Il gatto dagli occhi di giada

After the murder of a pharmacist, a series of follow-up murders to those around her forces a woman to turn to her boyfriend to help get her out of the situation, and when he realizes that there's a far-reaching motivation for the crime spree races to stop it in order to protect her.

This one here was a generally enjoyable genre entry. Among the film's brighter aspects is the actual mystery at play that's pretty intricate and allows for great time uncovering its purpose. From the seemingly random attack on the pharmacist followed-up by the failed attack on the witness, there's a worthwhile lead in that makes it curious about the need to decipher the recorded message left on the phone filled with dogs barking and the threatening message. Likewise, the unraveling mystery about the criminal case all the main players are involved in makes this one interesting as the film generates the kind of grand connection that's fully revealing in a shocking finale. As well, the film also manages to ge a lot to like with the stalking scenes featured throughout here. The initial attack in the store is a fine shock, as is the aborted stalking attempt in the girls' house where the killer gets scared off before doing anything are rather fun scenes that give this some enjoyable thrills. The other attacks, ranging from the stellar sequence of the girl being attacked in the wardrobe department, the bathroom ambush in the hotel or the final confrontation in the house give this some rousing action along the way as well. These here give the film a lot to like overall. This one does have a few minor flaws. The main problem is the fact that this one really feels underwhelming with a lot of the stock genre tropes that are in play. The investigation manages to forsake a lot of rational thought from the leads as the fact that bodies have been piling up with no interaction from the authorities. The attacks that happen here should warrant police protection or more of a presence here, yet it's all dismissed due to a one-line writer-off thinking the police would rather throw the party in jail rather than protect them for what they know about the crimes, a fact brought up after several bodies have turned up and one attack on their lives which is completely ridiculous to believe it would play as such. That also ties in marginally with the other flaw in that there's a pretty sluggish pace here. The central investigation here tends to rely much more on sudden realizations about clues and sheer coincidences about the various events which are told in excruciatingly long conversations. The meeting with the pharmacists' widow or the tile salesman are filled with fine informational leads that just lead to some overlong scenes, much like the final half which consists mainly of him running around the small-town by himself collecting the final pieces to the puzzle alone while she's alone at the house with no protection. This should've been carried out together instead of setting her up for the killer to attack, another feature from the earlier segment and are what holds this one back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

An enjoyable, if somewhat generic giallo here from director Antonio Bido which combines all the elements we know and love (gloved killer, convoluted plot, red herrings, smoking, moustaches), but fails to inject enough weirdness, gore or nudity to raise it up a notch. Still, for what it is, it does the job.

In Rome, a pharmacist gets his throat slashed and a lady (Mara) trying to get some aspirin almost glimpses the killer, so she becomes a target too. After a near miss, she moves in with her ex-boyfriend Luka (Corrado Pani from Matalo!) and the plot starts getting a bit overcrowded with suspects and potential victims. Where Mara works as a cabaret dancer, we have potential suitor the dancing guy, potential suitor the writer guy, and Paolo Malco...who might be the director there? We also have the pharmacist's assistant who is going to see a loan shark who is getting strange phone messages involving a recording of screaming, marching, dogs barking, Germans talking. Could that be a clue or just a recording of the It's A Knockout final 1976? The loan shark has a lover who gets her head shoved into a cooker, and they all served on jury to convict Franco Citti of murder, and he's just escaped from jail. Plus, the judge at that trial gets involved as well. And a mysterious picture, because that's standard practice in a giallo.

Phew! That's a lot of characters to introduce, and The Cat's Victims puts you through the paces in getting through them all while Luka runs around chomping cigars and trying to figure out all this for himself, a journey that leads him through Rome to Padua, where at last things get more bizarre as he traces all the victim's families. The murders are a bit few and far between, and the gore quotient low, but I think most giallo fans will not find much to complain about.

Except the lack of nudity.

Watch Me When I Kill really, desperately wants to be Deep Red. It is not. Still, few films are and Watch Me When I Kill has enough going for it to make it worth a watch. What other giallo film can claim that the killer's motivation involves their family being killed by Nazis. That's not a bad reason for a murder spree if you ask me. It does leave the film on a sour, somber note, but there's still some fun to be had before the big climax. It's never as suspenseful or brutal as some of its giallo brothers and sisters, but it tries so hard you want to give it point for trying.

One thing that does work - the score by Trans Europa Express. It has a distinct Goblin-esque feel to it that works incredibly well.

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.

Purely by coincidence, I found an old & dusty videotape in the horror closet of an acquaintance of mine and the cover displayed the bizarre title (in Dutch) "Revenge of the Cat". I had to perform a search on the actors' names in order to find out that it actually was "Watch me when I Kill" (a.k.a. "The Cat's Victims", a.k.a "The Cat with the Jade Eyes") and initially that was a pleasant surprise, since this Italian late 70's giallo has been on my purchase list for quite some time now! After seeing it, I'm even more glad that I didn't spend money on a fancy DVD-version, as it is quite a disappointing and overly confusing horror effort. Surely not the worst film of its kind, but pretty bleak compared to the works of Sergio Martino or, of course, Dario Argento. The main problem with Antonio Bido's film is that it makes absolutely no attempts to involve the viewer in the search for the maniacal killer. Someone, who stays off screen all the time and deforms his voice whenever he leaves messages to his next victims, is seemly randomly killing people and it nearly takes half of the movie before we get informed that all the victims sat in the same jury committee during a lawsuit against a criminal who recently escaped from prison. That still doesn't reveal the killer's identity, but at least you can guess along from this point. Due to the lack of background during the beginning, "Watch me when I Kill" often feels a bit slow and dull. There's not much atmosphere and ever fewer tension, and the private detective character isn't the least bit amiable. The murders, on the other hand, are lusciously gore, with a close-up slit throat, a woman suffocated in a dish of food and the must brutal strangulation I ever saw. The cinematography sadly is too dark, although that might have been due to poor videotape quality, but the score is terrific (probably the best thing about the entire film) and the climax is fairly surprising.