Don't watch this film tired or drunk or you'll be asleep in seconds. Not that I'm slagging off this film, it's just that this particular giallo is very dreamy and features people wandering around tombs, creaky old houses, and tunnels in near darkness. Perseverance however is rewarding, and having been knocked out twice trying to watch this I managed to watch it during the day and found an extremely stylish and atmospheric film that's low on gore and nudity but high on imagery and such like.Corringa turns up at her aunt's castle in some undetermined era (I'm guessing early twentieth century), to find her mother and aunt have been arguing about something or other. Turns out her aunt Mary ain't got a lot of cash but Corringa's mother isn't willing to give her a loan, seeing as how she can just sell the castle. Her aunt Mary's got a doctor 'friend' who she schemes with, and an eccentric son who keeps a pet gorilla. Things get weird when Corringa's mother dies and the so-called MacGrieff curse comes into play. That curse means that when a MacGrieff kills a MacGrieff, the victim will come back as a vampire! It's up to Corringa and major red herring James to find out what's going down, and it's all done in a mix of fog, flickering candles, cobwebs and that darn cat. Expect plenty of sweeping camera-work and gasping ladies. Antonio Margharetti's an old hand at these kinds of films, and I've never seen anything that's been less than good by the guy. Included in the mix is Venantino Venantini (of City of the Living Dead and War of the Robots) and the guy who looks like Peter Lorre (Werewolf in a girls Dormitory, Terror Creatures for the Grave). Do yourself a favour and try and get a cleaned up copy of this film. My copy was picked up in a street market in Rome and the visuals are so soft it's like someone smeared Vaseline on the screen. And I still enjoyed it! A nice Gothic setting for the giallo.

Gothic giallo from the late Antonio Margheriti(Castle of Blood) with the novelty of a cat always present at the scene of murders, by a leather gloved killer using a razor, which occur in and around the castle estate of the family MacGrieff.The actual proprietor of the castle, James(Hiram Keller), is deemed mad by his family doctor, Franz(Anton Diffring)and held responsible for the murder of his sister as a child. James' mother Mary(Françoise Christophe)faces a difficult financial crisis which may leave them without their ancestral home. Trying to persuade monetary backing from her sister Alicia(Dana Ghia), Mary promises Franz, who are secretly lovers, that she will keep the castle, one way or another. Alicia's daughter, Corringa(Jane Birkin), arriving unannounced after being expelled from Catholic school, will soon face a horrifying ordeal..her mother is suffocated by someone, leaving Corringa on her own to possibly face the killer whoever it may be. Could it be Mary, willing to do whatever it takes to keep the castle? Could it be James, who has such a harsh attitude towards nearly everyone(..and with a record, whether it be real or a set-up)and is considered emotionally hostile? Is it the hired french teacher, Suzanne(the delicious Doris Kunstmann who run rings around Birkin in a very sexy, albeit slutty, turn as whore hired by Franz to seduce James)who might have a concocted plan with Franz at getting their hands on Mary's estate if everyone is killed off? Is it secretly Franz, who is bedding two women under the same castle roof? As each possible suspect is eliminated we'll know soon enough. Venantino Venantini has a limited but crucial role as a trusted priest, Father Robertson.Keeping the spirit of Mario Bava alive, Margheriti uses the environment of his castle, grounds, family cemetery & crypt, really well. He tries, through some enthusiastic camera movements, to make up for a deranged screenplay. There's a lot of naughty activity taking place within the film's castle. Margheriti sure grabs you right away opening the film with a wail from this unfortunate soul, after having his neck slit, placed in a trunk, tossed down the spiraling steps into a creepy cellar, with his corpse exploding forth with rats having a grand time using his body as lunch..we see the poor guy's torn face, ripped apart and exposing the skull underneath. As always, the giallo trademark of the deck being stacked against a specific character(Lord James, who is easily recognized as a red herring, once Corringa gets involved with him, opening an incestuous love affair between kissin' cousins)is here as is the convoluted plot yielding countless twists peppered with a corrupt group of characters offering much in the way of seedy melodrama. The violence is mostly blood spray across walls after a victim is sliced off-camera. Nudity is limited to Kunstmann showing her breasts. Unusually Birkin, as the innocent, naive and jaded protagonist, doesn't get out of her clothes, although there's one juicy implied lesbian crush as Suzanne lustfully sets her eyes on Corringa as she removes her stockings. Also thrown in is James' pet gorilla(!), the proposed idea that the relatives of MacGrieff return from the dead as vampires if murdered by their own kin, and the reveal of the killer(..which seemed pulled right out of the screenwriter's ass at the last possible moment)showing that this particular film falls right in line with the giallo genre of Italian cinema which populated the screens of the 70's.

Antonio Margheriti is probably most famous among cult horror fans for his Gothic horror films, The Virgin of Nuremberg and Danse Macabre; and so it is fitting that his foray into the Giallo sub-genre is decidedly more Gothic than most. The film takes influence from a wide range of sources, one of which is shown by the central location; an old castle, not unlike any number of haunted house tales. There's also a set of characters, giving the plot a make-up not unlike that of any number of whodunits - and of course, the cat of the title, which takes influence from the great Edgar Allen Poe - only this time we've got a great big ginger moggy rather than the black cats that we're used to. The film is far more atmospheric than many Giallo's, and as the focus is always on the atmosphere...the plot does suffer a little. The film takes place in a castle known as Dragonston, and we are soon introduced to a decrepit, rat-infested, corpse. From there, we move to the dinner table, where we are introduced to an array of characters, most notably the 'master' of the castle; a self-professed madman who keeps an insane gorilla as a pet! It has to said that this film is a huge mess; we've got subplots creeping in from all the over the place, and they include the likes of vampirism, crossed-loyalties and even the animal of the title, all of which don't serve any relevance to the film by the time we reach the conclusion. The cat itself is present during almost all of the murder scenes, but it would appear to be in the film only for aesthetic value - which is fine by me. The lushly Gothic atmosphere that the central location presents is a real standout, and director Antonio Margheriti delights in showing gargoyles, cobwebbed corridors and ancient paintings, all of which help to ensure that the film is a macabre delight. The murders aren't the over the top stylish affairs directed by the likes of Dario Argento, but the razorblade that most of them are committed with harks back nicely to the traditional Giallo. It's always a bonus when you reach the conclusion of a Giallo and it makes sense, and while not everything is completely tied up here and the final twist feels a little tacked on; the reason behind the murders isn't as absurd as it could have been, and the revelation scene is one of the best things Margheriti ever directed. The film can be a bit slow in places, and the incoherency gets a little too much at times; but I really enjoyed this film, and wouldn't hesitate to name it as a standout of the genre.

Quite standard Spaghetti slasher is nowhere near excellent, but also too far from awful to merit serious critical assault. The usual Gothic castle goings-on are given no special treatment here, and the psycho-killer's carnage is strictly PG on the shocks and gore board. This film is, moreover, surprisingly atmospheric. The mossy, rustic exterior of the castle, as well as its rich baroque antique decorum, make for a great looking European horror setting. Too bad, though, that the film never really gains much momentum...I found myself looking around the room after the first 30 minutes. Fortunately, the fairly intense closing scenes make up heartily for these shortcomings.SEVEN DEATHS is a watchable enough seventy-odd minutes, but if you're an unwaning viewer of connate movies, then chances are you've seen all this done before, and probably more successfully.*** Were they feeding that cat bacon-wrapped tater-tots or something? That thing was a freakin' tank!5/10