 Thanks for checking out this movie review video So this is for the 1971 film the cat o nine tails and this is the second Film written and directed by Dario Argento. Actually, I think he yeah, he had a partial credit Writing credit. He worked with some other folks But this was the second film by Argento his first one being the bird with the crystal plumage So this one the cat of nine tails is the second installment in what is called the animal trilogy and the third one being four Flies on gray velvet, which I have not seen yet But if you are an Argento fan and you want more reviews of Argento actually created a playlist on my channel That's all my Argento reviews. I actually have quite a bit. I think this is like my sixth or seventh Argento review or something like that So check that out Anyway written and directed by Dario Argento, like I said, who's done other things like Suspiria tenebrae phenomena deep red Which at the moment? Well Suspiria is an amazing film, but other than that my favorite film at the moment is deep red So maybe put some comments down there. What are your favorite Argento films and why let's talk about that Like I said, this was a second film after the bird with the crystal plumage and it's the middle film in the animal trilogy, which Doesn't really have that much to do with animals Just like the titles really do I mean the the bird with the crystal plumage has you know has to do with an animal I don't know about four flies on gray velvet, but this one really doesn't have anything to do with animals I don't even think well, there are a few animals that appear in it in the genetics lab, but that's about it Also written by Dardano Siketti, you might know that if you watch my reviews, you might know that name He worked with Luchio Fulci. He's done films such as a Bay of Blood Zombie City of the Living Dead the Beyond the House by the Cemetery and the New York Ripper Also, I have a a playlist on my channel for all the Fulci films. I've done which is like Five at this point. So including the three that I named Actually the four that I named zombie city of the living dead the beyond in the house by the cemetery I have reviews for all those to check that out Anyway, this is this I already talked about that. Sorry Argento cites this film as his least favorite of all the films. He's done which That's weird to me because I thought that inferno is worse than this like I enjoyed this film I thought it was a good film Isn't my favorite Argento film by no means and especially not because especially because this was only his second film This is before he really got into doing even better visuals and partially meaning When you start really experimenting with colors with this lighting He becomes very well known for that much later on and I love that about him with this the way He does lighting lighting is used very well in this film, but it's not like different colors of lighting used in interesting ways It's just lighting done well for film so Yeah, but I like this film. I thought it was good. So the fact that he was like this is my least favorite film I was like, okay phenomena isn't because I feel like this is kind of better than phenomena It's better than inferno It's better than from what I hear mother of tears. I've heard that films not that good Sorry still getting over some sticks in your lungs So production was actually set up around the first 40 pages of the script which Argento and Siketi worked on together Now because it was set up around the first 40 pages They had split it in half and Argento did like the first half and Siketi did the second half So since the whole production was set up off the first 40 pages, which were all written by Argento He sought to get the sole writing credit on it for that reason, which actually caused a lot of problems between he and Siketi I don't know if they ever got that worked out either because because of that if they with they with who Sorry reset if it was one person getting the credit or I think it was kind of like percentage wise So basically with him saying he should get the whole writing credit That was going to affect how much money Siketi was actually gonna get paid for what he wrote which You know, obviously when it affects people's money, they get kind of mad So that created a big issue between the two of those those two guys So getting in the actual film stuff excuse me as Usual the point of view of the killer shots those ones where you're seeing it from the point of view of the killer It's going around doing things Dodging people in this film kind of lurking in the shadows. Those are super super effective as usual I think they do a great job of conveying kind of like malice from the person and just like an overall Tension in the film, which I really like also the use of this in early US slashers is what I kind of feel like Is is what connects giallo and and slasher films in the United States I know a lot of people say that you know the slasher was heavily influenced by giallo now Maybe that is true and I would point to probably you know people seeing a lot of use of the the killer POV in films like black Christmas and Halloween and stuff like that and I feel like maybe that's kind of why people have made that connection saying Oh, it's very much giallo because giallo used that kind of killer POV quite a bit And it's very effective. It's very very effective and it is so in this film as well The close-up shots of eyeballs happen quite a bit in this film and for people who know or have seen enough Argento, he likes to focus in on eyeballs. I don't know if that's a whole like window into the soul type thing But I don't know but there's so many like flashes the eyeballs in this which I feel like it's very Unnecessary in this film. It didn't really have too much of a of a use. I mean, I'm sure there's some sort of Meaning that he was trying to get into it and and obviously The one of the main characters in it is a blind guy Arno So I'm sure it had a little bit to do with that and I think it has to do with kind of Moments of like him seeing things like getting hints of like this is going on This is you know, like feeling things and then there's a little bit of an illusion to the fact that maybe he's He has Premonitions to a degree like he has an extra sense even though he doesn't have Sight to these a little ESP ish So I don't know if it has anything to do with that But lots of close-up shots of eyeballs, which Argento likes to do and as usual Argento chooses to shoot in buildings that look sleek Modern and a bit lavish in my opinion. He's a master of finding good shooting locations This is one of the great things about Dario Argento films for me personally is the locations always look great There's always a lot to look at because the architecture of the buildings that he chooses are usually very interesting The rooms are interestingly laid out and there's a lot of attention to detail with the sets There's a lot of interesting things put in interesting places and the layouts are always cool So kind of like with why I really like Studio Ghibli films specifically Hayao Miyazaki films is he draws and his animated movies to have a lot going on in the background So even if you're not Focusing the entire time on you know the characters interacting you you can just let your eyes wander and just kind of like look around And see very beautiful aesthetics And I feel like that's what Argento does a lot Especially later on with the films and he makes with you know using those different colors of lighting like I'm like I was talking about But the locations are the key thing and the way they they do up their sets Just fun to look at great stuff. It's like you're you're going through an exploration with your eyes And I love I love his aesthetic. I love visually what Argento does love it You could see the push under the train coming a mile away in this film by the way where Dr. Calabrese the the the main genetics guy Gets killed because he's basically trying to blackmail Crap, what was his name in the end the bad guy in the end? I forget his name like he was barely introduced and I don't even think I put his name down to be honest But if I did it'll be at the end But yeah, the main guy who had discovered like those extra like the the layout of people's DNA would indicate if they're more violent criminal so Yeah, so when he got pushed like the way they set that shot up especially with the killer POV He kept like looking this way looking back at the train looking at the guy looking at the train I felt like it went on a little bit too long to the point where People got it well ahead of time that like oh, he's gonna shove them in front of the train So I feel like maybe they should have cut that back a little bit more to make it a little bit more of a surprise You know actually cut it way down and then just make it more of a sudden thing of him getting shoved Plus when he actually gets shoved like the camera focusing on that guy he did a terrible job acting it out He's like oh Like it looked awful. Just go back and watch that and it's it's actually pretty laughable how bad that looked so, you know What's the deal with all the flute music in giallo films? I've kind of noticed and maybe it's just because I just watched This film a few days after I watched full cheese Don't torture a duckling and that had a bunch of flute music in it And then all of a sudden this has flute music in it and then I started thinking and I was like There are a bunch of giallo films that have like flute music. I don't know if it's just Was a trend in giallo music or it was an Italian thing or what but it's just weird It's not that it's bad Sometimes it actually is kind of mismatched with the flute and what's going on because it's more of a delicate instrument But it doesn't sound bad necessarily. It's just Why so much flute like I don't know it just occurred to me. It's weird So the the flashbacks that Arno the blind guy gets make you think that either either he has visions Or he's actually the killer and isn't actually blind. So that was an early theory I kind of had while I was watching which you know when I'm watching giallo films I really like to you know kind of let scenarios play out in my head as I'm watching it and kind of Project the head and guess and that's one of the things I really like about giallo films Is that it keeps you thinking it keeps the gears in your head just turning with what if what if what if And that's why it's so great when they lay out giallo like they did in this one Where they make people look guilty in different ways at different times and then that gets you on a separate path of okay So if this person's guilty, how are they doing this? What's their motive all that type of stuff? So I just really like that And it made me start thinking that because of those like flashes that Arno was getting it was like is he actually blind and this is kind of like a Extra sense that he has or is it a situation where he he's actually the killer and he's faking being blind That was one of my early theories and it ended up not being that obviously Although there were a few times where it looked like maybe that was the case But no, I think he had kind of like an ESP type deal, which is cool Is it appropriate to bring a child along for a murder investigation the Excuse me the girl. I think her name was like Lori. It was a Lori Sorry, I can't remember it was a Lori. I don't know But how Arno was like taking her along when he started this investigation I mean he did kind of right the wrong in the sense of like getting her away But he went through a bunch of it knowing that it was a murder investigation with her right there And I was kind of like just seems a little wrong I like how you they give you pieces of suspicious conversations early on that's a really cool thing it makes you think many people could be involved and the people who you end up hearing those bits of conversation about it just gets you going of like who are they doing something nefarious or They involve with this and then they end up dead and I like that It's well done Everyone is dressed so nicely in this actually makes me think that most Argento films have people quite nicely dressed I don't know if that's just kind of a Argento aesthetic that that's kind of what he likes or if it was more of a sign of the times mainly because this was in the early 70s and I don't know he shot most of his stuff in 70s 80s and a little bit of tuning a Little into the 90s So maybe it was just kind of like a time period thing that it was more common that they were gonna be more dressed up But I just noticed that Argento especially in this film like everyone's nicely dressed, which looks good That's another added thing about the awesome aesthetic to the film But just some I notice I Like the reveal of the titles meaning in this film how it's basically the guy says It's like a cat with nine tails and then are no are no Journalist Giordani and then Arno's like no It's like a cat a nine tails like the the torture weapon that has you know The leather whips coming off and at the end it's a hook And if only we could get one of those hooks to grab in and be our main lead I thought that was kind of cool. So It was good It's a given that as soon as someone says they know who did it They're gonna die. That is what happens in this film Someone verbally says I know who did it or I have a good idea and of course of course They don't actually say it at that time. It's always I know who it is or I have an idea who it is And I'll tell you later, but no they won't tell you later because They get killed they they're dead But I guess, you know You have to kind of do it that way because you can't just have one murder in a giallo film You have to have a series of murders to make it a good giallo film and keep people interested and keep throwing more clues out That's another thing. So I know why they do it, but just seems kind of funny Um as soon as the lady came Came over so this what this ended up being the daughter. I forget her name Apologies once again The daughter I forget her name in this. I don't know that she was very attractive in my opinion As soon as she came over to see Giardani, I had a feeling she would be killed by the poison milk So I first thought she'd be killed by this poison milk But then when she said no to the milk, then it made me think that she was the one who poisoned the milk So that's what's great about giallo. It puts you in the mindset of guessing constantly It's something I kind of talked about already during this review but and then this that comes back later when Giardani says to her oh, I noticed you were holding that milk for quite a while You really like waited for me to slap it out of your hand Which going to the whole point of when he slaps it out of her hand If you notice there they waited just a little bit too long to make the noise of the shattering glass When the glass hits something and it's just it's off. It's just a little bit off. So check that point out Um And then what was with the insult competition with Gigi the loser like is that a thing do people actually do like insult competitions? Because the way it looked is he won because he was able to say The largest number of insults one after another Then the other person and I was just like so random and is that a thing was that a thing? I don't know if you know put a comment down there because I really want to know about this insult competition Which leads me to gigi the loser Um, I know it's kind of dumb because he was like a small character But gigi the loser was my favorite character in this. He was so interesting. He was so quirky He was a fun guy. He was Trying to have a lot of fun in a very serious situation and I just kind of like that I like the levity that he brought and he was just an interesting dude liked him Um, so speaking of that like when um When gia, donnie and gigi the loser break into the house and they find the safe and Gigi the loser cracks into the safe and they get that diary out when they're kind of leafing through that And reading it. I really really like those kind of like manic Scriblings in there, uh, and how like he just keeps turning in the page and he's reading them aloud And it's just like these quick glimpses into kind of like a messed up mind And it's a very effective way to kind of Suck people into That person's mind and and make it feel like there's more of a danger there than you even thought before and like This is disturbing and demented and it's yeah, it's good. It creates a good amount of unease when it when it's happening Um Does gier donnie feel safe even though his lookout is blind when he's breaking into the coffin First of all, that's a crazy thing that they were like Break into like a mausoleum break into a coffin And then while the guy's breaking into the coffin the the lookout is a blind dude at night Although r-no handles himself just fine because he's got that awesome cane that has a sword at the end that pops out and actually for a while I thought it was interesting that for a while they kind of made it seem like maybe r-no Was the bad guy was the main killer because when he I guess Overpowers the the guy and then comes back in and he still got like the sword or the little daggers sticking out And there's blood on it and he's like walking around I kind of I like that because I was very if he I was like, oh, no is r-no the killer. Is he I just like it Uh, we're when gier donnie's getting kicked around on the rooftop at the end you're like Come on show the killer's face already Yeah, he keeps getting like kicked around by the killer and there's so many opportunities and there's so many like pans over where like you almost see him and it's just like from here down And it's like a quick movement this way or that way and it just gives us so much anticipation Where you're just like come on show who it is show who it is already And I love those types of moments. So that was very effective The killer trying to grab the elevator wires while he was falling down the shaft at the end Very effective scene it was kind of gross You get the idea that he's going through a lot of pain Especially as you see him gripping as it's coming down and there's like they had smoke coming off it That must have really hurt So, um, yeah, I mean I just thought it was good and I think that's a good way to end the film of just like boom He's dead and he went through a lot of pain before he died. He just got his Especially since he you know was messing with the kid um So the researcher having the killer gene was okay That was a fine idea But just because he had the gene didn't mean he would kill or that people wouldn't believe in his research In fact, it might actually give him more credibility. So I actually thought the idea of Making him have the gene was fine. It's just The idea of his motivation for killing dr. Calabrese Just didn't fully add up because he was just like, oh, well, he knew that I had the gene And this was my research and I feel like I didn't want people to know because then I wouldn't have any credibility with it and it's like That doesn't make any sense That doesn't make any sense if anything if you're identifying a terrible gene and then telling people I have that terrible gene. This is how I know It's like the whole thing like the just for hair like the the just for just for men hair thing I know kind of funny that I bring that up. Um, we're just like, I'm just not the I'm not just the president I'm a client. He could do that whole thing. He's like, I didn't just discover this gene. I have it I'm potentially a homicidal maniac, you know, like it would give his research potentially more credit So I just felt like that aspect just didn't really work. It just it didn't So that was a little corny to me, but you know, good idea But it just I don't know. It just doesn't work when you think about it Uh, the music was goodness throughout. I thought it was very well matched for the moments that were going on in it Great work. It's usually like that for Argento films The film was too early for Argento's use of colored lights. Yeah, like I said, but the light was well done but it was actually It was actually not just well done There were a few moments in it where they set up some lighting that made the shots look particularly interesting in my opinion. So very good on that Argento films always just look so good because of how the directing shot composition Character attire and nice architectural surroundings come together Like I was saying much earlier in this review I just love the aesthetics what he puts together in his scenes and how he shoots things. They look awesome So that leads me to doing the overall rating for this. So out of five stars with half stars in play I'm gonna go ahead and give this a four star rating. I think it's a good film I'm I'm kind of disheartened by the fact that Argento thinks that this is one of his least favorite Now, I guess that could have been because like, I don't know Whatever experience he had with the actual production of it or something like maybe he actually likes the movie, but You know, I don't know So giving it a four stars Like I said, I have that playlist for all the other Argento ones I've done This will be going in there as well. So check that out Please do me a quick favor hit that subscribe button And then hit the notification bell so you know when I'm putting stuff up It can help me out a lot That's your way to motivate me and pay me back if you like anything because I'm not making money doing this So give me some encouragement if you've already subscribed hit that like button And yeah, and then let's talk in the comments about this film and other Argento and just horror in general But thanks everyone for checking this out and until next time keep it brutal