The Choice of Murder: Serial killer psychology in Dario Argento’s The Cat o' Nine Tails

Working as a companion book to the previously released The Delicate War: Knowing in oneself the angel from the beast through the films of Dario Argento, author Gino C. Mongelli unveils a missing chapter from that volume, heavily expanded with much new material into his latest book, The Choice of Murder: Serial killer psychology in Dario Argento’s The Cat o' Nine Tails. In Dario Argento’s 1971 film The Cat o' Nine Tails, a blind man tracks down a killer who we discover had aberrant chromosomes. However, ambiguity exists as to whether it was his genetic makeup or if it was something he experienced in life that turned him into a murderer. The Choice of Murder takes this ambiguity as an entry point to discuss the nature-vs.-nurture debate, framing the debate in terms of the twisted psychologies of killers (including garden-variety murderers, catathymic killers, serial killers, etc.) and what they reveal to us about ourselves and what role free will and choice have in all our lives. Since most of Argento’s films are, on the surface, about the hunt for a serial killer, looking into what makes murderers and similar criminals tick, and how that relates to our own psychology, is important work in terms of both analysis of Argento’s filmography and attending to our human abilities to think, self-reflect and grow. Is it all nature, all nurture, something in between, or something else entirely? To what extent are we pre-conditioned by genetic and environmental factors in our development? And beyond the substrate of all such formative influences, how much do our choices matter? These questions bring us to the free will debate, which is discussed to conclude the book. Themes specific to The Choice of Murder were heavily researched over three years, including poring over textbooks, case files and psychology journals and conducting interviews. There are nearly 200 references cited including, among others, forensic psychologist J. Reid Meloy, Carl Jung, lawmen Robert D. Keppel and John E. Douglas, trauma expert Bessel van der Kol