Single Movie Single Malt: The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972) + Glenlossie 33 year old 1984 Signatory, cask 2533

Gonna keep the Mathilda Malts and movie reviews going, though today's film is truly the wrong movie to be reviewing in this case, with the murderous siblings and all, but here it goes anyway.

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972)

pic source

Because Emilio Miraglia's final film starred both Barbara Bouchet and Sybil Danning, I had to see it strictly for scientific purposes. In The Red Queen, as in many giallo films, psychiatry is shown in a negative light, but paranormal curses? Yeah, they're legit. For instance, two daughters kill each other every one hundred years in the Wildenbrück family. After one murders the other, the dead girl returns to the world of the living to kill seven randos before ending her sister's life. And of course, in 1972, it's that time again!

The plot runs on the guilt Bouchet's character feels for accidentally killing her sister. And then other people start dying. It's all very old school Christian-ish. Divorce/cheating = death. Drugs = death. Naked = death. Somehow, four of the women in the story have either slept with or want to sleep with the charmless leading man (courtesy of Ugo Pagliai). There's body count and then there's body count. And when the murders reach seven, the third act goes super twisty until the reveal answers whether the killer is from this world or the next one.

Most of the second act's questions are answered in the third; such as, "Death leaves voicemails?" and "Death drives a VW Bug?". So the script is pretty reliable for a giallo, except for the fact that everyone is so humorless throughout. Yes, people are being murdered, so knock knock jokes would be tacky. But there's no tonal depth, and few facial expressions are utilized. Sybil Danning appears to be the only one having a good time because her spicy character has spicy character. Though Bouchet plays the lead, she offers the same emotional key in nearly every scene, as does Pagliai in character.

The filmmaking is rather flat as well, except when a dream sequence late in the film offers a burst of energetic editing, framing, and in-camera effects. When the sleeper awakens we're back to the monotone style. Also, the main baddie reveals everything at the end for absolutely no reason, which essentially means the main characters couldn't figure out anything and were passive from beginning to end. Occasionally the music cues clash with the visuals, like when the soundtrack offers upbeat tunes during a murder and the final bleak ending.

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times ends up being a middling giallo. Nothing weird, clever, or unique sets it apart, but the twist isn't terrible, the tale is never boring, the action moves, and there are a lot of purdy people onscreen. A viewer could do better or worse.

Verdict - Middle of the road, being dragged by a car

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Time for a drink.

Glenlossie, Mannochmore's sibling, offers a consistently decent Speyside malt. I'm not entirely sure what defines its "Distillery Character", but I really enjoyed the last 'Lossie I reviewed three years ago, a 24 year old single cask from Cadenhead. Today I'm trying another indie-bottler's single cask, a 33-year-old from Signatory. Only ten '84 Glenlossies have been bottled to date, and Symington's company is responsible for four of them. This one's the oldest.

Distillery: Glenlossie
Ownership: Diageo
Independent Bottler: Signatory

Range: 30th Anniversary

Age: 33 years (4 October 1984 - 27 July 2018)

Maturation: refill sherry butt
Cask #: 2533
Outturn: 530 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 56.7%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

The nose's ancient oak frames a host of fruits, like dried apricots, cherry juice, tinned peaches, honeydew, and fermenting watermelon rind. After ~45 minutes in the glass, the whisky releases a vivid baklava note. Like real baklava, with rosewater, honey syrup, and pistachios. The palate goes a different direction with mushroom-like umami, cucumber skins, and a whiff of wood smoke. With time it picks up a sharp, tangy Japanese citrus note. It finishes with raw almonds, smoked sea salt, umami, and a hint of the citrus.

DILUTED to ~50%abv, or ¾ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

The dusty old oak leans a little heavier in the nose, but now fresh apricots roll in, followed by honeydew, walnuts, maple, incense, and charred beef. Friendly old-fashioned sherry cask notes appear in the palate. It's salty, savory, and nutty, with a hint of leather. The smoke note remains, merging well with walnuts, dried apricots, and a touch of cracked black peppercorns. It finishes with salt and pepper, tangy citrus and a little bit of sweet stone fruit.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Here's my new favorite Glenlossie. I wonder how far back this refill sherry butt goes, 1960s? 1950s? It certainly isn't a dead cask, thriving in the nose while holding back its tannins in the palate. Though I haven't seen anyone else mention the smoky note, it's certainly present, adding a lovely little angle to the whisky's flavor. Maybe it's from the cask's previous passenger? Your guess is as good as, though probably better than, mine. But I'm also going to guess that Signatory's warehouses hold many (or most) of Scotland's remaining honey casks.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - $650 to $800

Rating - 90