Sete Mortes nos Olhos de um Gato

A nice Italian Gothic semi-giallo in which it is remarkable to see French singer Serge Gainsbourg play a Scottish speaking (dubbed) police-inspector. The next remarkable role is of course played by the beautiful Jane Birkin - well, not the role itself so much, but Birkin is. Hard to miss also (in a negative way) is that man in the monkey suit... who thought up that one?

Very pleasant camera-work (although some parts were a bit too dark), a highly effective soundtrack (Ortolani) and a beautiful setting in and around a Scottish castle (+ adjacent graveyard) make this a thoroughly enjoyable feat. But, as often is the case with many Italian films like these, the story is quite far fetched, and that gorilla did not help.

But, given the fact that there is also some naughtiness and gore to be enjoyed, my rating must at least be on the plus side.

"La morte..." has all the ingredients of a horror movie, but isn't one. It tells the story of Corringa (Jane Birkin) who arrives at a castle to meet her relatives. Soon after, several people are murdered, and the only witness is a cat - who unfortunately cannot tell anything, but is mentioned in the movie title, anyway ;-). Tales about vampires are told, candles are flickering, Corringa has strange nightmares, while rats discover another corpse in the dark cellar - you get the picture, it's as gothic as gothic can be. Director Margheriti ("E Dio disse a Caino") and cinematographer Carlini ("Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide") shared the same stylistic obsession, it seems. The castle is full of scary details, and they put it to the best use. One direct quote from "Once Upon A Time In the West", unexpectedly, with Hiram Keller and Jane Birkin replaying Henry Fonda and Claudia Cardinale, try if you can discover it. This little-known movie was a pleasant surprise for me, as I have watched a couple of really bad movies from the same director (but good ones, too). "La morte..." has atmosphere, tension, baroque visuals. It's got a lot more in common with Hammer Draculas than the usual 70s Italian slasher flicks.

Quite standard Spaghetti slasher is nowhere near excellent, but also too far from awful to merit serious critical assault. The usual Gothic castle goings-on are given no special treatment here, and the psycho-killer's carnage is strictly PG on the shocks and gore board.

This film is, moreover, surprisingly atmospheric. The mossy, rustic exterior of the castle, as well as its rich baroque antique decorum, make for a great looking European horror setting. Too bad, though, that the film never really gains much momentum...I found myself looking around the room after the first 30 minutes. Fortunately, the fairly intense closing scenes make up heartily for these shortcomings.

SEVEN DEATHS is a watchable enough seventy-odd minutes, but if you're an unwaning viewer of connate movies, then chances are you've seen all this done before, and probably more successfully.

*** Were they feeding that cat bacon-wrapped tater-tots or something? That thing was a freakin' tank!

5/10

Atmospheric and with some decent performances but this gets lost in it's own complicated Ten Little Indians story. Nice touch with the creepy looking cat arriving to herald each killing but it's not enough. It's all rather slow and uninvolving (till the end) but it's interesting to see a young Birkin and I'm sure I've never seen Serge to looking so young. Inconsistent to say the least, this seems to drag because there is not enough to hold the attention. Not unlike a lesser Hammer production in this respect which to some extent it does resemble. Musical score all over the place too and this doesn't help. So, very average, great poster though reproduced on the DVD cover!

Like any decent Italian director of good old times, Antonio Margheriti made movies of every genre imaginable: war movies, horror movies, crime/giallo movies, sword and sandal movies (Ursus!), spy and sci-fi movies, Spaghetti westerns. Surprisingly, I realized these days that I do know mostly his works he did under his pseudonym Anthony M. Dawson. As Mr. Dawson he directed some fine cheesy action pieces and pleasures of my youth like Commando Leopard, The Commander and Code Name: Wild Geese, and a fine B-movie Spaghetti western starring Lee Van Cleef - Take a Hard Ride.

With La morte negli occhi del gatto aka Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eyes Mr. Margheriti put his feet on the ground of Gothic horror and giallo movies - one could dare to say that the movie is mostly a mix of both genres. The strongest feature of Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eyes are for sure the visuals - the setting is a fine looking Gothic castle/manor, housing a greedy and half-mad plotting family, on top we get Jane Birkin shining in all her beauty. What else? The cast works solid, here and there we get a shot of erotic quality and a little murdering business is done too. Sounds not too bad? Sadly, the movie does not reach its full potential, and I guess mostly to blame is the timing/composition of the story unfolding: somehow the movie never gets in full steam mode and just bobs along. Some detours fragment the plot without adding any good, not sculpted to the point, so to say. In short: the story can't keep up with the visual qualities and acting of the cast and is without doubt the weakest link in the chain. With the same production and cast but with a better composed script this could have been a fine movie, maybe even a classic. Final verdict: all in all not too bad, but for sure no must-watch. The best I can say about Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eyes is that it got eye-candy quality and provides some nostalgia - so if you are in the mood or need for some Gothic vibes you may give this one a try.