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I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Directed by Sergio Pastore (also director of the wonderfully named 'Chrysanthemums for a Bunch of Swine') 'The Crimes of the Black Cat' is a good giallo set in Copenhagen. A blind pianist sets out to find a murderer after he overhears a conversation in a restaurant. There are many familiar giallo elements but it puts them together in an entertaining way that holds ones' attention until the last frame. (A window frame in fact.) The explanation of the crimes at the end is too rushed but apart from that the pacing is fine. It looks good in 'Technicolour' and 'Techniscope'. Manuel De Sica provides a dramatic music score.Anthony Steffen is believable as the blind pianist and is supported well by the other members of the cast, some quite familiar from this genre. Giovanna Lenzi as the drug addled Susan Leclerc is particularly good. One feels her pain. There is a black cat of course and this one has creepy piercing eyes. After a short while I thought I'd definitely identified the killer but by the end it turned out I was wrong. But then good giallos do that.

After his ex-lover is murdered, the first in a series of slayings, blind pianist Peter Oliver (Anthony Steffen) tries to piece together the clues to find out who is responsible.Killers in gialli often use a distinctive weapon: an open razor, an ice-pick, a saw, a toothbrush. OK, so I made that last one up, but it's no more silly than the weapon of choice in The Crimes of the Black Cat: a black cat with its claws dipped in curare. When the moggy gets a whiff of a liquid cat repellent, poured onto a yellow shawl, it lashes out at the wearer, the poison on its claws causing instant heart failure.Other than this ridiculous modus operandi, it's business as usual for Sergio Pastore's 1972 giallo, with a convoluted plot (that shamelessly borrows elements from its contemporaries), red herrings aplenty, a murderer in black gloves and hat, and a protagonist who, despite being as blind as a bat, proves far more adept at solving a mystery than the police.Although the film is pretty standard fare, gialli fans should still find much to enjoy, with random female nudity and, of course, some graphic violence: although the moggy murders don't allow for much gore (other than a couple of scratches), Pastore more than make up for this in the shocking finale with one of the most brutal killings that the genre has to offer, a bloody razor attack while the victim is taking a shower that includes one shot that rivals the nipple slicing in Fulci's The New York Ripper for sheer nastiness.I have to admit that the reveal of the killer's identity and motive left me a tad confused, but it's not the first time I've been nonplussed by a giallo and I'm sure it won't be the last. 6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for the sadistic shower death scene, the crazy killer cat and that hilarious freeze frame at the end.

The Crimes of the Black Cat is a pretty typical Giallo, which takes influence from many of the more established genre classics. The central character is blind, which is an idea lifted from Argento's 'The Cat o'Nine Tails', and the style and plotting is clearly reminiscent of Argento's early work. The black cat is an animal often seen in horror films, and that's down to Edgar Allen Poe and his famous story about the ominous animal. The way that the cat is used in this film is good because it's instrumental to the plot (unlike other Giallo's which mention a cat in the title and barely even feature one), but it really has to be said that the modus operandi used by the murderer is completely ridiculous even for a Giallo. The plot focuses on Peter Oliver; a blind, yet rich man who finds himself at the centre of a murder investigation when his girlfriend is killed. It seems that someone has a grudge against some of the local fashion models, and all the murders have the common theme of a yellow shawl being found next to the dead victims. But how do you catch a murderer that you cannot see?Director Sergio Pastore, while taking many themes from across the Giallo genre, hasn't decided to make the film as bloody as some of its counterparts. The murder weapon doesn't allow for too much of the red stuff, but even so; it comes as a huge shock at the end when this placid film explodes with a Psycho-style shower sequence that features some of the most disgusting gore in the entire Giallo genre; and almost makes up for the lack of blood in the rest of the film. There is a lot of sleaze in the movie, however, and this is shown through ideas such as lesbianism and drug use; and that in turns blends well with the depressing urban climate in which the movie takes place. The acting is nothing special, but it's not bad in Giallo terms. Antonio De Teffè does well in the lead role and succeeds at convincing us he is actually blind. There are no real stars in the film beside him, and the lack of a heroine doesn't do the film too many favours either. Overall, this is a rather strange entry in the Giallo cycle as it has a number of good and inventive moments; but it's all encased around a lot of borrowing and tributes. Still, i wouldn't hesitate to rate this film as a success and it comes recommended to Giallo fans!

De Sica's below-average score notwithstanding (and they do count a lot in these movies, don't they?) this is a satisfying giallo with all the key elements included and none of them bungled. Granted, a lot of those key elements are ripped right from other movies, and the direct influence of Psycho, Black Belly of the Tarantula, Blood and Black Lace, Lizard in a Woman's Skin and most of all Cat O'Nine Tails doesn't win it points for creativity, but it's all handled as though it were the first film ever made so you don't really mind. The plot, with its typically and gloriously dumb motive for the killings (in this case a car crash in the past, as was the case with Seven Orchids Stained in Blood) moves along at a fair pace, and making the hero blind gives him a sympathetic attraction most giallo heroes lack. It's not as good as any of the films from which it's descended but nevertheless a solid entry in the genre.