| Author | Message | ||
     John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.208.214.38 |
Ok I can’t help myself- it’s review time again: Don’t you just love those crazy Euro-horror directors who took a trip to the UK in the seventies and early eighties? Directors like Jorge Grau (Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue) and Jose Larraz (Vampyres) made bona fide classics. Lucio Fulci didn’t go quite that far in 1981 when he dragged DP Sergio Salvati and actors Al ‘I’m in everything’ Cliver and Daniela ‘I bet I die horribly in this’ Doria along with the rest of his gang to a sleepy English village to make The Black Cat. I watched this for the first time in over 20 years the other night, and for the first time ever in widescreen. Previously I had watched the VTC pan and scan version that, because of Fulci’s penchant for the ocular close-up, meant that most of the time the TV screen was filled with close-ups of people’s noses. The basic plot is: bonkers Patrick Magee uses his powerful mind to take over a cat who does some murders for him for the most ridiculous of reasons (‘Don’t try to understand,’ says Magee at one point, and we should respect that) and then rebels against its master, particularly after he tries to hang it. It’s actually not a bad film at all (but remember that JLP is writing this and he has a predilection for this kind of stuff), with that curious Euro-horror view of England as a place of open tombs in the middle of fields and fog-strewn graveyards (beautifully lit by the way). There’s some marvellous dialogue (“Could be worse,” says Detective David Warbeck to Sergeant Al at one point, “It could be chicken rustling”), and Daniela Doria does indeed once again end up naked and horribly dead, this time by suffocation and then being eaten by rats. Most amazing of all is Fulci’s direction of the cat which is quite incredibly good for a low budget film, especially if anyone remembers what a balls-up Denis Heroux did with multiple moggies in The Uncanny. You will believe a cat can unlock a door! Pino Donaggio’s music score is great, and reminiscent of the other impressive work he was doing at the time with conductor Natale Massara for The Howling & Dressed to Kill. I was hesitant about rewatching this but it’s a lot of shameless Euro fun. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.159.152.164 |
The phrase "bonkers Patrick Magee" is enough to sell this film to me! | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.238.216 |
A great unsung Fulci film, flawed yes, but containing much that is wonderfully and strangely horrible. Patrick Magee is oozily, deliciously weird, as ever. The dangling, undeveloped storyline about his listening in on graves, is one of the most disturbingly horrific things I've yet come across in horror film - you never quite know what's going on with all that, and it's leaves you very unsettled.... Gore, senselessness, and Magee - what's not to like?! | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.208.214.38 |
It's a lot lot better than I remembered, and like all Fulci's filoms benefits enormously from being seen uncut and in its correct aspect ratio. It sat on my shelf for ages before I watched it the other night. I think one of its strengths is that until the last twenty minutes you have no idea why any of it is happening. And yes - all that putting microphones on graves things is weird, but what I found weirder was where Mimsy Farmer goes down into that tomb at the start and doesn't seem that bothered about coming face to face with a load of skeletons hanging up. In fact that open tomb isn't even mentioned again! | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.233.186 |
THE BLACK CAT comes right dead center of Fulci's string of classics, which include ZOMBIE on one end and THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY on the other. It is saturated in that Fulci gloom, and for all its flaws, is pretty satisfying to a fanboy like me. Fulci was capable of totally unredeeming pieces of shite (DEMONIA), and though this isn't his best, it's not a bad one.... John: have you seen Fulci's THE PSYCHIC?... A strange movie, not as good even as THE BLACK CAT, but hardly as bad as HGL's THE PSYCHIC... which is so goddman bad, it's wonderful.... | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.196.208 |
Great write-up, John. I've had The Black Cat on my shelf for a few years now, and I may get round to watching it now (I keep meaning to have a mini Fulci-Fest and rewatch The Beyond, The House by the Cemetery, Zombie, and a few others). Craig, I liked The Psychic quite a bit, despite its flaws. And anything with Jennifer O'Niell (in a pre-Scanners role here) in it is worth watching... | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.226.204 |
I did like THE PSYCHIC too, Huw... it's very odd, and the ending is a bit of a let-down, but the whole is engaging enough to keep you invested... a nice flavor-builder for the Fulcis to come.... If you're going to watch "a few others," don't forget some "greats" - laugh-out-loud greats. NEW YORK RIPPER is actually a pretty good flick, overall, and hideously gory. CONQUEST shows what CONAN or the LOTR series might have been like... if they had no budget to pay anyone with talent, and were directed by someone who had no business getting anywhere near this kind of thing.... And then there's MURDER ROCK - ha! (Note the alternate titles: DANCING DEATH and GIALLO A DISCO.) | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.229.226 |
"You will believe a cat can unlock a door!" Not so unusual. My previous cat did it all the time - jumping at a doorknob until a door opened of its own accord. For a short while I had two cats, and this second animal actually helped the first by pushing while her friend hung onto the knob. Teamwork. This is not a joke, btw. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.193.5 |
Hubert, I believe you. The things cats can do are amazing. When they were younger, my two Siameses used to try to get into my room by hurling themselves at the door - I'd open the door, and they'd literally be off the floor, clinging to the door like fridge magnets. They are endlessly fascinating animals. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.199.0.235 |
I know cats can open doors - I just think that bearing in mind the massively rushed atmosphere of an Italian low budget movie set Fulci & his cat wranglers did a very impressive job. I also now think that while I've always championed Fulci for his four zombie pictures I'm now going to have to include The Black Cat and The New York Ripper (because people only hate it because it's so effective). |