MovieChat Forums > Il gatto a nove code (1971) Discussion > Is Four Flies' better than this? I was ...

Is Four Flies' better than this? I was a little disappointed...

posted 17 years ago by JimLoneWolf
5 replies | jump to latest

I love Argento, loved Bird with the Crystal Plummage, and was riveted for the first half hour or so of this film.

But then...it all started to go downhill. The murders got repetitious and somewhat overdone, and that scene in the tomb went on FOREVER!!

Also, Karl Malden's presence was just ridiculous. He really sticks out like a sore thumb (sore nose?) in this movie.

On the whole, I'm glad I saw it, but just barely.

Four Flies on Gray Velvet is the only cannonical Argento work (aside from The Stendahl Syndrome and his other widely panned post-90 work) I stll haven't seen. I don't think it's available on dvd...which makes obtaining a copy difficult.

Is it worth the trouble, or can I wait until a decent dvd release?

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] BrianCTyler 15 years ago

I like FOUR FLIES better than CAT O' NINE TAILS. It felt scarier to me, the identity of the killer is more surprising and the motive behind the killings is so Argento. I also thought the murder sequences were creative, they didn't show a lot of blood but he added a lot of detail to the murders.

[–] stevieg-13 14 years ago

Greetings,

I have to agree here. While CONT was not terrible (I liked Malden BTW), it was far more conventional than FFOGV. Maybe its just Mimsy Farmer!!!!

In any case FFOGV, I think introduced a fairly common device Argento has used. Specifically the hiding of a, or the, key clue in plain sight. I'll go no further for those who may not have seen FFOGV.

bye,

s

[–] JimLoneWolf 14 years ago

Stop watching Argento movies altogether!? Lets see, I've seen Suspiria, Phenomena, Deep Red, Tenebre, Bird with the Crystal Plummage, Inferno, and Opera and loved them all. I even enjoyed Trauma, which wasn't quite as good as the others. So no, I won't "stop watching his movies". I simply think ALL of those films were superior to CAT.

You, on the other hand, didn't like the ending to Opera (which I had no problem with)...so might I suggest YOU stop watching Argento films?

But then, that would be stupid.