Red-Barracuda A blind pianist overhears a suspicious conversation in a bar. Shortly afterwards his girlfriend is mysteriously murdered. This leads to a series of serial killings that have some connection to a fashion house.The above synopsis is one that you could come up with if you were to toss a dozen giallo scripts in the air and see what random parts fall onto your head. In fact, this film borrows elements from several popular gialli from the time. Throw in adultery, blackmail, an enigmatic drug addict, lesbians, fashion models and dark secrets from the past and you have the makings of a typical effort. However, this movie does have some tricks up its sleeve to differentiate itself from all others. Chief amongst them being what is perhaps the most insane method of murder ever devised. I won't spoil it for first time viewers but it is truly deranged. In addition to this there is also a mind-bogglingly vicous shower murder that comes out of the blue and genuinely shocks. Further strangeness comes with the fact that the blind protagonist appears to be working on a score for Lucio Fulci's A Lizard in a Woman's Skin. We see clips from this film on a couple of occasions, which is rather bizarre.Everything is wrapped up at the end with an explanation that I found completely baffling. But, that's hardly a surprise in these flicks to be fair. At the end of the day, it couldn't be said that this is exactly a prime example of the genre. But it still remains entertainingly batty and does have some visual flair and some good set-pieces. It's unfortunate that the current legitimate DVD release appears to be a non-anamorphic copy of a VHS tape though. A better transfer would improve this one.

doctorsmoothlove I have also significantly reduced the amount of money I spend on movie tickets. Now I only see films I think will be good (like Drive) and have shifted to purchasing blu-rays. This has spoiled me into expecting great picture and sound quality which is infrequent in multiplexes. I don't want to be too out of touch, so I will rent some quotidian movies, probably on Saturday, while I invest in better films. Here is an obscure gialli The Crimes of the Black Cat.Sergio Pastore's only giallo is a fun exercise for genre adherents. Play a game of identifying steals from better directors' better movies. Even for a genre film, Crimes of the Black Cat presents very little to justify its existence. A bunch of fashion models start to be killed off by an unknown assailant a la Blood and Black Lace. A blind hero tries to determine who the killer might be, and the only his lack of glasses differentiate him from his counterpart in The Cat o'Nine Tails. The plagiarism doesn't stop! There is even a shot of someone moving through a room of mannequins that is filmed from the same above canted angle as in Hatchet for the Honeymoon. Pastore was either an opportunist, hired help, or a hack with this film, mistaking his idols' manipulations of mise-en- as reasons for their successes. Bava and Argento arbitrarily added these characteristics to their movies, either out of intrigue into their underlying phenomena or artistry.Pastore has does have some imagination, and his derivative movie may have actually been an inspiration for Lucio Fulci's The Black Cat which uses features more feline murder. This killer surprises his victims with his tabby who poisons them with curare claws. It reads better than it watches. Every time this happens the victim gets a quick scratch and dies. Admittedly, it's hard to imagine a cat killing someone, and Argento and Fulci got around this by evading worldly logic. They also threw in some nudity and a lot more gore that are strangely absent here. I haven't determined if this was a made-for-TV film or edited for its DVD release. If neither is true, the film doesn't subvert or otherwise justify its sophomoric conservatism. This is exacerbated in retrospect by his odd decision to typecast Annabella Incontrera as the aggressive lesbian she frequently played without showing using her implied love scene as a justification for some nudity.Crimes is an investigative melodrama for the majority of its runtime. Once the killer's identity is revealed, we get an "apology" of sorts in form of an amusing riff on Psycho. The killer attacks a woman in the shower and slices her in plain view. I remain confused as to why we must endure 85 minutes to see this, but I was in need of relief by this point. The razor cuts her breasts graphically in close-up, ironically imprinting the film unjustly into our memory. It ends in a final nod to Four Flies on Grey Velvet with a freeze frame as the credits roll. The last attack is the only inspired part of the movie, and I encourage you to skip to that part if you rent it.If you live in the United States, Crimes of the Black Cat can only be seen on DVD in a shoddy VHS transfer by the now-defunct DAGORED company. It looks as if they used an Italian tape as the master source as tracking is visible and the subtitles appear superimposed below the image and there are no other language options.

lonchaney20 Surprisingly awesome giallo! While the plot is nothing to write home about, this is still genuinely suspenseful and well-directed (albeit with some annoying editing choices during some of the murder sequences). In fact, there were some nice Hitchcockian touches throughout, such as a scene at the beginning where some annoyingly loud music prevents the protagonist (and the viewer) from hearing an incriminating argument between two mysterious figures. While most of the murders aren't exactly show stopping, there's one near the end of the film that will definitely stick in my memory. There was one shot in it that was surprisingly squirm inducing for an otherwise (mostly) bloodless movie.And I don't know why, but apparently all of the women in this film like to shower with the curtain and bathroom door open.

bensonmum2 Fairly standard giallo about a string of murders with fashion models as victims. The one clue is snippets of a conversation overheard in a bar that seem to be tied to the murders. The only problem is that the man who overheard the conversation is blind. With the help of his butler and one of the models, he tries to assist the police in locating the murderer.If it weren't for two key moments in this movie, it would be a totally forgettable giallo. The first is the method used by the murderer to kill a couple of the models. I won't go into detail to ruin it, so I'll just say that it's one of the most ridiculous, far-fetched, outlandish things I've seen. Most of the movie's credibility is destroyed in these moments.The second key moment is the final murder. This one works as well or better than most I've seen in any movie. It's one of the most violent, grisly razor deaths you'll likely encounter. Think of it as the scene that Hitchcock didn't show you in that famous shower. Pastore gives it to you in all it's gory detail.Other than these two memorable moments, the rest of the film is average at best. Nothing else about the movie really stands out.