Cats of Giallo

Cats are prominent images in a plethora of giallo films of the 1970s. This list is not exhaustive, but there are some moments of animals acting as feline omens or scary tricksters.

There are two major trends; when cats appear at climactic moments and when cats appear at moments of quiet which allude to the horrors about to come.

Cold Eyes of Fear (1971)

This orange cat appears during a climactic moment of horror. The male protagonist is searching the premises for the killer he believes is present. A booby trap is placed at the door to catch the killer exiting a room, but this cat trips the chord instead.

The Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971)

This cat appears at the patio door of this couple's apartment at a moment of quiet when thingsjust start getting weird. The couple then stops what they are doing, goes to the door and lets the cat enter. For several moments, the camera focuses on the cat's eyes--so as to allude to the common belief that cats (or domestic animals) can sense danger.

Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye (1973)

Aside from what is given in the title, this cat plays an important interpretive role in this movie. The cat is entombed with the body of a murdered woman (supposedly an enchantress), but comes back to creep through. Voyeuristically, from its view we see the drama unfold. Not only does the cat ominously creep around in the background, but it attacks and interacts with the characters strangely.

Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974)

I previously reviewed this movie for the blog, but failed to mention the creepy leering cats. First, there is a cat that attacks Silvia (Mimsy Farmer) which belongs to an old female neighbor. Throughout the film, the old woman carries around the cat; and in a later scene repeatedly asks Silvia is she knows of the cat's whereabouts. If you remember, I mentioned that several of the people with whom Silvia associated were in on some fake "African voodoo" plan to coerce Silvia's actions. This moment further drives his paranoia.

Additionally, a male elder neighbor whom she regarded as father-like figure, feeds his cats the remains of her young friend who lives in the building. Here are these casts feasting on her fingers

Inferno (1980)

Dario Argento makes the image of a witch with her cat look scary. In this film, Mark, the male protagonist sits in a lecture hall amongst several students wearing headphones and reading sheet music. An enchanting young woman with lustful eyes and an open pandering mouth sits diagonally from him, petting her cat and staring bewitchingly in his direction. Wind and light aim themselves at her as she bewitches him in this manner. After this scene, Mark begins his discovery of the Three Sisters' legacy in a most horrifying manner.

-Sana

Swamp of the Ravens

Swamp of the Ravens is a film for which my experience is clouded with nostalgia. Oddly (or perhaps not so oddly) it is not due to a previous viewing of the film itself, but rather my conception of it, along with a semi-accurate description and a few minuscule images. Before the irritating (although admittedly helpful in acquiring certain out-of-print titles) resurgence in interest in films where the dead get up and kill (the people they kill, get up and kill…), there were very few places from which one could obtain information about the more obscure films featuring the undead.

Regardless, as a thirteen-year-old embarking on yet another trail of hyper-focused interest, a now defunct website (Undeadfilms.com) became the center from which much of my cinematic and monetary activity spread. With the exception of the myriad SOV pictures released throughout the 90s, Swamp of the Ravens remained the the last film from my original investigations I had yet to watch.

The film itself is comparable to the more minor entries in the Italian exploitation cannon. Attempts to brand the picture as "no-budget" or "amateur" misrepresent the film, at least within the context of general exploitation film-making. The techical crew apparently had some experience in these pictures (the same cannot be said for the actors or scriptwriter, but to an extent this simply made the film more entertaining). To my admittedly unrefined perception the shot composition was mostly well balanced, and the lighting was far from terrible.

Other general descriptions of the film tend to describe the nonsensical aspects of the plot, and its apparent convolution. Perhaps I am jaded, but I personally found the film a fairly straightforward Reanimator rip-off with occasional endearing weirdness.

What confused me much more than the plot was the bizarre english soundtrack. Voices are rarely anywhere close to matching the lips supposedly generating them, implying (or rather directly stating, out of sync) that the film was redubbed. However, there are elements that strongly suggest the film was made in English. Most prominently this manifests itself in a song already guaranteed  a spot on the next WZ&SC mixtape. The track in question is sung to the Mad Scientist's inevitable Frankenstein bride, as the singer (involved in a love triangle with the other two) completes a world tour apparently consisting of several people standing around in a room at every show. Sample lyrics include "Don't stare at me with those eyes of horror/you've thrown out my love for you to the houndogs" "The blood flowing lifeless from your body/Wherever you find yourself I wish you were dead/My own Robot, my own my lady"

If in fact this track was added in the dubbing process it implies a more extensive translation process than one would expect this type of film to get. It also begs the question, What was he singing in the Spanish dub?

Aside from a flubbed conclusion and a rather hilarious scene where the police tracking star Ramiro Oliveros by employing an instrument used more famously by a very different Oliveros (A sine wave oscillator, and Pauline, respectively), the film isn't particularly remarkable. The mis-en-scene surrounding the mad doctor's hut is effective, and the film moves along at a glacial, but not insufferable pace. For completists and weirdos, luckily, we fit into both categories.

*Note this is a Spanish/ Ecuadorian co-production, not the usual Italian exploitation we generally cover.

**Apparently SOTR contains real autopsy footage. I honestly couldn't tell what was an effect and what wasn't, adding a degree of ambiguity/verisimilitude. Either way, you've been warned.

-Ryan