Sorry, this movie sucks

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

An early suspense thriller from Dario Argento which lacks some of his later horrific overtones but still benefits from a good helping of style and an involving plot - the story was also written by Argento. Altogether, this is a complex, involving film with plenty of unusual characters with diverse relationships, some good acting, and some moments of extreme violence for which Argento later became known. A big plus in the film's favour is the casting of the charismatic James Franciscus in the lead role as an investigative reporter who's determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. You could be forgiven for thinking that blond American Franciscus falls into the category of his contemporary wooden actors such as William Shatner and Doug McClure, but this is not the case. He lends a sophistication and skill to his character which is rarely seen in these horror films, and Argento gets nicely subtle performance out of him.Franciscus is ably supported by an ageing Karl Malden, cast as a blind man. Malden enjoys himself a lot in a meaty role like this, making his snooping, quick-thinking busybody both comical and humane. The pair are supported by a pushy Catherine Spaak playing a mistress and plenty of other Euro-folk, including Rada Rassimov (Ivan's brother) and Horst Frank, familiar from his earlier role in 1967's potboiler, THE VENGEANCE OF FU MANCHU. A jazzy score from Ennio Morricone never misses a beat, considerably adding to that whole '70s "cool" feel to the film, a make-believe world of exotic locations, wholesome folk and the occasional loose cannon.Argento doesn't fail to add his own trademarks into the brew - including tracking shots (from the killer's point of view, this was before BLACK Christmas too) and some unflinchingly brutal murders. Indeed the giallo form is present and correct here, with a faceless killer (we only ever see their eye in extreme close-up) garrotting a number of unfortunates who were too slow to figure out what was coming. A photographer in the wrong place at the wrong time, an informant and even a couple of scientists fall prone to this powerful murderer, their deaths, while not explicit, still being realistic and hard-hitting. Near the beginning of the film, another man is pushed under the wheels of a train, Argento taking the opportunity to show us his mangled body bouncing and writhing as it is broken under the tons of steel pounding over it.Plenty of action and suspenseful sequences build up the twists and turns in the plot, which lead to a predictable confrontation between Franciscus and the killer. This is a fast-paced, intriguing thriller with plenty going on to fill out the lengthy running time, and a must for fans of both mysteries and Italian crime cinema.

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.

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".

Dario Argento's second feature is a solid Gaillo. Intrepid reporter James Franciscus, along with blind Karl Malden, tries to piece together who is behind a series of gruesome strangulations/ slashings...all seemingly connected to the work being done at a genetics lab. In what would become a hallmark of future Argento films, each murder is shown in graphic style. Argento creates a real sense of terror with this shocker. Franciscus is fine, if a bit bland but Malden gives truly believable performance. Catherine Spaak is also in it, sporting what has to be the tallest hairdo of anyone appearing in a horror film. The score by Ennio Morricone is a real treat.