Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eyes (Italy, 1973)

After the disappointment of Torso earlier this month, I hoped for better luck with another ’70s Italian horror. But, alas…

Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye is currently streaming on Shudder in the UK.

Synopsis

The MacGrieff clan gather at Dragonstone Castle to mope about, snipe at each other, and occasionally get murdered. A bunch of things happen, but they don’t really feel like a story. Finally, the murderer is revealed and we can all get on with our lives.

General Thoughts

While Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eyes is pretty much a giallo at heart, it drapes itself in full Gothic drag. We’re treated to torture, murder, secret chambers, and rats with a taste for human flesh even before the title sequence is over. There are family curses, dark hints of vampirism, and creepy old mausoleums. We even catch glimpses of an orangutan skulking around like it escaped from a nearby Poe story, although it is not as orange as one might expect. Apparently the costume department only had a gorilla costume. All this is just window dressing, however, and there is little actual Gothic substance, or any substance at all.

Using a castle in the Italian countryside to stand in for the Scottish Highlands really doesn’t work, at least for people with even a passing familiarity with Scotland. A surprising number of Italians did settle in Scotland in the late Victorian era, but I can’t imagine they brought their landmarks and countryside with them. Still, the film has far bigger problems than this.

Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eyes does get points for casting both Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, just a few years after the success of “Je t’aime… moi non plus”.

Verdict

It is the laziest form of criticism to simply dismiss a work as dull. It offers nothing as an analysis and skips over whatever else the piece might have to offer. Ultimately, just saying something is a bit dull is, well, a bit dull. But, fuck me, I’m finding it hard to find another way of describing Seven Deaths in the Cats Eyes.

While there is a bit of Gothic atmosphere, this is fatally undermined by the lack of any tension. We just have the members of a family swanning around their ancestral castle, worrying about curses and family secrets. There is the occasional murder to liven things up, but they’re such muted affairs that they barely register. Too many scenes end with a zoom on a smear of blood and a sting in the soundtrack, as if to try to shake us awake. There is no sense of intrigue or even of peril, however. I hoped that at least we’d have some funny business with the ape as a treat, but its role is purely to lurk and die. At least it was spared having to hang around until the end of the film.

There were so much great horror films to come out of Italy in the 1970s, but Seven Deaths in the Cats Eyes is not one of them. Do yourself a favour and watch something else.

The October Horror Movie Challenge

Please do join in and share your own thoughts with us about this or any other films as the month goes on. You can usually find us on Twitter, BlueSky, Reddit, Discord, or lurking in the dark corners of your home.

If you would like to play along at home, my provisional selections are:

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (USA, 2021)
Tales That Witness Madness (UK, 1973)
When Evil Lurks (Argentina, 2023)
Under Paris (France, 2024)
In a Violent Nature (Canada, 2024)
Torso (Italy, 1973)
Titane (France, 2021)
Rorschach (USA, 2015)
The Coffee Table (Spain, 2024)
Dr Caligari (USA, 1989)
Bit (USA, 2020)
The Guard From Underground (Japan, 1992)
Oddity (Ireland, 2024)
Speak No Evil (Denmark/Netherlands, 2022)
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (USA, 1982)
Grave Torture (Indonesia, 2024)
Bedlam (USA, 1946)
The Innsmouth School For Girls (USA, 2023)
Daddy’s Head (UK, 2024)
All You Need Is Death (Ireland, 2024)
Eight Eyes (USA/Serbia, 2021)
Poor Things (Ireland/UK/USA, 2023)
Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye (Italy, 1973)
Longlegs (USA, 2024)
Night of Fear (Australia, 1973)
Stopmotion (UK, 2024)
Terrifier (USA, 2016)
Azrael (USA, 2024)
Faust (Germany, 1926)
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (Hong Kong, 1991)
I Saw the TV Glow (USA, 2024)

A Final Note

If you have been enticed here by these posts, please do look around at some of our other film reviews. We also have a podcast, called The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, which occasionally covers horror films. If this appeals, you might want to check out some of the following episodes.