The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Features the Best Dario Argento Twist

I recently decided to watch The Bird with the Crystal Plumage again, because I realized that the last time I saw this film was when I was 19 years old. I had forgotten so much of this film, except for the one thing that stayed with me: the twist.

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

The movie follows the typical horror slasher formula of the mystery behind the killer's identity, and we get gory Giallo deaths thrown into the mix!

A man named Sam witnesses a woman named Monica get stabbed by the murderer that has already killed three women. Monica is saved and reunited with her husband, and Monica thanks Sam later for saving her life. Despite the happy outcome, Sam can’t help but feel that he missed an important clue during the attack.

Toward the end of the film after surviving multiple attacks, continuing his own investigation, and even saving his girlfriend from being killed, he finds out the truth.

Monica and her husband are the killers behind the murders.

It turned out that her and her husband are in some sort of sick killer duo, and her husband was willing to become a killer to protect the woman he loved. She was trying to kill her husband on that night that Sam witnessed her attack, but her husband was able to win that battle.

What made this scene so creepy to me, as Sam kept trying to remember what he saw that night, was when he kept thinking about that moment while Monica was reaching toward him.

I don’t know if it is just me, or perhaps it was the director’s intention, but it looks like Monica was laughing in that scene.

That part of the film still scares the crap out of me to this day, because Monica looks so freaking creepy in that scene…

Monica's husband dies by falling out of a window, taking the blame for all of the attacks. Once Sam figures out the truth, he goes after Monica, and finds that his girlfriend has been kidnapped by her. Monica reveals herself as the killer to Sam, and she even laughs manically. During a crazy chase sequence, Sam gets trapped by one of Monica's artifacts in her home.

Monica taunts him during this scene, and while Sam is about to accept his death, she is stopped by the authorities. We then get a crazy reason why Monica snapped and became a killer.

Monica was once attacked by a killer herself.

During the middle half of the film, Sam was so determined to find a specific painting that was somehow linked to the killer. The painting depicted a woman getting attacked by a killer, and it was honestly a damn creepy painting.

This had happened to Monica many years ago, and instead of seeing herself as a victim, she identified with the killer. I have never seen such a disturbing killer backstory like this one, and it's freaking creepy as hell. Monica is arrested, and we finally get 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 felt so awesome to see Sam and the love of his life both get the ending they deserved. They both had been through so much, and I was glad to see them finally be able to leave from this nightmare.

It’s a fantastic film, and one of my favorite Dario Argento films!

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn