The Psychic (1979)

The greatest movie ever made..!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

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")

What a great film! I wasn't expecting it to be so good after reading all the bashing towards it, and it's probably his best film alongside The Beyond IMHO. It's not your typical Fulci film, though. It has hardly any gore (so if you liked Zombie or New York Ripper it's quite probable you won't like this one), yet Fulci manages to convey fear and suspense throughout, with a suffocating sense of dread that grows throughout out the film. The script is solid, and lacks the dreamlike feel of his other films, but it's that's obviously not the main thing here. The acting is nothing special, but that is to be expected. The music score is just amazing, and helps set up the creepy atmosphere. The middle part of the film drags on a bit, but the final payoff is brilliant and very Spoorloos-esquire. Overall, a fine giallo from Fulci and highly recommended, but keep in mind it's quite different from most Italian horror movies of the time.

Average (and surprisingly tame) Fulci giallo which means it's still quite bad by normal standards, but redeemed by its solid build-up and some nice touches such as a neat time twist on the issues of visions and clairvoyance.The genre's well-known weaknesses are in full gear: banal dialogue, wooden acting, illogical plot points. And the finale goes on much too long, while the denouement proves to be a rather lame or shall I say: limp affair.Fulci's ironic handling of giallo norms is amusing, though. Yellow clues wherever you look.3 out of 10 limping killers

Although director Lucio Fulci had excelled in the early '70s with such marvelous gialli as "Lizard in a Woman's Skin" and "Don't Torture a Duckling," his 1977 offering, "The Psychic," is not really a giallo at all. Indeed, to my surprise, it turned out to be more of an old-fashioned murder mystery, with decided overtones of the supernatural. In it, beautiful Jennifer O'Neill plays Virginia, a decorator (American, I take it) who is newly wed to a hunky Italian businessman. Gifted with transient powers of ESP (she had, as a child, seen her mother's free-fall suicide off the White Cliffs of Dover from hundreds of miles away), she is now being bothered by troubling visions again. But what do the mental images of a broken mirror, an old woman's bloody face, an ornate red room, a limping man, an excavated wall, and a blue ashtray have to do with her? With a cleverly executed plot, Fulci & Co. bring all their great talents together to create one fairly suspenseful stew...especially as Virginia slowly begins to realize that her visions may not necessarily be of events already transpired. "The Psychic" hardly qualifies as a giallo in that the body count is extremely low, the gore is mostly absent (that drippy face excepted!), and the murderous set pieces are kept at a minimum. Still, the film holds the viewer's attention, and even boasts several riveting sequences, such as the pursuit of Virginia by a sinister man (the always dependable Gabriele Ferzetti) through an abandoned palazzo (somewhat reminiscent of Florinda Bolkan's pursuit through an empty cathedral in "Lizard"), and the film's Poe-influenced, claustrophobic finale. The film's plot does hold together well, although a repeat viewing may be necessary to really appreciate all its complexities. While the gorehound fans of Fulci's later period may feel a bit disappointed by the film's restraint, those seeking a stylish, well-acted and genuinely eerie entertainment could certainly do a lot worse. The wet-blanket editors of the "Maltin Movie Guide" rate this movie a "Bomb," and even my beloved "Psychotronic Encyclopedia" calls it "dull," but I think they're being way too harsh here. See for yourself....