I enjoyed this film however I am bias because I am a big fan of Dario Argento's work.Although some reviews of this film may not put it in the same league as his later works, and despite the fact there is no chance I would state it was anywhere near my favorite work of his, it was still an enjoyable piece of film and a good murder mystery. Sure it does not have the same level of artistic camera work of later works, nor does it have any trademark black gloves or loads of gore, however it still stands up well for a film that is 44 years old.The story is good and revolves around a Medical Research team who's office is broken into and a blind man as well as a reporter who are trying to track down a killer and in the process becoming targets themselves. The characters are good and in the usual fashion of Argento he will keep you guessing right up to the end, and when you think you know who the killer is, you'll be wrong.If you like Argento's work, you should check it out.

After inadvertently discovering a clue to a local robbery, a blind crossword-puzzle organizer and a reporter team up to unravel the murderous trail leading from the crime and must stop the killer once they're both targeted in the spree.Frankly, this one was quite an enjoyable and thoroughly watchable thriller that does suffer from a few minor miscues. One of the better elements within this one is the fact that there's a rather intriguing mystery set-up in here that runs the gamut from a purely coincidental theft all the way to murder and the ensuing witnesses start to become killed off. Taken into account for the fact that the crime was witnessed by a blind man who only remembers the voices of the perpetrators is a clever twist on the usual giallo gimmick of the man not seeing it clearly enough to provide additional help to the case and must try to help solve crime after that indiscretion places him on the killers' hitlist, it gets to that point in a slightly different manner which is all part of the fun. That also comes in handy with several utterly thrilling moments that play off his blindness quite convincingly as a stalking scene in a library and a later one in his home when he knows someone is there with him when there shouldn't be is quite unnerving and the general assistance he needs to get around makes for a completely enjoyable piece to cap all this off on. Plus it's enjoyable enough on it's own with some exciting chases here that give this some rather nice action as the car chase through the city streets at top-speed is quite exciting, as well as the encounter in the museum at the end where the chase includes several intense brawls with the killer and the attempt to get the hostage back safely, and when concluded with a marvelous sequence in the crypt searching for a discarded clue that really makes this more enjoyable than it should be. That still doesn't take into account the few flaws here, the most impactful of which is the utterly lame rationale for the killer's rampage and logic behind his killing spree, done because of a genetic condition that rarely produces such results anyway and had no predisposition to do so until the discovery and the resulting murders to hide it that only further the connection to the condition. It's quite far-fetched and really doesn't do much of anything for the film, and the fact that this one does have such a lame premise behind it's killings does hurt this somewhat. Likewise, the fact that the body count is so low here that it never really has a lot of chances to wow with inventive kills or dynamic stalking scenes that are usually associated here, instead coming across far more bland and pedestrian as well as slowing the pacing down to investigations over slashing to keep this one going which overall lowers this one more than it really should.Rated Unrated/R: Violence, Language and children-in-jeopardy.

Il gatto a nove code (The Cat O' Nine Tails) is written and directed by Dario Argento. It stars Karl Malden, James Franciscus, Catherine Spaak, Horst Frank, Aldo Reggiani, Carlo Alighiero and Rada Rassimov. Music is by Ennio Morricone and cinematography by Erico Menczer.Blind puzzle solver Franco Arno (Malden) and newspaper man Carlo Giordani (Franciscus) team up to see if they can solve the mystery of the murders that are terrifying the city. With their own lives becoming increasingly in danger, and the lines of investigation splintered all over the place, the men are drawn to the mysterious Terzi Institute where geneticists are tampering with gene patterns…Argento doesn't like it and the fans are very much divided about the worth of it on the Argento curriculum vitae, yet The Cat O' Nine Tails is a delightfully entertaining oddity.The plot is labyrinthine with relish on top, spinning the viewers into the same convoluted investigative maze that Messrs Arno and Giordani find themselves in. In fact, it's near genius that it rarely makes sense under inspection, yet still there's a fascinating edge to the story, with its characterisations, sexual kinks and cruel murders, there's a power to the piece that rewards if you can just run with it, buy into Argento's Giallo singed world.With Malden turning in a great performance and Franciscus performing to a level nobody thought was in him, the lead characters really come to life. Add to that Morricone's creepy jazzy-garde fuelled score underlining the skew-whiff nature of the beast, and Menczer's photography tonally muted, tech credits are at one with the themes ticking away in the narrative, a narrative that has observation, ironically, on vision, sight and minds eye. While there's a couple of rug-pulls jostling for our attention just to keep things twisty.Then there is the director himself. The Cat O' Nine Tails finds him restrained compared to the excess of style over substance films that would dominate his oeuvre post release of The Cat. That's not to say there isn't style here, there's plenty as Argento dallies in POV, iris vision, and a nifty trick that gives the blind Arno "sight", further ensuring that the supposed handicapped character is the key player and potential saviour of all. A number of scenes are bursting at the seams with suspense, with a cemetery/mausoleum sequence top draw, for sure Argento is firmly getting in his stride here.It's not a gore movie, something which I personally think has led to some of Argento's fans giving the film the cold shoulder, but it's the tale (or tails of course) and characterisations that hold it up as being under valued. It's a Giallo whodunit flecked with sexual stings and no little amount style draped all over it. 7/10

I saw this on The Horror Channel.Having seen a few Dario Argento horror flicks on this channel now, I would dare say that Cat O' Nine Tails is the most restrained, at least in the gore/violence stakes, of those I've watched. There are moments of extreme but swift, clever nasty bits, though.I guess you'll be watching this cos it is by this so-influential 'Italian Hitchcock' maestro rather than for its story, but having said that, it's decently far-fetched enough but with enough relevance to paranoia around government testing of miracle drugs and all that...It looked to me to have been made in English, rather than dubbed, or could just that the brilliant, understated performance by Karl Malden was and everyone else were dubbed after. He plays a blind, retired journalist, who has a young orphaned girl as his visual aide and along with a current newspaper reporter,(James Franciscus) they uncover all these secrets after a man, they suspect, was pushed under a train, rather than falling and then, other murders.I'm no expert on the horror genre but would dare say that this still has signs of the director's visual stylish daring, but is less operatic than some of his, being more workmanlike and 'American'. It still works well, but is more akin to a crime thriller than out-and-out horror, though we do get moments of terror and suspense and the odd twist in the tale.This might be a lesser Argento (number of reviews and score on IMDb) but is still a heap better than many Hollywood affairs but somehow, doesn't have that magic ingredient that his best movies have. Quite good, but not great.