IL GATTO DAL VISO D'UOMO

Written and directed by Marc Dray, this is a 44-minute ode to all things giallo. It makes little sense but is visually appealing and largely adheres to the rules of the genre.

It opens with a young female dancer thumbing a lift at night from middle-aged Octavien (Jean Phillipe Lafargue). She invites him for a drink as her way of thanking him for the ride.

It transpires there is a killer in the area, preying on young women: a killer known as "the cat" (the English translation of the title is, roughly, "The Cat With The Human Face").

From there, we meet some one-eyed fogie who seems to be a crime overlord of some description. I'm not entirely sure - the storyline becomes vague rather quickly. It matters not: this baffling scene is followed rather swiftly by a dialogue-free set-piece involving a killer resembling Cameron Mitchell's faceless guise in BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, and a total riff on the score from TENEBRE.

As the film progresses, there are more beautiful set pieces to enjoy and more illogical outbursts of seemingly random dialogue to muddle through. Thank fuck for The Cat, who binds everything together with his stylish kills.

Clearly shot on a very low budget, IL GATTO is very stylish and benefits from some wonderful cinematography and atmospheric lighting. Dray and company have clearly done their homework when considering the visual ambience of vintage gialli.

But the film is still shot on digital (my initial reaction to the opening shot was "aah, this looks like those FANTOM KILER/SEDUCER flicks" ...). So despite coloured filters, smoky atmospherics and imaginative camerawork, it stills looks cheap.

Performances are weak. The script is disjointed and awkward. The pace is quick but also erratic. The whole thing reeks of a short that's been stretched too far for its own good.

Those are the downers. What works best in the film, aside from the considered lighting and camerawork, is a sterling genre-savvy soundtrack score from Abberline. The score is truly great, despite blatantly ripping off some of gialli's finest moments. You'll recognise them when you hear them.

There are also some great set pieces involving the terrorisation, chasing and eventual murders of women too (fast-forward to 17 minutes in for a prime example). Again, they are indebted to the parent films of the genre - but are executed with skill and style: it's hard not to be impressed with the end result.

Alongside the likes of AMER and BLACKARIA, it's great to see aspiring filmmakers pushing for the resurrection of the giallo. But none have got it quite right just yet. Given a decent budget, I'd love to see what Dray could do.

The DVD packaging claims the film is 16x9 enhanced but it's not: it's presented in non-enhanced 2.35:1. The framing is good and colours are strong, but images do look a little soft and bled-in.

2.0 audio is provided in the original French language and is a clean, consistent track throughout. Subtitles are available via their own sub-menu page. These are offered in English, Spanish, Italian and French. The English ones were easy to read and mostly free from typing errors.

Oh My Gore!'s disc opens to a static main menu page which is complemented by more of the excellent score.

From there, a static scene-selection menu page allows access to the main feature via 6 chapters.

Extras on this well-produced disc begin with a 28-minute interview with Dray. It all looks good (widescreen, split-screens, and so on) but unfortunately is in French with no subtitles. I like that Dray has a copy of the French video of Jesus Franco's FACELESS on the shelf behind him while he's chatting in his home ...

"Bande Originale du Film" is an excellent 10-track option to listen to the brilliant score in isolation. It actually sounds beefier here than it does on the main feature. What a great extra this is.

A perfect accompaniment to the above is a 12-minute interview with chain-smoking Abberline. He has a vinyl copy of the soundtrack to FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET strategically placed to his left. Again, this is presented in French with no subtitles.

A 2-minute trailer for the main feature is presented in non-anamorphic 2.35:1 and is happily subtitled.

Two short films follow: "Model", and "Happiness". The former is more like a music video - it tells a story through quickly-edited black-and-white stills and bad music. Still, it manages to engage with some nasty images throughout its 3-minute running time. When narration does come into play though, there are - again - no assistive subtitles.

The latter is 4 minutes long. Again, in French with no subtitles. It's a shame as this one looks like being fun (gory too). Nice soundtrack on this one too ... but, hmm, have they got a licence to use Metallica's "Fight Fire With Fire"? You know how arsey Lars Ulrich can get about these things ...

Both of the short films are directed by Dray.

Finally, a photo gallery and trailers for other titles (SPECIALITE DU CHEF; SURVIVANT(S); I'LL NEVER DIE ALONE; SLEEPAWAY CAMP 2: UNHAPPY CAMPERS) complete the impressive set.

The whole thing comes packaged in a highly attractive digipack casing.

IL GATTO DAL VISO D'UOMO comes on yet another splendidly realised disc from the increasingly interesting Oh My Gore! label. The film is a mixed bag, but the disc is excellent.

Review by Stuart Willis