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Seven Deaths In The Cat's Eye
AKA La Morte Negli Occhi Del Gatto
Directed By Antonio Margheriti
Released: 1973
Starring: Jane Birkin, Hiram Keller, Françoise Christophe, and Venantino
Venantini
Running Time: 95 minutes
DVD Released By Blue Underground, 2005
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Corringa (played by Jane Birkin) returns to her
Scotland home and almost immediately, horrible murders take place. One of
the victims is Corringa’s own mother (Dana Ghia) who immediately begins to
haunt her dreams. Corringa’s cousin, Lord James (played by Hiram Keller),
who everyone thinks is mad, becomes chief suspect in the crimes. Corringa
and Lord James begin a passionate love affair as the killer continues to
slash away at the family tree.
Seven Deaths In The Cat's Eye
is quite a bizarre little beast. It’s a gothic horror tale and a typical
Giallo smashed together with surprisingly rewarding results. Director
Antonio Margheriti (Castle Of Blood)
really lets loose on this one. He makes up for the often muddled and clunky
script with an unquenchable enthusiasm. Oh yeah, there’s a big fake ape
(which has very little to do with the plot) in the movie which kept me from
watching it for years. Other than the monkey, my biggest criticism is of the
film’s moderate pacing. While rich in texture, there is still quite a bit of
time taken up by Corringa exploring the elaborate sets.
What sets this film apart is the stunning cinematography by Carlo Carlini (Street
Law,
The Bloodstained Butterfly).
The camera will distract the viewer with small details before swooping away
and then stopping on a dime just before it misses the action. Also beefing
up the visual element is the incredible location and lush set design. The
heavy gothic score by Riz Ortolani (Don't
Torture A Duckling) is mightily
impressive and perfectly captures the tone of the film. Well, except for
that jazzy theme that plays over the credits. I don’t really know what they
were going for with that one.
The cast is especially good here. The beautiful Jane Birkin makes for a
great leading lady and the chiseled Hiram Keller rocks as the dude with
attitude, Lord James. You’ve also got Anton Diffring of
The Iguana
With The Tongue Of Fire nearly giving the film some
class. There’s also the stunning Doris Kunstmann as Suzanne, the seductress.
No really, that’s her job. The prolific horror and cult character actor
Luciano Pigozzi (Blood And Black Lace)
is also on hand. And another familiar face is Dana Ghia (My
Dear Killer) who gets to take center stage in the
elaborate dream sequence.
Well, aside from the terrible ape and a storyline that definitely isn’t in a
hurry to unfold, this movie is all aces. Margheriti certainly knows how to
work the genre as he includes the proper amounts of gore and sex.
Seven Deaths In The Cat’s Eye
is an underrated gothic Giallo that Italian genre film fans (with a lot of
patience) will enjoy immensely.
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DVD Stuff:
Seven Deaths In The Cat’s Eye
is presented in anamorphic widescreen. Blue Underground is working with a
couple of different prints so there are some damaged and washed out scenes
but they are few and far between. Audio fairs quite well as it is easy to
understand the English dub. There are a few scenes in Italian with English
subtitles. For extras, there is an interview with screenwriter Giovanni
Simonelli, where he talks about Antonio Margheriti. He talks about the art
of “controlling” the director whose enthusiasm often had to be reigned in
before going off on tangents at the drop of a hat.
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Links:
Get this DVD from
Xploited Cinema.
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Quotes:
Corringa: “Too many books never did a woman any good.”
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