The Revenging Manta, Edwige, Waldo, and I leaped from the elevator, ready for action. There were about a dozen goons wearing gas masks and rubber gloves. They were sorting multi-colored fentanyl pills and filling empty boxes of cracker jacks with them. One of them noticed us and whipped out a Beretta Tomcat. The first shot rang out, but the Revenging Manta was wise to the danger. He threw an exploding gas pellet to the floor.

Smoke enveloped the room.

— To be continued. 

Tonight’s movie is 1971’s The Cat o’ Nine Tails from Dario Argento. This is the second in what became known as Dario Argento’s “Animal Trilogy.” It’s a Giallo movie starring James Franciscus, Karl Malden, and Catherine Spaak. Some of you kids might remember Karl Malden from Billion Dollar Brain with Michael Caine. He plays a blind man named Franco “Cookie” Arnò. He gets the nickname “Cookie” from his niece, Lori (Cinzia De Carolis),  because cookies are sweet and she thinks he’s sweet. 

Franco sort of witnesses a murder. He overhears some suspicious activities from his balcony and his niece informs him that a man he had passed by earlier has been murdered when she sees his picture on the front page of the newspaper. This was a rather gruesome death. The victim was shoved into an oncoming train and you get see the body become a twisted, tangled mess. Franco is a crossword puzzle maker, but that doesn’t stop him from wanting to become an amateur sleuth. For the makers of the Hallmark Channel’s Crossword Mysteries movies starring Lacey Chabert, Dario Argento was doing it in style decades ago. Come up with some new material!

Franco joins up with a reporter named Carlo who’s investigating the murder. At this point, I’m not going to pretend that the movie has completely lost me because it has. I can’t follow Giallo movies half the time. I get the idea that the killer is on to their investigation and targeting the two newspaper men. There’s a scene where Carlo is entertaining Anna, a lady friend, and offers her some milk. Turns out the milk has been poisoned, but Carlo figures it out before Anna takes her first sip and slaps it out of her hand.

There’s a scene where Franco and Carlo have to go into a morgue containing one of the murder victims. The woman had a locket which contained a vital clue, but she was buried with it. Carlo breaks into the coffin while Franco stays at the entrance. It’s around this time that I begin to wonder if Franco is really blind or if he’s faking it. Maybe he’s the killer, but that theory is put to rest when the actual killer drags Franco away from the entrance and seals poor Carlo in the crypt with a faulty flashlight.

Apparently, Dario Argento does not care for The Cat o’ Nine Tails, thinking it one of his lesser efforts. Hey, any movie that features a psychopath getting pushed down an elevator shaft and gripping for dear life as the cables that burn his palms so bad that steam comes off them can’t be all bad.

There are worse ways to spend a summer evening. 

 Jeff Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, episode 284, episode 441, episode 442, episode 443, episode 444, episode 450, episode 477, episode 491, episode 492, episode 493, episode 495, episode 496, episode 545, episode 546, episode 547, episode 548, episode 549, episode 575, episode 596, episode 597, episode 598, and episode 599) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.