Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

"Cat O' Nine Tails" which was directed by none other than Dario Argento and followed on from the brilliance of "The Bird With The Crystal Plummage", this marks another highlight in his filmography and beautifully shot and fantastically produced, giving us another exciting chapter in his animal trilogy.Like the first part the plot again revolves around a murder mystery, and okay this doesn't quite have the style of his other works, but it's definitely an interesting effort. Plot wise this has all the usual giallo trappings with plenty of twists and turns and many red herrings. It starts off with a blind man Franco and his niece Lori who are out walking one night and overhear a conversation between two men in a parked car, Lori sees one but the other is hidden by darkness. Then that same evening a robbery occurs and later leads to several murders. So Franco and Lori enlist the help of a reporter Carlo to unravel the mystery.Like I said this may lack Dario's usual visual style, but it does pack a punch and keeps the viewer interested as the plot of the movie starts to unravel and events take place, and yes at times does become predictable, like when a character knows who the killer is, only to be bumped off straight away, but the deaths lack the usual gore set pieces, therefore not being as violent, but we do get a shot of the killer's eyes which was quite thrilling and well shot. The nine leads hence from the title is another interesting aspect of the movie, but kinda goes off point and all over the place and we are then introduced to sub plots that go nowhere, okay they can be passed off as red herrings, and then there's the eventual reveal of the killer, which wasn't as shocking as it should have been, but the chase and other plot points leading to it was quite intense though.The acting in this is pretty solid the relationship between Carlo and Franco was quite spot on and excellently played by Karl Malden and James Francisous, and both strike up a likable quality which makes you want them to succeed and of course Catherine Spaak was very glamorous and seductive in her role as Anna Terzi, even though her part was pretty small, but still memorable.All in all "Cat O' Nine Tails" isn't as bloody or sleazy as the usual giallo thrillers which isn't a bad thing and still has a good plot, decent acting and plenty of fun and a definite highlight in Dario's filmography.

Ranking among Argento's best movies, The Cat O'Nine Tails is a compelling giallo with solid writing and two strong leading performances.A fine James Franciscus is the conventional Argento protagonist; more interesting is the blind amateur sleuth played by a magnificent Karl Malden. A vamped-up Catherine Spaak, who was memorable as Gassman's daughter in Il Sorpasso, isn't quite as good as the femme fatale.Neither as creepy as Profondo Rosso nor as stylish as Suspiria, The Cat O'Nine Tails distinguishes itself among Argento's thrillers for its writing, with more care put into dialogues and secondary characters, and an unusually complicated plot.Argento, a huge Hitchcock fan, homages the British director with a sequence involving a poisoned glass of milk (Suspicion).7/10

Dario Argento's second movie as director shows hints of the things that would give him a cult following. It's not really a horror movie as much as a mystery story, as the main characters try to solve a murder in a pharmaceutical research institute. James Franciscus and Karl Malden prove their versatility as the men who join up to find out what happened. The cemetery scene is the most intense in the movie. As with all these movies, it's clear that the Italian actors are dubbed, while the Americans are speaking English. While this might not have been Argento's favorite of his movies, I liked it. Whether the Renaissance-era paintings or Federico Fellini or the giallo genre, there is no denying that Italy has given us some of the greatest art. You're sure to love "Il gatto a nove code" ("The Cat o'Nine Tails" in English).PS: Dario Argento's daughter Asia played Yelena in "XXX".

(Credit IMDb) A newspaper reporter and a retired, blind journalist try to solve a series of killings connected to a pharmaceutical company's experimental, top-secret research projects and in so doing, both become targets of the killer. I saw this one a few months ago when I was viewing all Argento movies. I'm a huge fan of Dario Argento when he's on his game. Suspiria is one of the greatest horror movies ever made, as is Deep Red. He's also made plenty of other gems, but this movie isn't one of them. It lacks solid suspense, and it's quite boring for the most part in all honesty. Karl Malden makes for a good lead, but I failed to get into his plight. It's not very bloody, either and lacks Argento's usual panache when it comes to gore. Argento's direction is stylish as per usual, I just wish he made it flow better with a more consistent pace. The highlight for me was probably a decent car chase, which is actually out of place in this movie, but I still thought it was well done. I don't remember much about it, so obviously it didn't make much of an impact on me. It's one of Argento's worst efforts4.8/10