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The Black Cat (1981)
Over the course of time there has been countless retelling’s of the old Edgar Allen Poe story of “The Black Cat”. But I’ve always thought that one of the most unusual attempts at it would be from legendary Italian master of horror himself Lucio Fulci. Of course we all know and love Fulci because of his over the top grue filled films, as well as some very contrasting films as well that aren’t in the horror genre. This film is much different than that however as the gore is kept to a minimum and Fulci actually brings a decent amount of suspense here with this one.
Fulci’s version of “The Black Cat” is about Mr. Miles (played here by Patrick Magee which many people may remember from Stanley Kubrick’s “Clockwork Orange”) a medium who has a skill of talking with the dead. He also has the uncanny ability to communicate with his cat and uses that advantage to use the cat to take revenge on people he sees as threatening. Recently there have been accidents in the area in which Jill (Mimsy Farmer) is brought about to photograph the bodies and starts to notice the reoccurring theme of cat scratches on the victims. After visiting with Mr. Miles she starts to think that the cat is somehow involved with what is going on. But once the evil black cat realizes what’s going on he decides to give Mr. Miles some mind control of his own.
A very different and unique telling of the classic story is something that I think Fulci enthusiasts have looked over for years. Although just seeing the film for the first time, it’s one of the Fulci flicks that I’ve heard a lot of mixed feelings over. Most of that in my opinion is unfair because much like his other films that people tend to dislike it seems to be because the lack of gore and hardcore on screen violence. But instead of falling in with that crowd I see Fulci’s version of “The Black Cat” to be one of his most emblematic films of his career.
One thing that really struck me during the film was the amount of style put into a lot of the presentation of the film. With gloomy lighting, and noticeable different camera angles, as well as a lot of close ups of people’s eyes this film exists as one of his most technically sound efforts of his career regardless of people’s thoughts on the subject of the film. Proving once again that Fulci is a much better technical filmmaker than given credit for throughout his career.
Also with actors like David Warbeck and Patrick Magee you have two really strong cast members that can easily carry the film on their backs, and not surprisingly they do. All of the other characters are little more than fodder for both Magee and Warbeck but it works in this one just the same.
Overall I would recommend that people check out Fulci’s version of the Poe story, especially if you are a Fulci or Poe fan. The movie is enjoyable and still manages to bring something to the table even if you are familiar with the story and how it ends. Fulci still manages to make the story his own and bring something to the table that other directors that have adapted this tale in the past didn’t. So in my honest opinion it’s worth checking out just for that. Recently Blue Underground has re-issued the old Anchor Bay disc of the movie right down to the lacking special features of a Fulci Bio and a Trailer for the film.
Rating - ***
-Ed Demko
