SEVEN DEATHS IN THE CAT’S EYE (1973)

3 stars

88 Films. Blu ray. 28th July

Italian title: La morte negli occhi del Hatton

Those Italian’s do like a weird title for their thrillers – often involving some kind of animal. At least this one does, featuring a ginger moggy wandering around throughout!

It opens in grisly fashion with the sound of someone in death throes. Killed with a cutthroat razor whilst our titular cat watches, as the dead body has rats eating the flesh. 

Corringa (Jane Birkin) is returning to Dragonstone castle – where she used to visit as a child – it is also the place of the MacGrieff legend or is it a curse? The driver of the carriage, Angus (Luciano Pigozzi) crosses himself before they go any further. So it’s probably the latter! As they arrive there is what appears to be a gorilla watching them. Though the ape is described as an orangutan later on. You say tomato…

Meanwhile Lady Alicia (Dana Gaia) is suggesting that Lady Mary MacGrieff (Françoise Christophe) sells the castle and she and her son, the apparently bonkers Lord James (Hiram Keller), come to live in London – as the upkeep of the ancestral home is costly. Any money left by Lady Alicia’s late husband is for Corringa, her daughter – so no hope of blagging some lira there to help with the old pile.

Corringa’s arrival is a surprise to her mum, who wasn’t expecting her – and doesn’t know she has been expelled from her school.

That evening at the meal table, there is talk of the MacGrieff’s turning into vampires. Corringa is fascinated by the family legends. Late for dinner, James arrives — much to his mother’s upset. He is rude to the guests. Dr Franz (Anton Diffring) is there to look after the mad young man, who killed his baby sister.

It isn’t long before the killing starts – under the watchful eye of the cat!

Who is the killer – there are plenty of suspects. Maybe James… his pet orangutan … or was it the pussy…?

Of course all is not what it seems. It never is… there’s a killer on the loose with a cutthroat razor (so it probably isn’t the cat), but what about the vampire rumours – if a member of the MacGrieff family is killed by a family member they will come back as a vampire.

Serge Gainsbourg turns up as the local police inspector. He supposedly got the part after visiting Birkin, his partner, one day on set.

More gothic horror than giallo — the setting adds a certain atmosphere to the often preposterous script. This was filmed at the same castle as Bava’s BLACK SUNDAY and used sets where director Antonio Margheriti had previously shot THE VIRGIN OF NUREMBERG in. Cinematographer Carlo Carlini makes things look good even if the script by the director and Gionvanni Simonelli is a bit all over the place. It was supposedly based on a book by Peter Bryan, which may or may not exist. The music by Riz Ortolani lifts cues from other films he worked on.

Steve Kirkham

EXTRAS

Two Audio Commentaries – Italian Cinema Expert Troy Howarth/Nathaniel Thompson and Eugenio Ercolani

Interviews with Alessandro Perrella (31 mins); Enrico Ortolani Sternini, stepson of Riz Ortolani (26 mins); Edoardo Margheriti, son of Antonio Margheriti (11 mins)

Serge & Jane on the Parnassus – a short film about Gainsbourg and Birkin, visiting their graves in Montparnasse Cemetery

Two visual essays – Mike Foster/Pier Maria Bocchi

English and Italian Trailer and Italian Opening /Closing Credits

With the limited edition you also get a 40 page perfect bound book with writing by Francesco Massaccessi and Tim Murray and an art card.