Crimes of the Black Cat

CRIMES OF THE BLACK CAT from 1972 is an example of what happens when giallo tropes run a film RIGHT off the rails! hehehehe  Now, don't get me wrong - I actually liked the film and watched the whole of it, but it's just not a great film. It's goofy in many, many ways.

Our hero is blind pianist Peter Oliver played by Anthony Steffen of "Play Motel" and "The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave"'. He gets caught up in a series of murders and plays amateur detective with the help of his ex-girlfriend and personal assistant to try to solve the crimes. We get a lot of hand holding help from the ex while the personal assistant describes crime scenes and evidence to Peter. Genius Peter puts the pieces together - the shawls found at the crime scenes, the odd smell coming from the mysterious hooded figure that keeps passing him, and various other details that allow him to solve the crime. But....is there more to it all?

Damn right there is. heheheheh

The film is bonkers. The blind pianist angle is classic giallo - person out of their small pond into the ocean of crime. The way he sorts things out is hilarious. He happens to be around the hooded figure at random times. Massive leaps in logic everywhere. The police letting him enter crime scenes with his two helpers and pawing evidence.

And, I am going to spoil something here - be warned.

The main murder weapon? Remember those shawls I mentioned? Well, turns out they have been sprayed with a chemical that makes cats FREAK OUT! And, those cats? They have claws dipped in poison so that when they scratch you...you die. BAWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!  Elaborate.

It all makes for several "Wait.....WHAT?!" moments that I loved.

When the killer is found out and takes our hero out to kill him, he doesn't just shoot him, shove him into traffic, stab him, or push him into a huge hole that happens to be in the floor of the building he takes Peter to. Nope! He tries to hit him with a friggin' huge construction shovel that moves at the pace of a two legged dog.  Do they shove him into the hole after that? Noooooope. More Austin Powers style slow death trappings.



There's a fun little wrap up that makes the whole of it worthwhile, but this is definitely the B Team of gialli in my humble opinion. But, a B Team effort that's still a fun watch!