Dario Argento’s second feature as writer-director, released in 1971, is, like the first, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage of the previous year, a flamboyant Giallo marked by a twisted murder mystery soaked in extravagant gore. In this middle installment of the so-called Animal Trilogy (Four Flies on Grey Velvet would soon follow), Karl Malden stars as Franco Arno, a blind ex-journalist who overhears a bit of a conversation between two people in a parked car while walking with his young niece Lori (Cinzia De Carolis) outside their apartment; the words suggest a blackmail threat.
The next morning, he learns that a guard at the Institute for Genetic Research across the street has been attacked by a mysterious intruder, who, however, took nothing. When one of the Institute doctors is murdered after the break-in, Arno contacts Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus), a reporter working the case, to check on a photo published in his newspaper that might, in its uncropped form, show the killer. But before they can retrieve it, the photographer is killed and the photo stolen.
Arno and Giordani then agree to collaborate in investigating what they determine are nine leads to be followed up—the fiancée of the dead man, five other doctors at the Institute, the daughter of one of them, the original break-in, and the stolen photograph.
They learn that the Institute’s research is centered on a genetic abnormality that might be linked to criminal tendencies, and after a second murder—of a person who might have learned the identity of the killer—they themselves are threatened. Undaunted, they continue their inquiries, until Lori is kidnapped and they must turn their attention to saving her—a mission that finally reveals the identity of the villain and the twisted motivation behind the crimes.
While not as baroquely perverse as its predecessor, The Cat o’ Nine Tails is, once again, a stylish exercise in tension and gore with a characteristically unusual score by Ennio Morricone, though this time Erico Menczer is the cinematographer.
Arrow’s 4K UHD transfer is superb, and the bonus features are numerous: an audio commentary by critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman; interviews with Argento (16 min.), co-writer Dardano Sacchetti (35 min.), De Carolis, and production manager Angelo Iacono (15 min.); script pages for the lost original ending, translated into English (3 min.); and the original Italian, international and US theatrical trailers (6 min. total). A strong optional purchase, especially for collections in Italian film and horror. (F. Swietek)