The Bird with the Crystal Plumage: Argent's Cleverest Revelation

I recently rewatched The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, as I realized the last time I saw this film was when I was 19 years old. I had forgotten so much about this film, except for the one thing that stuck with me: the twist.

This Dario Argent film has the best twist of all his films.

The movie uses the typical horror slasher formula of the whodunit type regarding the killer's identity, and we have gruesome Gallo murders thrown into the mix!

A man, Sam, witnesses a woman, Monica, being attacked by the murderer who has already killed three women. Monica is saved and returned to her husband, and Monica afterward thanks Sam for her life. As far as there is a happy ending, Sam cannot help but feel that he lost an important lead when the attack occurred.

Toward the latter part of the film after fighting off some attacks, doing his own investigating, and even saving his girlfriend from being killed, he learns the truth.

Monica and her husband are the killers behind the murders.

It turned out she and her husband are involved in some twisted killer couple, and her husband was ready to become a murderer for the woman he loved. She had been trying to murder her husband that night Sam witnessed her attack, but her husband was able to win that battle.

What was rendering this scene so unsettling to me, as Sam persisted in attempting to remember what he saw that night, was when he kept pondering the moment while Monica was trying to contact him.

I don't know whether it is just me, or if it was what the director had in mind, but it seems like Monica was laughing in this scene.

That part of the film scares the crap out of me to this day, 'cause Monica appears so darn creepy in that part…

Monica's husband falls from a window to his death, blaming all the attacks. Once Sam finds out the truth, he goes after Monica, and finds out his girlfriend has been kidnapped by her. Monica reveals herself as the killer to Sam, and she even maniacally laughs. During a crazy chase sequence, Sam gets trapped by one of the relics in Monica's home.

Monica is teasing him here, and just when Sam is about to face his death, she gets interrupted by the police. We then get a crazy backstory as to why Monica lost it and turned into a killer.

Monica was attacked by a killer herself before.

In the middle of the film, Sam was so fixated on searching for a particular painting that was somehow related to the killer. The painting depicted a woman being stabbed by a killer, and it was seriously a damn creepy painting.

This had happened with Monica years before, and instead of considering herself the victim, she sympathized with the killer. I've never seen such a horrific killer backstory like this one, and it's freaking creepy as hell. Monica gets arrested, and we finally have justice for all the victims that the killer couple had murdered.

The film ends with Sam and his girlfriend leaving the country, both of them smiling. It was such a wonderful feeling watching Sam and the love of his life both get the ending that they deserved. They had both been through so much, and I was glad to see them both be able to leave this nightmare once and for all.

It's such an amazing film, and one of my own personal favorite Dario Argent films!

Thank you for reading!