The Cat's Victims
(aka: Gatto dagli occhi di giada/ Watch Me When I Kill)
(1977)
review by Monkeyman

Mara,a young dancer,calls at a chemist to pick up some tablets.She is told by a shadowy figure that the shop is closed,and to come back later.However,unbeknowst to Mara,the real chemist has been murdered with a cut-throat razor,and Mara herself is now top of the assassins hit-list as the killer suspects that she could identify him/her.

After a couple of unsettling incidents,Mara decides to move into her boyfriends apartment.The boyfriend,Luca,decides to investigate the mysterious goings-on himself,and when his neighbour,Mr Bozzi, receives a series of threatening phone calls Luca takes a recording of the calls to a recording studio in an attempt to discover the identity of the caller.

Bozzi is now in fear for his life,and decides to skip town,moving into a quiet hotel in the country.The killer tracks him down,however,and Bozzi is strangled to death with a shower cord while he is in the bath.

Bozzis girlfriend,Esmerelad,is the next victim,scalded to death by the killer.It turns out that all the victims were jury members during the trial of a murderer,Pasquale Ferrante,and it appears that Ferrante has now escaped and is on the trail of those he believes wrongly convicted him.

As all giallo fans will be aware,however,nothing is as it seems,and a plot twist throwing in(amongst other things),nazi war collaborators, muddys the waters even further.

This is director Bidos first attempt at emulating the films of DarioArgento,and while not as succesful as his later effort TheBloodstained Shadow,it is by no means a failure,containing a number of stand-out scenes.A couple of the murders are pretty graphic,with the demise of Bozzi in the bathroom,played out to an ear-splitting background of opera music,being particularly effective.
In keeping with the Argento theme,the music by "Trans Europe Express" is very Goblin-esque and benefits the film no end.
A word of advice on which version of the film to get.The VCI DVD release of the film,under the US Title Watch Me When I Kill is a very poor release indeed,featuring terrible dubbing,a poor quality picture and poor sound.

The version to go for is the video version released by Redemption in the UK,which is far superior to the DVD in every respect.
In conclusion,while not exactly a top of the range giallo,The Cats Victims is by no means a failure and is well worth tracking down,particularly at the bargain price the Redemption tape is retailing at.