The Wild Pussycat exists in two radically different versions. Firstly there’s the export version which is a wild psycho-sexual thriller. That’s the movie Dimis Dadiras and Giannis Tziotis wanted to make, but there was no way it could be released in Greece. So a whopping 25 minutes was cut from the film and replaced by footage which turns the movie into a straightforward crime thriller with a totally different plot. Mondo Macabro’s Blu-Ray release gives us both versions, with the export version in English. It’s obviously the export version with which this review is going to deal.
Nadia (Gisela Dadi) is trying to find out why her sister Vera committed suicide. She finds Vera’s diary and the tragic sordid take unfolds in a series of flashbacks, intercut with scenes from the present as Nadia seeks revenge.
The other interesting thing is that The Wild Pussycat was remade in 1975 by Joe D’Amato as Emanuelle and Francoise (AKA Emanuelle’s Revenge). The stories are pretty much identical. The best ideas in D’Amato’s movie were lifted directly from The Wild Pussycat. The only difference is that the endings are slightly different.
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Vera had been living with a good-looking sleazebag named Nick (Kostas Prekas). One day Vera arrives home to find Nick in bed with his new girlfriend. He hands Vera her suitcase. Vera leaves and then throws herself in front of a car.
From reading Vera’s diary Nadia concludes that Nick was totally responsible for her death. Nadia decides that Nick will have to pay. But it will be a woman’s vengeance. Only a woman could devise a scheme like the one Nadia cooks up.
The plan will only work if Nick walks into her trap. That won’t be a problem. Nadia knows that if she offers sex as the bait Nick will go for it.
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Nick has always manipulated women. Not only does he not know what to do when a woman manipulates him, it doesn’t even occur to him that a woman could be more fiendishly cruel and manipulative and devious than he is. He just has no idea what is about to happen to him.
Nadia’s revenge is delightfully perverse but I’m not going to spoil the movie by offering you any hints as to its nature. It’s much more fun when you don’t know exactly what she’s planning.
Gisela Dadi doesn’t have to do all that much in the way of acting but she needs to look right. She needs to look like the sort of women who could persuade Nick to do what she wants. And she has to give off the right crazy vibes. Gisela Dadi proved to be a perfect choice on both counts. She's a very striking woman. I love her eye makeup.
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Kostas Prekas is wonderfully slimy and nasty as Nick and he adds a nice touch of outraged self-pity when the nature of Nadia’s revenge becomes clear to him.
The movie was shot in black-and-white and takes full advantage of the black-and-white 60s aesthetic.
Dimis Dadiras keeps the plot steaming along at a brisk pace.
So the big question is which film should be preferred, Dimis Dadiras’s The Wild Pussycat or Joe D’Amato’s Emanuelle and Francoise? I think it’s largely a matter of taste. Both are worth seeing. Dadiras’s movie is perhaps just a bit more genuinely perverse and of course Dadiras gets extra points for coming up with the idea first. I think Emanuelle and Francoise is well worth seeing but perhaps The Wild Pussycat has the edge.
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Mondo Macabro have included both the export and domestic versions on their Blu-Ray released plus a bonus feature film, another Greek production, The Deserter (written and directed by Christos Kefalas in 1970).
The negative of the export version of The Wild Pussycat has been lost so Mondo Macabro had to reconstruct it using materials from a release print and from the domestic version. We’re warned that there may be slight print damage but in fact it’s so minor you’re unlikely to notice it. Overall the export version looks just fine.
The Wild Pussycat is a superb example of the female revenge genre with some sexploitation sleaze thrown in. Highly recommended.
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