming relatives isn't nearly as brutal as reputed (it's also very difficult to discern what's happening by virtue of the poor lighting). Atmospheric at times, the suspense never holds you for very long before it's back to the awfully dubbed dialogue and somewhat puerile haunted castle effects (endless mist, storms, creaking boards and cobwebs). There's a twist ending which partially redeems the movie, but it's too little too late and leaves a gaping plot hole in its explanation that won't go unnoticed.

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