The Black Cat (1984)

This is an engaging, interesting Lucio Fulci film that tends to get overlooked a little as it was made during the period where he was mostly making very gory horror films. It's a supernatural thriller made with more restraint on Fulcis' part than usual (not that there isn't any gore; there's still some nice gruesome bits to enjoy). It's full of familiar faces and is filmed on a variety of real English locations and sets.Set in England, it's "freely adapted" from the Edgar Allan Poe tale, as it tells of mysterious deaths occurring in a small country village populated by people such as snooping photographer Jill Trevers (Mimsy Farmer) and Professor Robert Miles (old pro Patrick Magee, in one of his final roles), a crotchety old man attempting to communicate with the dead. As Jill and the intrepid Inspector Gorley (David Warbeck, also of Fulcis' "The Beyond") work the clues, she can't help but notice the cat scratches left on more than one victim. Could a demonic little feline really be the culprit?Beautiful cinematography (by Sergio Salvati), extremely impressive camera-work (by Franco Bruni and Roberto Forges Davanzati), wonderful music by the prolific Pino Donaggio, and a pervasive, weird atmosphere are all assets of this well told, reasonably absorbing mystery. It's certainly fun to watch the cast in this thing. Warbeck is a delight as the cop, Mimsy is very sincere in her performance, Magee is excellent as always, and Fulci regular Al Cliver ("Zombi 2", "The Beyond"), sexy Dagmar Lassander ("The House by the Cemetery"), and the lovely Daniela Doria (recipient of a lot of abuse in Fulci films) round out the cast."The Black Cat" is entertaining stuff that finds its director in fine form, always keeping his audience on edge. He does go for the close-up (of human and feline eyes) an awful lot, but this doesn't distract too much from the various spooky goings on, including one absolutely harrowing scene of a house (and person) catching on fire.Recommended to Fulci fans.Eight out of 10.

Awaiting to watch the main feature to the most recent DVD the I have picked up from Shameless,)I watched the pre-film trailers. Amongest the previews for the other Giallo's,the clips for this film have always stayed in my head,mostly due to the plot of the film looking so over the top.recently I have really been starting to "click" with the work of Italian director Lucio Fulci,and since this film looked like a good opportunity to see Fulci in a full flight of fantasy mode,I decide that it was time to pay a visit to Fulci's amazing pet.The plot:Looking around old ruins in a small English village,photography Jill Trevers treads on a out of place mini microphone,which looks to have been carelessly left behind.Meanwhile,a young couple decide to spend quality time with each other,by going for a day of passion in a deserted boat docking bay.Shortly after things have begun to heat up for them,the electricity suddenly goes out.Wanting to get the power back on,the boyfriend goes to pick up the door key that he had left by the side.Checking all around them,the couple make a horrifying discovery,that someone (or something) has somehow stolen the key,and has set the heating temperature of the room,to make the couple be baked to death.Relaxing in a pub,Jill hears a local tell a wild tale about a psychic who is communicating with the dead and controlling one very weird black cat.Paying a visit to local psychic Prof. Robert Miles,Trevers starts to get hypnotised by Miles talking to her about the amazing psychic powers which he posses to talk to the dead.Suddenly,the cat jumps out from nowhere,and slashes the hands of Miles.Pushing for an answer,Jill is eventually told that the reason the cat went for Robert,is due to it being a "special cat" that wants to kill him.Whilst trying to digest what she has seen,Trevers is met by Scotland Yard inspector Gorley,(who has arrived in the village to investigate a strange series of gruesome murders)who requests Trevers to come along with him to the murder scene,so that he is able to gather evidence of the killings with her photos.Arriving to the latest murder scene,Jill is sicken to discover that the latest victim is the man who had told her the "wild tale" about Miles and his black cat.As Trevers finishes taking the photos,she horrifyingly notices that the victims hands are covered with slashes,which almost look to have been done by a cat.. View on the film:Although some of the trademarks of Gothic Horror have been pushed to the side,replaced by some modern day things, (such as cars,and electricity) and no sign of any huge castles.director Lucio Fulci still gives this Giallo a tremendous Gothic foundation,with the final half an hour of this fantastic film having a strong,spooky chill,as Prof Robert Miles (played by a wonderfully nasty Patrick Magee) tries to stop Jill Trevers (played with the right mix of fear and daring by Mimsy Farmer)from getting any closer to discovering the truth about Miles's "pet" cat.Checking the clips of the film,my main initial,uncertainty about the film was not being completely confident that the screenplay would be able to keep this film away from falling into a comedy pit,instead of being a thrilling Gothic Giallo.Almost from the films opening vicious killing,I began to suspect that my fears would be proved wrong,mostly thanks to Fulci and Biagio Proietti keeping the serial killer cat story moving at a constant pace,and whilst this does allow for some of the flaws in the story to become much easier to see, (such as the ending of the film,which is an exact copy of Fulci's own Seven Notes In Nero!)the positives strongly outweigh the negatives,thanks to the film having a fantastic mix of Gothic Horror (such as Robert trying to destroy the cat,and the brilliantly atmospheric scenes of Robert talking to the dead) and Giallo (Fulci's excellent,stylish murders of the black cat,and the tense, increased suspicions of Trevers and Gorley that Miles is more than just an innocent spectator in his connection with the brutal murders)Having just become a fan of Lucio Fulci, (thanks to his highly under rated Giallo Seven Notes In Nero) I was thrilled to see that with the brilliant flight of fantasy Gothic Giallo screenplay as support,Fulci delivered on his directing, well beyond any of my expectations.due to Lucio getting rid of the "three shoot" rule, (a wide,medium and close-up shot)and instead making "simple" scenes extremely eye- catching with the camera doing some beautifully styli zed long shoots (one of my favourite moments in the film being the boyfriend of the soon-to-be murdered couple locking the door to the docking bay generator,with Fulci filming the scene by showing things heating up between the couple,and then continuing the shot by tracking the boyfriend locking the door,and then puling out,to have the camera return to is original spot-all in one shot!)When Lucio decides to show some moments in the film from the cats POV,I was left a little bit disappointed the he had not decided to film the cats pov's in a stylish way with a black and white film stock,although with Fulci brilliantly making it seem plausible that one aggressive murdering cat could put an entire village in fear ,I felt at the end of this fantastic Gothic Giallo,that here is a very impressive director,who can turn any absurd sounding story,into a full on gripping film,whose flight of fantasy are handled by a stunningly skilled hand.

If this was any other director, I would probably have given this a higher rating, but this is Fulci and, frankly, we expect better things.A mad old guy - played by Patrick Magee, the guy in the wheelchair from A Clockwork Orange - owns a cat, which he uses to kill people he isn't too fond of, but gradually the cat develops a mind of its own and is not so easy to control. Those pesky felines and their wily ways.I'll admit, there are some spooky moments, and the effects occasionally border on the gross - though nothing compared with his more famous work - but overall it has the feel of an above average Hammer movie.Not bad, but not great either.

A disturbing series of shocking fatal "accidents" occur in a sleepy small English village. Stalwart Scotland Yard Inspector Gorley (solid David Warbeck) and snoopy photographer Jill Trevers (the always charming and lovely Mimsy Farmer) investigate the rash of grisly deaths. The most probable suspect turns out to be haughty medium Professor Robert Miles (marvelously played by the great Patrick Magee), a sour outcast who's been trying to communicate with the recently deceased. Director Lucio Fulci, very loosely adapting Edgar Allen Poe's classic short story, ably creates his trademark potently brooding ooga-booga gloom-doom creepy Gothic atmosphere and stages the expected brutal murder set pieces with his customary lip-smacking sadistic flair. Sergio Salvati's sumptuously slick and sparkling cinematography makes exquisitely fluid use of smoothly gliding tracking shots. Pino Donaggio's beautifully chilling and eerie score further adds to the overall spooky tone. Fulci regular Al Cliver pops up as a friendly local police sergeant and poor Dagmar Lassander suffers a memorably fiery demise. The titular cunning, deadly and lethal feline qualifies as one genuinely scary and nasty piece of ferocious work. One of Fulci's most unjustly neglected and underrated fright features.