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Customer Reviews of The Black Cat

One of Lucio Fulci's best!
This is one of my favorite Fulci films. I personelly think the only reason this film is marked down is for its lack of gore, which I find unjust. Shure the film doesn't have a lot of gore. But the plot, cinematography, and the super natural overtones were superbe! Any Fulci/Poe fan should check this one out. Also if anyone even remotely liked the Black Cat story in Roger Corman's Trilogy Of terror should see this film aswell(interesting bit of trivia: Fulci made this film as part of a tribute to Roger Corman's The Black Cat in Trilogy Of Terror). jak

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Fulci's underappreciated gem.
Along with Manhattan Baby, The Black Cat stands as one of Fulci's most maligned movies of this period of his career. Personally, I feel that in many ways this is a much better film than Manhattan Baby, but also not quite as enjoyable. Manhattan Baby reached for stars that its budget and writing never quite allowed it to achieve, failing in many of its attempts but still aspiring to be greater than the sum of it's parts.

The Black Cat is a much more grounded film, allowing the audience's knowledge of Poe's tale, along with the beautifully photographed English landscape to pull the film along. One notices almost right off that this movie doesn't really feel much like a Fulci film at all. There is some gore, but most of it is limited to blood flow, shed without the huge spurting wounds, or chunks of human flesh that the maestro is so well known for. The story moves with a linear feel, not jumping around, or making huge leaps in logic that the average viewer couldn't possibly follow. And the action, while present never hits the nerve shattering breaking point that usually accompanies a Lucio Fulci film.

This movie is more a tribute to the gothic Poe adaptations of Roger Corman from the 60's; as if directed by an eye obsessed Pete Walker. Fulci pulls in the bizarre landscapes, the paranoid actions of the locals. And a lighter, more humorous tone than usually permeates his films, and he does it all beautifully.

The most fun part of this film is by far the title feline himself (or herself, one never really knows). The cat runs and attacks playfully through the movie, dubbed with near lion level roaring, and thrown into the faces of his victims by some off camera hands. Plenty of unintentionally funny scenes occur as a result of this unthreatening cat clawing peoples hands and faces into bloody shreds. But despite these shortcomings, the animal does have a certain personality all its own. Fulci's countless eyeball close ups really make the audience feel as if we are bonding with the cat, which makes the scenes of it's intended demise that much more powerful.

If you are a fan of Fucli, Eurohorror, or Poe, you should be able to find something in this movie that will appeal to you. Don't come in expecting nothing but wall to wall gore, this film is much different than that. But then again, those people who get mad when Fulci's movies aren't wall to wall gore never really understood his work anyway.

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Didn't really seem like a Fulci film.
The Black Cat (Lucio Fulci, 1981)

Always remember, the title credits say the film is 'freely' adapted from Poe's story. 'Freely' may be the understatement of the year. Best not to think on Poe's tale until the final ten minutes.

The killer kitty is at the center of the story, causing a series of accidents in a small Scottish town whose inspector, Wilson (Fulci regular Al Cliver), gets expsterated and calls Scotland Yard. They send in Inspector Gorley (David Warbeck, who also teamed with Fulci for The Beyond the same year). Gorley and Wilson, with the help of plucky American photographer Jill Trevers (sixties biker bad girl Mimsy Farmer), try to solve the crimes while working out what an aging, eccentric mystic (Patrick Magee) has to do with it all.

And now, the part that will make Fulci fans wonder who really directed this movie: there's no eye scene, and there's no spider scene. In fact, it's almost as if Fulci wanted to tone down the gore and make an atmospheric, gothic horror/romance, but without the romance (except for one sex scene that would barely rate a PG-13 today).

Fulci himself considers this movie a disaster. Who am I to disagree? Well, I will, at least in part. It's certainly watchable enough, if confused. It's not Zombi or The Beyond, but it's got its endearing points. Worth a free rental. ** ½