Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key

A very decent giallo, the atmosphere in this one is great.

The plot is interesting enough I guess. This film really just does nothing to set its self apart... and there is way to much nudity. The plot of this film is definitely not generic in someways but it just isn't particularly great or thought provoking either. Stylistically, it is very much your basic giallo. Okay but not great. A good watch for fans of the genre but a skip otherwise.

Giallo masterpiece that borrows from Poe This is the type of movie that followed me after I had viewed it. The acting is superb, throughout. Despite the fact that most Italian directors of that time insisted on using a sound set instead of micing in their actors, it resonates with beautiful collages of mastery. The twists in the story arc it in ways that are unique and interesting. Even though they treated the servant like racists, the overwhelming sympathy for the characters is something that shines through the story. This is a feat that is not possible, usually. I loathed the part where they mutilated the cat, who was an onscreen presence throughout the movie. Loved this movie.

Sergio Martino's classic giallo is a sleazy, sexual reworking of Poe's 'The Black Cat'. Martino adeptly handles the intricate plot and the three lead actors give memorably delicious performances. Definitely one of the more interesting genre pictures.

Boy men just do not know what two women could possibly do in the bedroom, do they? Like most giallos, this has a better title and poster than movie. That said this is definitely one of the more watchable ones as far as plot goes. Dopey but amusing and decently brisk.

Ah, is there a finer combination than Sergio Martino and Edwige Fenech in a '70s Giallo? A freaky author ends up with a dead mistress and that's just the beginning as more bodies pile up and we get all the usual tropes of the genre to keep you guessing about the identity of the killer. Great stuff and one that I would use to try to turn others on to the genre if they express an interest. Recommended.

A decent example of an Italian Giallo Thriller directed by Sergio Martino, a workhorse director who dabbled in many genres but made several effective Giallo films bask in the day. Luigi Pistilli (AKA 'Mitch' Pistilli from Sergio Leonne;s For A Few Dollars More) plays Oliver, an embittered booze-swilling writer with a bad case of writer's block. The hedonistic Oliver hosts parties with young counter-culture types while tormenting and abusing his wife, Irina (Anita Stindberg). Several gruesome murders occur, is Oliver the killer? Does Irina harbour a secret? And what of the writer's late mother (an Italian Countess) and her still living black cat Satan have to do with all this. If you pick up the Blu Ray or research the film further on-line it will be noted that it is based on a certain Edgar Allen Poe story. Lots of sex (Stinberg and the equally lovely Edwige French are on display here); red herrings; a suspicious police Inspector; and an exotic but foreboding Italian mansion; and early 1970s fashions. All the ingredients for entertaining viewing.

Dated, sexist, misogynistic and casually racist, this loose adaptation of Poe's The Black Cat works best when sticking to the source material.

A ridiculous and pretty boring mix of infidelity, spousal abuse, black gloved killers (of course!) and Edgar Allen Poe's The Black Cat, only worth watching for the pneumatic Miss Feneche

The Italian Giallo is a Privileged Room but Sergio Martino has a Skeleton Key--Martino, Fenech and a cat named "Satan"!!