The Cat o' Nine Tails (Italian: Il gatto a nove code) is a 1971 Italian giallo thriller film written and directed by Dario Argento; it was his second film as director. Although it is the middle entry in Argento's so-called "animal trilogy" (along with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Four Flies on Grey Velvet), the "cat o' nine tails" of the title does not directly refer to a literal cat, nor to a literal multi-tailed whip; rather, it refers...
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The Cat o' Nine Tails (Italian: Il gatto a nove code) is a 1971 Italian giallo thriller film written and directed by Dario Argento; it was his second film as director. Although it is the middle entry in Argento's so-called "animal trilogy" (along with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Four Flies on Grey Velvet), the "cat o' nine tails" of the title does not directly refer to a literal cat, nor to a literal multi-tailed whip; rather, it refers to the number of leads that the protagonists follow in the attempt to solve a murder. A heavily edited 90-minute version also exists. This shortened print, which omits most of the violence and references to homosexuality, was released to videotape in the early 1990s.
Though successful in Europe it was dismissed in the United States. Argento admitted in the book Broken Mirrors, Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento that he was less than pleased with the film. In fact the director often cites it as his least favorite of his films.
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