THE BLACK CAT Synopsis: In a small English village, people are being killed left and right, and their deaths are merely called 'accidents'. Yet, the deaths are connected to a black cat and a strange man (Patrick Magee) who tries to communicate with the dead.
During the early 1980's, Lucio Fulci was directing films like THE BEYOND and THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (both 1981) for Fabrizio De Angelis and his Fulvia Film. Even so, Fulci was able to break away from Fabrizio and direct films for other production companies. And in 1981, Fulci made THE BLACK CAT for Selenia Cinematografica.
For a film adapted from Edgar Allan Poe's story, Fulci's take on THE BLACK CAT is quite different from other adaptations like Roger Corman's TALES OF TERROR (1962) and Dario Argento's TWO EVIL EYES (1989). The only scene that releates to Poe's story is the ending involving a victim being walled in with the dreaded black cat revealing the whole plan. But, Fulci does create his own vision of the Poe story and it works nicely with a great cast: Patrick Magee makes a great villian, Mimsy Farmer is the girl who investigates the black cat, and David Warbeck is an inspector from Scotland Yard who can't figure out what in the hell is going on.
And another thing that Fulci changes from his usual standards is the gore factor. From the head-drilling moment in CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980) to the head-blasting scene in THE BEYOND, Fulci was able to deliver the gore in spades. Yet, the only bloddy scenes that are on hand in THE BLACK CAT is the cat clawing people's faces. Some death scenes of impalment on a pitchfork or being burned to death are also on display, but they are not as graphic as one would expect from the Godfather of Gore. But the reason for this is due to Fulci dropping the whole 'the-gore-is-the-narrative' theme and instead focuses on the plotting and setup's.
Another change is that of the music score. Fulci's regular composer Fabio Frizzi is replaced by that of Pino Donaggio and his assistant Natalie Massara, and the results aren't bad either. Donaggio and Massara produce an elegant score that certainly echo's their other scores THE HOWLING (1980), DRESSED TO KILL (1981), CRAWLSPACE (1986), and TWO EVIL EYES (i.e., One wonders if during the scoring of TWO EVIL EYES, Donaggio and Massara had flashbacks of doing the score for Fulci's take on Edgar Allan Poe).
Anchor Bay Entertainment's release of THE BLACK CAT is presented in it's original 2.35:1 Techniscope Aspect Ratio and anamorphically enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Time has not been too kindly towards THE BLACK CAT. While restored from the original 35mm camera negative, THE BLACK CAT suffers from a few scenes that are badly deteriorated, heavy grain, and a few deep scratches on the right side of the frame that appear from time to time. However, the colors are vibrant and in brighter scenes the film looks better. Overall, Anchor Bay's presentation is way better than the old Media Home Entertainment VHS, which was taken from a U.S. print from the American distributor World Northall Pictures. Extra features are just the International Theatrical Trailer and a Lucio Fulci bio.
THE BLACK CAT is one of Fulci's most overlooked films and it's a damn shame that it is. In terms of better plotting and setup, THE BLACK CAT is certainly superior than THE BEYOND or THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY. But, Fulci fans are disappointed by the lack of gore in THE BLACK CAT. Even so, Fulci proved that he was still able to tell a suspenseful and shocking tale with limited gore. And THE BLACK CAT still delivers.
I haven't seen the Fulci version of The Black Cat, but I have the 1934 version with Boris Karloff on DVD. I like it, though of course there isn't even a hint of a gore factor.
Not sure if the two are the same plot wise though [haven't read the Poe version either] but this one involves a game of chess! Hurray for chess! Not really any cats in it either.