Il gatto dagli occhi di giada

I am subdued by the realistic darkness of this film. Giallos as a whole may have scenes of disturbing violence, including rape or murder, or other forms of torture and exploitation - but often it's presented in such a manner that it's not realistic. Giallos are either too stunningly beautiful to be scary (my personal favorites), and when they aren't stylish and fashionable or lavishly atmospheric, there's so much sex and silliness that the sub-set of giallo films are obvious predecessors to American popcorn slashers.

Not so with Watch Me When I Kill, despite the absurd title, I avoided this giallo for months because I suspected that it was one of the slapstick exploitation proto-slashers that aren't really my preferred gialli, just because of the awful stupid English title. In fact, everything about English translation is why this film only gets a 7 and not an 8 or even a 9. The dialogue is too clunky and quaint, and I would really love to find an Italian-language version of this flick. The Cat with the Jade Eyes is the literal Italian title, and that's just the tip of the iceberg in how American marketing borderline destroys some of these old Italian sleeper hits.

Unlike most giallo directors, Antonio Bido loved middle aged women. Middle aged women make appearances as real solid characters in both Il gatto dagli occhi di giada and Solamente Nero, and except for one youthful main character every other woman in this film is over 50 except the opera singer who might be 35-40ish at youngest. Bido shows their faces, shows these "invisible women" as people watching and waiting and being worthy of being part of his film.

But that's not what makes Watch Me When I Kill so extraordinary. This movie is scary. The noises on the tape in the beginning of the film are truly disturbing, some scenes are mind-bendingly surreal but are more reminiscent of Bava or even Roman Polanski than Argento, and the end is so, so, so, so dark.

A series of brutal and bizarre killings takes place.When Mara witnesses one of the murders the black-gloved killer starts terrorizing her-she turns to her boyfriend Lukas for assistance.But will he be able to uncover the culprit before his girlfriend becomes the next victim?Antonio Bido's "Watch Me When I Kill" is an enjoyable giallo,albeit heavily influenced by Dario Argento's works,especially "Deep Red".The film is an above-average effort filled with enough suspense and shocks to satisfy fans of Italian horror.Surprisingly effective murder scenes are another reason to check this film out-in particular,the muder of Fernando Cerulli in a bathtub,set to opera music,would make Dario Argento proud.The performances are pretty good and it's nice to see Fulci's veteran Paolo Malco in one of the main roles.8 out of 10.

Not the most shocking, nor the most bloody, nor the most stylish of giallo, but it's likable enough and is just that little bit different. Much helped by a very decent performance from Corrado Pani as the cigar chomping guy who seeks to unravel one of the most complicated of tales. Far too many characters and just a few too many red herrings and yet it does keep going and if Paola Tedesco as the female lead does not match the performance of Pani, this may be the fault of the dubbers. Not awash with killings, what there are, are very good. The first one is a bit pedestrian but the fantastic bath scene killing and the one backstage with all the costume are worth the admission price and if the ending is a bit abrupt, it is conclusive and brought a smile to my face. Effective score.

A young woman Mara(Paola Tedesco) accidentally stumbles into a murder in progress of a pharmacist in his store, she then finds that she is now being sought be the killer. Instead of notifying the police, she intrusts the services of an old cigar chomping friend Lukas (Corrado Pani, Secrets of a Call Girl, Gambling City ) to help investigate the killing and prevent the killer from killing her. Lukas investigation gets progressively more confusing and frustrating as people he looks to for information turn up dead or are none to helpful.

Bido of The Bloodstained Shadow fame, has a reputation for approaching his films differently and here again the film hides its dark secret until the finale of the film. The film suffers a little as the print available is very dark and grainy, a fact that might lead some to believe the film has no merit, but it does and it also has a message that the past comes back to haunt everyone. There are also some gruesome killings to keep the gorehounds happy. Pani puts in a fine performance, despite some dodgy dubbing and the score by Trans Europa Express is powerful and memorable and much in the vein of a Goblin opus.

I just watched Watch Me When I Kill this evening and found it to be a very good film. This woman stops by a chemist to pick up some painkillers. she is told to come back another day by some voice she hears. the chemist is lying dead in the back of the shop. so she is now involved in a murder case. there were some quite gory senses with throat-slitting, and strangulations, apart from that i found it to be a very good storyline. I though that the director of the film, (Antonio Bido) did i very good job in making the film, i found the storyline to be quite gripping to watch as the story made sense more than some other Italian horrors that i have seen. Good Movie: Recommended