Hector I
Dario Argento, the master of the Giallo, had a life before Suspiria, his animal trilogy: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Cat with Nine Tails, Four Gray Velvet Flies. It's the second that interests me today. The music is reminiscent of Once Upon a Time in the West, as Argento was one of the screenwriters and Ennio Morricone did the music.
This is a film noir set in 70s Italy, and the mix of ancient settings with the modern architecture of 70s buildings is quite fascinating, with the decor of the period forming a rather pleasing cocktail to the eye. The tones are orange and brown, not at all pastel. The space (thanks to Le Corbusiers' concrete and load-bearing pylons) and light of this era's architecture are fascinating and a little frightening. It's sidereal, empty and icy. When the flashy plastic of 70s objects mixes with old stone and large volumes, it creates something very strong. I couldn't find it in Italian, which is a shame.
The film follows the story of a murder in a genetics laboratory. It's the most conventional of the three, but also the most successful (along with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage). The first character in the trio of investigators is a journalist (whose character may well inspire Sydney Pollack to play Robert Redford in 1975's Three Days of the Condor). A blind man and his granddaughter are a rather interesting choice, especially the blind man, cheerful and sometimes disturbing.
Come to think of it, we're really in a paranoid thriller typical of the period, but with “Argento-esque” elements (not to say argentique, in relation to the photography present in the film) such as the supernatural, eroticization, an uneasy feeling that takes hold. But it's all smoother, more Anglo-Saxon.
A very, very good discovery nonetheless!
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
03/07/25
Full Review
Ben D
*We discuss this movie on Ep. 147 of TRM* You would think that given the title and Giallo subgenre, BDSM would be a focus of the plot, but the actual reference to the multi-headed whip concerns the nine (or so) leads the “investigators” take. In the podcast ep linked above, I detail some of my biggest gripes with the Giallo subgenre, many of which are featured here. Carlo (James Franciscus) is a reporter who entangles himself in a string of murders and despite being targeted by the anonymous killer, continues with his investigation. Mind you, he is NOT a detective. This is a common feature of Giallo movies — an amateur turns detective — which for the life of me I cannot understand. If a character has stakes in stopping the killer — revenge, extortion, etc. — I get it, but that has not been the case in what I’ve seen. Sometimes, the killer basically tells the protagonist to “just leave/stop chasing me” and the killer will leave him alone. And yet, the protagonist cannot let it go merely out of pure interest. Crazy and stupid. Furthermore, The Cat o’Nine Tails has some truly awful dialogue and scene staging. The fact that all actors speak their own languages and then are dubbed into English — yes, even English-speaking actors — is annoying enough, but to have that dialogue be stilted just makes some of it unbearable. Lastly, if the several false leads aren’t irritating enough, this movie commits another “cinema sin” I have no tolerance for, which is a character acting creepy and weird for no reason. Here, this comes when Franco (Karl Malden) is wielding a bloodstained cane-sword and is moving about the crypt without saying anything (he’s blind btw), making Carlo (and the audience) question whether it is in fact he who is the killer! Alas, he is not, and if he merely just said “Carlo, are you there?” the tension would be nullified. I understand tension is key for a horror/thriller, but when it’s confected it only feels cheap and lazy. The final death to this movie also stinks. It doesn’t even seem like something that would kill a man. This movie is bad. I suppose there is a BDSM aspect about it, and that’s the “blue balls” you’ll get from every “red herring”. Don’t waste your time.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/30/25
Full Review
Landen R
Though not as good as Dario Argento's first movie and nowhere near as compelling, "Il gatto a nove code" (1971) is still an entertaining movie experience. But what holds this film back from being just as good as "L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo" (1970) is its lack of cohesion between the killer's motive and the plot as a whole; the movie spends more time trying to come up with set pieces (which are easily the highlights of the film) rather than creating a comprehensive storyline that connects the two, while also dragging its feet whenever one of the characters discovers something new so it can reach its 112-minute runtime.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/10/24
Full Review
CodyZamboni
Watchable thriller with empathetic characters tied to a wacky, nonsensical plot. Lots of amatuerish POV sequences that ruin any kind of suspense, These demerits are compensated by nice detective work by James Franciscus and Karl Malden. and some startling brutal violence involving a train and elevator shaft.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
11/14/23
Full Review
Cookie M
Never watched, accidentally hit
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
10/17/23
Full Review
Jonathan O
Dario Argento did really a marvelous giallo thriller with great chilling score by mastero Ennio Morricone.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
05/10/23
Full Review
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