Antonio Margheriti, 1973
Starring: Jane Birkin, Kiram Keller, Serge Gainsbourg, Anton Diffring, Françoise Christophe
“Are
you excited by all the blood that’s been flowing around here?”
Corringa, a beautiful young
schoolgirl, has returned to her family’s Scottish castle to visit her mother
during the holidays. Unbeknownst to her, her arrival is being watched from a
tall window by a gorilla, which marks the beginning of a series of strange,
increasingly violent events. Her mother and her aunt, Lady Mary, try to keep
her from meeting her cousin, Lord James, who is allegedly insane. But he and
Corringa develop a fascination for one another, which leads to a sexual
relationship. Meanwhile, someone
is slashing throats in the castle and Aunt Mary is trying to maneuver Corringa’s
inheritance away from her. Will Corringa be the next victim?
This absolutely fun and unabashedly ridiculous film was
written and directed by Antonio Margheriti (aka Anthony Dawson), one of the
forerunners of Italian horror alongside Mario Bava. Margheriti made a number of
well-regarded Gothic horror films in the ‘60s, such as Horror Castle, Castle of Blood, and The Long Hair of Death before turning to peplum and then every conceivable
genre of cult film (sci-fi, cannibal, animals attack, crime, sword and sorcery,
etc.). He also joined Bava in releasing a Gothic pseudo-giallo at the tail end
of the genre’s 1971 and 1972 boom. While Bava’s Baron Blood (1972) deals with overtly occult themes, Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye shares its
castle setting, bold colors, ‘70s fashions, and patently silly dialogue.
A
particularly fluffy cat watches all the murders and even engages in some
corpse-eating action – it’s also implied for much of the film that the cat is
somehow responsible for the deaths. Now, it would be extreme to say that I hate
cats, but I’m simply not a cat person and I really can’t figure out why
Margheriti thought that this device would be a good idea within a horror film.
It’s also difficult for me to see fluffy, grumpy-looking cats without thinking
of Blofeld and his absurd feline friend in the early James Bond films. On the
other hand, it could be that Margheriti is introducing an element of parody, as
in the film he depicts violence committed by bats, rats, the aforementioned
cat, and an ape – named James, I’m not sure if he’s supposed to be a gorilla or
an orangutan. The latter is an obvious nod to Poe’s “Murders in the Rue Morgue” where an ape murders
people with a straight razor, the weapon of choice here. I really think
Margheriti is just mocking the flood of animal-themed titles like The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Black
Belly of the Tarantula, Lizard in a Woman’s Skin, and so on. At least I
hope he is.
The best thing about the film is
the appearance of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg. Pop icon, model, and
sort-of-actress Jane Birkin (she was also interestingly in Antonioni’s giallo
predecessor, Blow-Up) was in a long-time
relationship with French musical genius Serge Gainsbourg – their union produces
a number of great songs, the wonderful anal sex drama Je t’aime moi non plus (1976) that Gainsbourg directed, and
actress/singer Charlotte Gainsbourg. While Jane pleasantly phones her way
through the film, Gainsbourg is the real gem. Serge has a dubbed Scottish accent for the few scenes he appears in as the
head police inspector, which nearly made me fall out of my chair. He’s just
incredible. He doesn’t even need to try.
There are some other welcome performances. Doris
Kunstmann (Funny Games) appears as a
saucy French
teacher was hired to seduce Lord James (Fellini
Satyricon’s
Hiram Keller), but is
really shacking up with the castle’s doctor/psychiatrist – who in turn is
somewhat reluctantly having an affair with Aunt Mary. The doctor is played by
Anton Diffring, so if you’re tired of seeing him cast as a Nazi, here he’s
actually got some ambiguity and even – gasp – some sex scenes. In a fun twist
on Victorian mores, the castle’s inhabitants gradually reveal their dirty
secrets and perversions. The larger subplot about a destitute Aunt Mary, the
castle’s heir, trying to marry her insane, inbred son off to his wealthy cousin
reminded me a lot of Borowczyk’s The
Beast (1975), though sadly Birkin does not have sexual relations with James
the Gorilla.
The worst I can really say about Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye is that the conclusion is dissatisfying
and doesn’t do justice to the rest of the proceedings. While some other
giallo films use the supernatural as a cover for a human killer, such as The Red Queen Kills Seven Times, Seven
Deaths in the Cat’s Eye uses its Gothic trappings as something of a red
herring. Instead of a ghost, the family curse – vampirism – is potentially to
blame for all the murders, but this is sadly cast aside in the final act.
Regardless, there’s still plenty to look forward to: accidental
bible burning, nightmares, potential vampirism, a missing corpse, a dank crypt, a pleasant
soundtrack from Riz Ortolani, and some lovely, stylish set pieces. Though this
was clearly not filmed in Scotland, Marghariti makes the best of the packed
Gothic set dressings inside the castle. All in all, it has the best elements
of Gothic literary bodice rippers and Margheriti’s earlier Italian Gothic
horror films, a dash of Edgar Allen Poe, Serge Gainsbourg, and just enough
giallo elements to land this in the genre. Available
on DVD, it comes highly recommended.
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