Feels like people may resent early Argento for not being big horror spectaculars, but I quite like The Cat o' Nine Tails (his second feature) even if it can almost better be categorized as a crime thriller. In fact, the way Argento builds paranoia in the audience and/or the characters puts me in mind of Hitchcock, it's a lot funnier than you'd expect (also HItchcockian), and the killer has a proper motive. So what makes it horror? Perhaps the NATURE of the killer, but more importantly, the way it's shot and scored. The kills are visceral in a way that go beyond a thriller's requirements, the killer is shot like a monster (i.e. POV or secretive close-ups), and Morricone's music is on the disquieting end of the scale. Just the use of a little girl as a main character makes it more upsetting. I dare say the solution to the mystery sought by two journalists, one active, the other blind and retired (Karl Malden dubbed in Italian), is pretty secondary to the intriguing atmosphere. Needed more actual cats though.

I thought it was a kick-ass ending. The Argento way.