Did you people see the same film I saw?

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I read the quick summary of Black Cat on wikipedia after watching the episode "The Black Cat" from Masters of Horror series and it was one hell of of a story and one hell of a movie when it got all the right ingredients of a creepy story on chop with the runtime about less than an hour.Masterful directed by Stuart Gordon plus his partner in crime Jeffrey Combs as Edgar Allan Poe himself will forever be my definition of Poe on cinema

Not being familiar with the works of Poe does not, and should not, keep you from watching this episode of the Masters of Horror series.The story is well chiseled out and grips you firmly and keeps you nailed to the seat till the very end. The entire atmosphere is marvelous. There are so many small and fine details. It has a very gloomy feel to it, which heightens the experience all together.And of course the cast plays a huge part. They all shined through here, putting on good performances and bringing their characters to life in a believable fashion. Especially Jeffrey Combs, wow! He is amazing in this role.There is a constant underlying feel of dread and frustration to "The Black Cat", and it works so well. The effects are good, and you will be kept thrilled till the very end. No major scares though, but that doesn't really matter, because the intense feeling from the atmosphere more than makes up for that.There certainly are a vast difference in appeal and quality to the episodes of the Masters of Horror series, and for me, this is one of the better. It is genuinely thrilling and compelling without being over the top.

Well, one more version of "The Black Cat". Let's see...Dario Argento has done it, Lucio Fulci has done it, Sergio Martino has done it and that's the ones I can think of right now. Others have adapted "The Black Cat" as well. But I'll be damned if this isn't the finest version I've seen so far.The aforementioned directors put a different spin on the story and that's the case here as well. The original story's writer, Edgar A. Poe, is the central character. Not only do you get the important elements from "The Black Cat", you also get a glimpse of the author's life as well. Poe, living in poverty with his sick wife, succumbs to drinking and fearing he may have lost the talent to write. But salvation appears in the form of that fateful black cat.We're used to seeing Stuart Gordon (and Jeffrey Combs, for that matter) in H.P. Lovecraft territory and those collaborations resulted in the gruesome twosome "Re-Animator" and "From Beyond", both excellent horror films. Gordon is no less skillful in adapting Poe to the screen and his "Black Cat" is a superb combination of tragedy and gruesome horror.The love story between Poe and his wife is wonderfully handled and the gruesome bits are masterfully executed as well, no small feat to achieve. This is also thanks to a wonderful central performance by Jeffrey Combs who's had a nearly flawless career in horror movies.The sets are great and the scenery wonderfully atmospheric. This is one of the best "Masters of Horror" episodes.Highly recommended.

Edgar Allen Poe(Jeffrey Combs, a bit hammy but still entertaining)is really struggling to find the inspiration to write another tale of the fantastic as his darling wife Virginia is slowly dying from tuberculosis("The White Plague")and his damn cat Pluto seems to be more irritating than usual. Living in poverty and drinking heavily, Poe is sliding into an abyss of sadness and depression. Virginia wishes to sell her beloved piano and Edgar returns from another round of gobbling booze so the idea of talking finances seems moot. A visitor, hoping to purchase their piano, is witness, along with drunken Edgar, to Virginia's beautiful playing only to see the horror of her throat's blood vessel bursting resulting in lots of splatter. Blood all over the piano and floor as Pluto drinks a little from a puddle. Very soon, Virginia can no longer stand very long and is practically bedridden. But, they are so poor(..and Edgar makes so little for his work during this period)and burdened with debt that their doctor will no longer invest in the welfare of her condition. With his wife at death's door and a creative drought lasting endlessly, Edgar is slowly growing mad and Pluto the cat just won't keep away from the pet goldfish and canary. He even claims that the cat is "killing" Virginia as Edgar spots it around her face when he walks into the bedroom. Soon she's passed on and he is at the point of no return..blaming the poor cat, Edgar cuts out his eyeball and eventually hangs him. Yep, cat lovers may wish to look elsewhere for their entertainment. With no money to properly bury his beloved, Edgar decides to leave her casket open while burning down the home they lived in..while Pluto hangs from the neck in death. Little does he know that Virginia actually awakens from the dead and Edgar carries her from the flaming house to live elsewhere. Yet, he will be haunted by the sound of a cat and the shadows of the feline loom around him.Stuart Gordon presents a stunning looking film which might appeal to gorehounds and B&W Gothic horror fans alike. One image seems directly inspired by Tourneur's "Cat People" as a frightened Edgar walks hurriedly from a bar he just got thrown out of as a large panther-like shadow follows him across the stone walls of buildings. There's a nasty "head-splitting" scene where an unfortunate victim stands in the way for Pluto as Edgar lunges an ax directly into said person's face dicing the skull. The blood-vessel burst is a nasty bit of business as Stuart has sprays and gobs of the thick red stuff landing on the camera and piano keys. It's clear Stuart had to add a little black humor within the sad scene as the cat drinks from a blood puddle as if it were milk. The effects are amazingly accomplished on such a tight budget using both make-up effects and computer generated work. I watched the behind-the-scenes documents on the making of the short film from the Masters of Horror brand and the creation of the special effects and make-up. Combs looks very similar to Poe. My only real problem is the dialogue which seems rather modern, but I dealt with it okay, I guess. I think Gothic horror fans would fall in love with Stuart's use of black and white photography, splicing bits of color within. The setting, I felt, was pretty accurate for that time period considering the smallish budget this kind of production has. I am kind of curious if the twist at the end will work for many..I kind of thought it works as a presentation of a troubled artist finding inspiration through a bout of dementia.