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Movies like The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

Key Features:
Giallo, Murder mystery, Serial killer, Witness, Investigation, American expatriate, Rome, Targeted, Violence-moderate, Psychological thriller, Voyeurism
Tone:
suspense-driven, serious, stylized
Target Audience:
Thriller enthusiasts, Mystery fans, Foreign film buffs, Cult film aficionados
Emotional Arc:
Intrigue → Suspense → Revelation

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

1970-02-27
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Poster - Find Similar Movies

An American writer living in Rome witnesses an attempted murder that is connected to an ongoing killing spree in the city and conducts his own investigation, despite he and his girlfriend being targeted by the killer.

Genres
Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Cast
Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno, Eva Renzi, Umberto Raho, Renato Romano, Giuseppe Castellano, Mario Adorf, Pino Patti, Gildo Di Marco
Crew
Dario Argento, Dario Argento, Dario Argento
Rating
7.1(808 votes)
The Bird with the Crystal PlumageThe Bird with the Crystal Plumage
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Dark Glasses
4.7

Diana, a high-class prostitute trying to escape from a serial killer, suffers a car accident that leaves her blind and kills the family of Chin, a ten-year-old boy.



The Stendhal Syndrome

A young policewoman slowly goes insane while tracking down an elusive serial rapist/killer through Italy when she herself becomes a victim of the brutal man's obsession.



Tenebre
Tenebre(1982)
6.8

A razor-wielding serial killer is on the loose, murdering those around Peter Neal, an American mystery author in Italy to promote his newest novel.



The Bloodstained Butterfly

When a young female student is savagely killed in a park during a thunderstorm, the culprit seems obvious: TV sports personality Alessandro Marchi, seen fleeing the scene of the crime by numerous eyewitnesses. The evidence against him is damning... but is it all too convenient? And when the killer strikes again while Marchi is in custody, it quickly becomes apparent that there's more to the case than meets the eye...



The Fifth Cord
6.514

A journalist finds himself on the trail of a murderer who's been targeting people around him, while the police are considering him a suspect in their investigation.



Do You Like Hitchcock?

A nerdy film student and lifelong voyeur begins to believe that two lovely young strangers may have conspired to commit a brutal murder.



Four Flies on Grey Velvet

Roberto, a drummer in a rock band, keeps receiving weird phone calls and being followed by a mysterious man. One night he manages to catch up with his persecutor and tries to get him to talk but in the ensuing struggle he accidentally stabs him. He runs away, but he understands his troubles have just begun when the following day he receives an envelope with photos of him killing the man. Someone is killing all his friends and trying to frame him for the murders.



Opera
Opera(1987)
6.759

A young opera singer is stalked by a deranged fan bent on killing the people associated with her to claim her for himself.



Giallo
Giallo(2010)
4.2

In Italy, a woman fears her sister has been kidnapped; Inspector Enzo Avolfi fears it's worse. They team up to rescue her from a sadistic killer known only as Yellow.



A Lizard in a Woman's Skin

Carol Hammond, daughter of a politician, has vivid nightmares involving sex orgies and LSD. In a dream, she murders a neighbor she envies and wakes up to a real investigation into her neighbor's murder.



Torso
Torso(1973)
6.597

A masked serial killer with psychosexual issues strangles female coeds with scarves before dismembering them. When a wealthy student identifies one of the scarves and thinks she has a lead on a suspect, she becomes the killer's next target, retreating to her family's remote cliffside villa with three of her girlfriends.



Blood and Black Lace

Isabella, a young model, is murdered by a mysterious masked figure at a fashion house in Rome. When her diary, which details the house employees' many vices, disappears, the masked killer begins killing off all the models in and around the house to find it.



Sleepless
Sleepless(2001)
6.1

An elderly and retired police detective and a young amateur sleuth team up to find a serial killer whom has resumed a killing spree in Turin, Italy after a 17-year hiatus.



The Cat o' Nine Tails

A newsman works with a blind puzzle-solver to uncover a deadly conspiracy linked to a genetic research facility.



Deep Red
Deep Red(1975)
7.7

An English pianist living in Rome witnesses the brutal murder of his psychic neighbor. With the help of a tenacious young reporter, he tries to discover the killer using very unconventional methods. The two are soon drawn into a shocking web of dementia and violence.



The Black Belly of the Tarantula

Inspector Tellini investigates serial crimes where victims are paralyzed while having their bellies ripped open with a sharp knife.



The Facts of Murder

A police inspector comes into contact with people of all types and dispositions during a grueling murder investigation.



Dressed to Kill
7

After witnessing a mysterious woman brutally slay a homemaker, prostitute Liz Blake finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police thinks she is the murderer, the real killer is intent on silencing her only witness.



Almost Blue
6

A police inspector suspects a serial killer is afoot in the university city of Bologna, luring in his victims through online video chats before murdering them and assuming their identity.



The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh

When socialite and heiress Julie Wardh begins receiving blackmail letters attributed to a mysterious serial killer, she suspects her cruel and sadistic former lover Jean is behind them. With her husband Neil frequently out of town, she falls into the arms of her friend's cousin George, and as the unknown assassin begins to make his move, she fears that one of the three men in her life may be the killer.



The Assassin
6.8

Suave antiques dealer Alfredo Martelli is picked up by the police with no justification. At the precinct, Martelli realizes what the investigation is all about-- that he is the main suspect in the killing of his wealthy ex-lover. Is he guilty, or is he just a sleaze?



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

Oliviero is a drunk, burned-out writer who amuses himself by hosting orgies at his grand country manor and humiliating his wife Irina. When a number of women are murdered in grisly fashion, Oliviero becomes a prime suspect.



Strip Nude for Your Killer

After a fashion model dies during a botched abortion, the doctor stages her death to exonerate himself but is murdered by a mysterious assailant who soon begins hunting down her agency colleagues.



The Aura
The Aura(2005)
6.951

A quiet, epileptic taxidermist plans the perfect crime. All he needs is the right opportunity. An accident, perhaps…



The Card Player
4.4

Policewoman Anna Mari is forced to play a dangerous game with the title serial killer. If she loses, she witnesses the maniac's tortured victims having their throats cut in explicit close-up detail via webcam. She teams up with British cop John Brennan to find out the identity of the murderer.



The Case of the Scorpion's Tail

After her husband dies in a freak plane accident, a woman leaves London for Athens to collect his generous life insurance policy. She soon discovers that others besides herself are keen to get their hands on the money - and are willing to kill for it. Meanwhile, a private investigator arrives to investigate irregularities in the claim, teaming up with a beautiful reporter.



In a Glass Cage
6.8

A mysterious teenager named Ángelo cares for Klaus, a German doctor with a dark past who lives trapped in an iron lung.



Macabre
Macabre(1980)
5.683

A middle-aged woman, traumatized from the death of her adulterous lover, moves into a room at a New Orleans boarding house where the blind landlord becomes suspicious to her activities of continuing her affair with her dead lover.



The Monster
6.954

A vicious serial sex killer is on the loose, and landscape gardener and shop-window outfitter Loris is the prime suspect, thanks to his unfortunate habit of getting caught in compromising situations (for which there is always a totally innocent explanation that the police fail to spot). Undercover policewoman Jessica is assigned by eccentric police psychologist Taccone to follow Loris.



The Phantom of the Opera

A series of terrifying accidents and brutal murders leave a bloody trail into the subterranean caverns of an Opera house. Below the theatre stalks a man raised by creatures of the underworld.



The Flesh
The Flesh(1991)
5.523

A beautiful film which is basically about a man, a piano player, who meets and falls in love with a beautiful and voluptuous woman, who, by some strange procedure, leaves the man unable to move but with a permanent priapism! After some time he becomes sick of it and she relieves his paralysis. Eventually she gets bored and decides to leave, but he can't take it because he loves her…



Seven Blood-Stained Orchids

A maniac on the loose is committing savage acts of slaughter, and one survivor may be the only key to unmasking the serial slayer known as the Half-Moon Killer. The mysterious half-moon lockets he leaves with his victims could be the only key to unraveling his sinister motives, but will that be enough before he completes his ice-cold plot to claim his intended seven victims?



Don't Torture a Duckling

A reporter and a promiscuous young woman try to solve a series of child killings in a remote southern Italian town rife with superstition and a distrust of outsiders.



The Birds
The Birds(1963)
7.52

Thousands of birds flock into a seaside town and terrorize the residents in a series of deadly attacks.



The Ritual Killer
5.8

Unable to process the death of his daughter, Detective Boyd embarks on a hunt for a serial killer who murders according to a brutal tribal ritual: Muti. The only person who can help Boyd is Professor Mackles, an anthropologist who hides an unspeakable secret. The line between sanity and madness thins as Boyd goes deeper into the killer’s world.



The Suspicious Death of a Minor

Police detective Paolo Germi and the mysterious Marisa meet each other at a dance hall. Germi is unsuspecting of the secret Marisa is carrying with her: adverse conditions forced her into prostitution. As Germi finds the young girl brutally murdered, he decides to go after her killers. During his investigation, he enters a world of intrigue and obfuscation that leave an endless trail of blood.



Phenomena
Phenomena(1985)
6.8

A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.



Death Laid an Egg
5.52

A love triangle develops between three people who run a high tech chicken farm. It involves Anna (who owns the farm), her husband Marco (who kills prostitutes in his spare time) and Gabriella (the very beautiful secretary). Marco continues to kill as jealousy becomes more prevalent on the farm.



The Pale Blue Eye
6.812

West Point, New York, 1830. When a cadet at the burgeoning military academy is found hanged with his heart cut out, the top brass summons former New York City constable Augustus Landor to investigate. While attempting to solve this grisly mystery, the reluctant detective engages the help of one of the cadets: a strange but brilliant young fellow by the name of Edgar Allan Poe.



Frank & Lola
5.617

A talented Las Vegas chef falls in love with an aspiring fashion designer but turns violently jealous when he realizes that she's hiding dark secrets.



Malignant
Malignant(2021)
6.8

Madison is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities with a mysterious tie to her past.



Death Walks at Midnight

Valentina, a beautiful fashion model, takes an experimental drug as part of a scientific experiment. While influenced by the drug, Valentina has a vision of a young woman being brutally murdered with a viciously spiked glove. It turns out that a woman was killed in exactly the same way not long ago and soon Valentina finds herself stalked by the same killer.



The Raven
The Raven(2012)
6.3

A fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet is in pursuit of a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories.



The Psychic
7

A woman with psychic powers has a vision of a murder that took place in a house owned by her husband.



The New York Ripper

A burned-out New York police detective teams up with a college psychoanalyst to track down a vicious serial killer randomly stalking and killing various young women around the city.



Eyeball
Eyeball(1975)
5.667

A group of American tourists is traveling through Spain when two of them are murdered by a mysterious serial killer who removes an eyeball from every one of its victims. The tour presses on as the murders continue, with the travelers and the police trying to deduce which one of them is the killer.



The Editor
5.575

A one-time (and now one-handed) master film editor toiling in the cinematic sweatshops of 1970s Italy becomes the prime suspect in a series of brutal murders.



Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eyes

In a small Scottish village, horribly murdered bodies keep turning up. Suspicion falls upon the residents of a nearby castle that is haunted by a curse involving a killer cat.



Bianca
Bianca(1984)
7.5

Eccentric and full of manias, Michele is a young high school professor who defines himself as “not used to happiness”. He realizes his life is meaningless if he doesn’t have a woman by his side but, after a series of rather disastrous experiences, he feels more alone than ever. Then, out of the blue, a new French teacher called Bianca arrives at school. Amongst uncertainties and contradictions, the two start dating. In the meantime, a series of homicides take place and a police officer begins to suspect that Michele is involved. Bianca will save him providing an alibi at the right moment, but then, everything goes wrong again.



The House with Laughing Windows

A young restorer is commissioned to save a fresco representing the suffering of St. Sebastiano, which was painted on the wall of a local church by a mysterious, long-dead artist.



Tony Rome
Tony Rome(1967)
6.303

Tony Rome, a tough Miami PI living on a houseboat, is hired by a local millionaire to find jewelry stolen from his daughter, and in the process has several encounters with local hoods as well as the Miami Beach PD.



The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz

A bizarre black comedy about a man whose overwhelming ambition in life is to be a renowned serial killer of women, and will stop at nothing to achieve it - but not everything goes according to plan...



La Commare Secca
6.6

Roman police detectives interrogate a series of potential perpetrators in their struggle to determine whom to arrest for the brutal murder of a beautiful prostitute whose body is discovered in a park on the day of a torrential rainstorm. One by one, the prime suspects -- girl-crazy teenager Nino, pickpocket Canticchia, a soldier on leave, a tourist and a pimp -- recount the events of the day to the police, each insisting he is innocent.



Julia's Eyes
6.654

Julia, a woman suffering from a degenerative sight disease, finds her blind sister Sara hung in a basement. Despite all signs pointing to suicide, Julia decides to investigate what she intuitively feels is a murder case.



The Body
The Body(2024)
6.533

Rich entrepreneur Rebecca Zuin has died from an alleged heart attack, raising suspicions on the part of a police inspector after her body disappears from the morgue. When her handsome young husband becomes a suspect, he starts thinking she may have faked her death to sadistically torment him.



The Lovebirds
6.1

A couple experiences a defining moment in their relationship when they are unintentionally embroiled in a murder mystery. As their journey to clear their names takes them from one extreme – and hilarious - circumstance to the next, they must figure out how they, and their relationship, can survive the night.



The Key
The Key(1983)
5.984

Art professor Nino Rolfe attempts to break down his wife Teresa's conventional modesty. Noticing her affection for their daughter's fiancé, Nino instigates her sexual interest in him - setting off a chain of unexpected events and emotional complications...



Anamorph
Anamorph(2007)
5.1

A psychological thriller based on the concept of anamorphosis, a painting technique that manipulates the laws of perspective to create two competing images on a single canvas.



Totò diabolicus
7.1

The marquis Galeazzo di Torre Alta is murdered by a mysterious killer who calls himself Diabolicus. His heirs are his three brothers and a sister, but all of them, with the exception of Monsignor Antonino di Torre Alta, are killed by Diabolicus. The police are unable to solve the case, but when Antonino gives his inheritance to Pasquale Bonocore, illegitimate son of his father and Pasquale is in prison and therefore can't be the killer, all the clues are in the hand of the police.



Murder-Rock: Dancing Death

The world of dance can be brutal. The rehearsals are grueling. The competition is fierce. At the Arts for Living Centre in New York City, the best of the best are dying for a part in a major production. But only a select few will be chosen. The selection process seems to be at the hands of mysterious killer who pierces women's bare breasts with a hatpin, puncturing their hearts. Ambition and jealousy appear to be the motive, which makes everybody a suspect!



Vertigo
Vertigo(1958)
8.155

A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.



Roma
Roma(1972)
7.2

A virtually plotless, gaudy, impressionistic portrait of Rome through the eyes of one of its most famous citizens.



Death Walks on High Heels

Exotic dancer Nicole finds herself terrorized by a black-clad assailant determined on procuring her murdered father's stolen gems. Fleeing Paris in hopes of evading her knife-wielding pursuer, Nicole arrives in England only to discover that death stalks her at every corner.



The Great Beauty
7.505

Jep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.



A Pure Formality
7.417

Onoff is a famous writer, now a recluse. The Inspector is suspicious when Onoff is brought into the station one night, disoriented and suffering a kind of amnesia. In an isolated, rural police station, the Inspector tries to establish the events surrounding a killing, to reach a startling resolution.



Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion

Rome, Italy. After committing a heinous crime, a senior police officer exposes evidence incriminating him because his moral commitment prevents him from circumventing the law and the social order it protects.



Paranoia
Paranoia(1969)
5.9

Following the death of her wealthy husband, American widow Kathryn West migrates to Italy and takes up a reclusive existence in a luxurious villa. After quickly succumbing to the charms of a local man, she lets him move into the villa and the two are later joined by his sister, which soon leads to complications.



Spasmo
Spasmo(1974)
6.059

While walking along the beach, Christian and his girlfriend discover a mysterious woman washed ashore. The following day, Christian meets the woman again at a yacht party and soon finds himself entangled in a web of lust, intrigue and murder.



The Nest
The Nest(2002)
6.5

Laborie is a high-flying officer in the French special forces. Her mission is to escort Abedin Nexhep, a godfather of the Albanian mafia. Charged with heading a wide-reaching prostitution network, this formidable criminal is due to stand trial before a European court. During the transfer, killers hired by Nexhep set up an ambush to free their boss but Laborie and her men manage to escape...



Rome, Armed to the Teeth

A tough, violent cop who doesn't mind bending the law goes after a machine-gun-carrying, hunchbacked psychotic killer.



The Double Hour
6.111

A chambermaid and a former cop meet at a speed dating event and a romance develops. But during a romantic getaway things suddenly take a turn for the worse when her mysterious past is revealed.



Amuck!
Amuck!(1972)
5.7

A beautiful American woman infiltrates the home of a novelist and his wife so she can investigate the disappearance of her lover — who was her employers’ previous secretary — and soon finds herself the target of the couple's erotic desires and a murder plot.



Terrifier
Terrifier(2011)
6.113

After witnessing a brutal murder on Halloween night, a young woman becomes the next target of a maniacal entity.



The Perfume of the Lady in Black

Sylvia, an industrial scientist, is troubled by strange hallucinations related to the tragic suicide of her mother.



Almost Human
7.028

A psychotic small-time criminal realizes that the everyday robberies, rapes and murders he commits aren't profitable enough, so he figures to hit the big time by kidnapping the daughter of a rich man.



The Blue Gardenia
6.5

Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.



The Woman in the Window

An agoraphobic woman living alone in New York begins spying on her new neighbors only to witness a disturbing act of violence.



The Mother of Tears

An ancient urn is found in a cemetery outside Rome. Once opened, it triggers a series of violent incidents: robberies, rapes and murders increase dramatically, while several mysterious, evil-looking young women coming from all over the world are gathering in the city. All these events are caused by the return of Mater Lacrimarum, the last of three powerful witches who have been spreading terror and death for centuries. Alone against an army of psychos and demons, Sarah Mandy, an art student who seems to have supernatural abilities of her own, is the only person left to prevent the Mother of Tears from destroying Rome.



Trauma
Trauma(1993)
5.79

A young Romanian woman and a recovering drug addict launch an unlikely investigation after her parents are murdered by a vicious serial killer known as The Headhunter.



Simon Killer
5.787

A recent college graduate flees to Paris after a break-up, where his involvement with a prostitute begins to reveal a potentially dark recent past.



The Voyeur
5.5

At a college in Rome, a professor, nicknamed "Dodo" is in a deep depression. His stunningly beautiful wife has just left him for another man. Dodo wants her back very badly and has erotic daydreams about her. A beautiful young student in his class asks him for a ride home and seduces the lucky man, but still he wonders about his wife and her lover.



The Ugly
The Ugly(1997)
5.906

A female psychologist wants to understand the minds of a confessed serial killer who spent the last five years in a mental hospital because of his state.



Rear Window
8.3

A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.



The Flock
The Flock(2007)
5.638

Erroll Babbage has spent his career tracking sex offenders and his unorthodox methods are nearly as brutal as the criminals he monitors. When he links one of his deranged parolees to the disappearance of a local girl, he and his new partner must scour the S&M underground to find her before it's too late.



The Bedroom Window
6.326

Baltimore, Maryland. Sylvia sees a girl being attacked from her lover Terry's bedroom window. The assailant flees and his victim is saved. But that same night another girl is found murdered.



The Butcher
6

Alina is a brilliant and enterprising woman who runs a successful art gallery in Palermo. Her husband Daniele, a successful orchestra conductor, cultured and intelligent, is not a regular presence. One day, while accompanying Daniele to the airport, Alina feels a sense of emptiness. She will try to fill it with a butcher who is always joking and full of erotic allusions and who arouses a strong attraction in her.



The Aviator's Wife
7.2

A student is devastated when he finds that his girlfriend is cheating on him. In order to find out why she did it, he decides to spy on her and her airline pilot lover. Then he sees the pilot with a blonde woman and he begins to follow them…



Magical Nights
6.069

Rome, 1990. The night Italy's national football team is eliminated from the World Cup by Argentina on penalty kicks, a well-known film producer is found dead in the Tiber river. The main suspects for the murder are three young aspiring screenwriters, who–promptly taken to the police–start to tell their version of the story.



What Have You Done to Solange?

After several Catholic school pupils are murdered, a teacher who is having an affair with one of his students becomes a suspect. When other gruesome murders start occurring shortly thereafter, the teacher suspects that he may be the cause of them.



Horsemen
Horsemen(2009)
5.909

A recently widowed detective still grieving over his wife's death discovers a shocking connection between himself and the suspects in a serial killing spree linked to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.



Reptile
Reptile(2023)
6.662

Following the brutal murder of a young real estate agent, a hardened detective attempts to uncover the truth in a case where nothing is as it seems, and by doing so dismantles the illusions in his own life.



The Boston Strangler

Boston is being terrorized by a series of seemingly random murders of women. Based on the true story, the film follows the investigators path through several leads before introducing the Strangler as a character. It is seen almost exclusively from the point of view of the investigators who have very few clues to build a case upon.



City of Women
6.9

The charismatic Snaporaz encounters an alluring woman on a train and pursues her through a forest. He ends up at a hotel populated by women gathered for a feminist conference, where he is an unwanted presence. Snaporaz soon discovers he’s entered a phantasmagoric world where women have taken power.



The Invisible Witness

Adriano wakes up in a hotel room next to the dead body of his lover, Laura. The door is locked from the inside and there is no evidence of anybody else in the room.



The Sect
The Sect(1991)
6.2

A spree of grisly murders is perpetrated in Frankfurt by a group of Satan worshippers. A lonely schoolteacher almost runs over an elderly man and takes him in, unbeknown to her the man has plans for her – plans that involve a permanent future with the Satanic cult.



Repulsion
Repulsion(1965)
7.4

Beautiful young manicurist Carole suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen, leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend, Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.



Watcher
Watcher(2022)
6.476

As a serial killer stalks the city, Julia — a young actress who just moved to town with her husband — notices a mysterious stranger watching her from across the street.



In the Cut
5.1

A New York City writing professor, Frannie Avery, has an affair with a police detective who is investigating the murder of a beautiful young woman in her neighborhood.



Twixt
Twixt(2011)
5.074

A washed-up horror novelist arrives in a sleepy town on a book tour, only to stumble into a string of eerie murders. Haunted by dreams of a ghostly girl named V and guided by the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe, he’s drawn into a nightmarish world where fiction and reality blur—and the story he’s chasing leads back to his own buried guilt.

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