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| The American poster for Dario Argento's The Cat O'Nine Tails pitched the film against Alfred Hitchcock's hit Psycho (1960), a very different film |
Cat O'Nine Tails is Italian master director Dario Argento's (Phenomena (1985)) second film, and the second in his Animals trilogy that started with The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970) and ended with Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971).
It is not as thrillingly fresh and perfectly paced or achieved as Bird, but it is still a solid giallo crime puzzle thriller.
It concerns a string of murders occurring around a genetics research company in Rome, who have found the gene for a violent disposition. A well-informed reporter pairs up with a blind man, who likes to solve puzzles, to try to get to the bottom of the affair, but the killer is not so keen for their attention.
James Franciscus (Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)) and Karl Malden (A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) are the two American stars: Franciscus is charismatic and intriguing as the reporter, and Malden gives his character a good amount of suspiciousness, and plays blind to an ace.
Karl Malden and James Franciscus try to solve the puzzle
The 'Nine Tails' refers not to a whip or a real cat, but to the puzzle, which has 9 suspects. As in any good giallo, several characters seem suspicious and have motives for being the killer, and it is fun to try to guess who the killer is, but basically not having a clue.
The film is peppered with some pretty horrific murder scenes, (a trademark of Argento's), and revels much more in its violence and death than Psycho (1960), which it was compared to in its marketing campaign, (see poster above).
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| This Italian poster for the film indicates the brutal murder scenes of The Cat O'Nine Tails |
The subjectively shot murder scenes also incorporate extreme close-ups of the killer's retina, which is an uncanny motif that also deftly lends extra suspicion to at least two characters in the film.
Ennio Morricone (In the Line of Fire (1993)) has composed a nerve-wrecking score. One of the compositions, Paranoia Prima, was re-used by Quentin Tarantino in his excellent Grindhouse homage Death Proof (2007)), and you can see and hear why, when you watch Tails.
Somewhat too late into the film, humor is introduced, - and it is appreciated, for the atmosphere, characters, and Morricone's score are all anxiety-provoking almost to a point of feeling oppressive.
One of the best scenes in the films is morbidly humoristic and takes place in a barber's salon, (Hitchcock would almost certainly have loved this scene, if he saw the film.) There are other good scenes in a gay club, in a grave yard at night (of course) and by a train station:
Click to enlarge and fully appreciate the details of this stunning shot in The Cat O'Nine Tails
The details:
The eeriness of Tails comes partly from its visuals, and partly from its plot; everyone's a potential bestial killer; and not only that, but it's in that person's blood, in his - or her's - DNA, a seemingly inevitable end destination for the dangerous sinner. Of terrible, barbaric murders.
The identity of the killer will not be revealed here, only that the film ends with Argento's keenness for the abrupt and cinematically impressive in SPOILER a series of awesome elevator shaft shots.
Tails is a solid thriller, but not carried out with as much care or enthusiasm as Bird, one detects.
It is one of Argento's least favorite of his own films, which is because he tried to mix Western and Italian ways in the same movie and failed with the Western stuff, he has said. But The Cat O'Nine Tails is still a good Argento-film, and comfortably seated among his good films.
Related reviews:
Documentary about Dario Argento: An Eye for Horror (2002) - Bio. doc. of Dario Argento
Dario Argento: The Bird With the Crystal Plumage/L'uccello Dalle Piume di Cristallo (1970) - The great debut giallo of Dario Argento
James Franciscus: Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) - Decent follow-up to the SF milestone
Ennio Morricone: A Fistful of Dynamite/Duck You Sucker/Giù la Testa (1971) or, Sergio Leone's Cinematic Cornucopia
The Battle of Algiers/La Battaglia di Algeri (1966) - Revolutionary guerilla revolt as it was
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) or, Killer in a Poncho
Watch the great, psychedelic original US trailer for the film here
Budget: 1 mil. $
Box office: Uncertain
= Uncertain
How do you like The Cat O'Nine Tales and Argento's other films?
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