Wow! Such a good movie.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Two Evil Eyes is a collaboration by two horror masters; George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead), and Dario Argento (Suspiria). Special effects are also provided by the top name in horror movies of the period, Tom Savini. To top it off, both stories are based on works by Edgar Allan Poe, arguably one of the largest influences on works of horror, well... ever. And the efforts of these great names quite lives up to expectations. In fact, it may succeed them if you are aware of the decline in the quality of output by both of these directors around this time period. Romero's next film after Two Evil Eyes was the appalling King adaptation The Dark Half, and Argento's the lukewarm Trauma. So if one is knowledgeable of this it would be nothing but natural to approach this film tentatively. Fortunately, your fears will be calmed. The first half is titled The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, and is based on the Poe short story of the same name. Romero's adaptation is a fun and concise update. The storyline is engaging, easy to follow, well acted, well shot. I wouldn't say that it's going to blow your mind but it's certainly enjoyable. Argento's effort, as would be expected, was somewhat more complicated. In terms of quality, plot, and appearance. The Black Cat is, mainly, based on the well known Poe story of the same name. It also incorporates nods to other works by the author and the main character's last name is Usher. The story is somewhat muddled and confusing, but that really comes with the territory when Argento is concerned. There are also a few questionable set choices but overall I really found the second half very enjoyable as well. Overall I really think that Two Evil Eyes is a pretty damn enjoyable selection and probably more even than I've made it sound. It's better than its place in the filmographies of the respective directors would suggest as well.

I like the film - it was entertaining. I wasn't crazy about the ending, it ended way to abruptly for me but otherwise a decent watch. It's two short stories - about one hour each.1st: "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" - A very wealthy older man is dying and his young wife is after all the money. The wealthy dying man has a young doctor that his wife is seeing. The doctor keeps him alive to sign papers through hypnosis - signing all over to the wife. They have to keep him alive for awhile longer to get all the paperwork taken care of but the man dies while under hypnosis... is he still alive? Has the wife gone crazy? I really love this first one - I wasn't expecting what happens after the man dies. Kept my interest all the way through! 8/10 2nd: "Black Cat" - A woman finds a black cat and decided to keep it. She lives with her photographer boyfriend who is not crazy about cats but says okay to her keeping it. Later on the boyfriend tortures the cat for photos, kills the cat and the girlfriend knows he did it. They argue a lot as he goes deeper into madness - people end up dead.A pretty good story. It starts out good, hits a lull for a few minutes, then picks back up again. After the girlfriend dies it gets really interesting! 8/10 Overall interesting anthology - I liked it.8/10

I saw this 2 parter on The Horror Channel. I totally agree with the other two reviewers here, part one is lame, looks like an episode from a naff '80s TV prog, is acted badly and George A Romero's talents have been wasted.Black Cat, the second, however, with a fine actor performing well - Harvey Keitel - manages to carve itself some great scenes, a few of which are truly blood-curdling. Yes, it does need some of its fat cut off, but that's applicable to 90% of horror flicks.If you are a cat lover with a sensitive nature, this is best avoided. Even though immediately after the last frame has faded we get an American Animal Humane Society certificate that states clearly 'no animal was...' etc, its very prominence means it was heavily on the mind of someone involved that many of moggy's scenes could be upsetting.As for the actual story, well, it's all a bit over the place but involves photographer Keitel, who hates cats and his common-law wife has a black one. He disposes of it, shall we say and when she gets another, he takes photos of himself "disposing" of that one too, for a book that he gets published. Obviously, his partner isn't too happy about this state of affairs, she moans a lot and then she disappears....There's a nod or two to 'Psycho' in the way she 'disappears' but I'm not going to say any more than that, apart from that it's worth seeing. It's probably worthy of 8/10, whereas the first, just two or three.

Here we have two stories based off the works of Edgar Allen Poe, directed and written by George Romero and Dario Argento - The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar, and The Black Cat. You would think that such a communion would cause the world to rotate off its axis! I've written several reviews discussing the works of Argento and I've even covered a few of his films - to spare yourself the lecture, travel back and familiarize yourself. I was very excited to finally get the chance to view this film, since I am a huge fan of 1982's Creepshow, and the 1987 follow up Creepshow 2 - two anthology films that combined the creativity of Stephen King and Romero. While Romero was not responsible for directing the second installment, his talents were recognized in the screenplay. Naturally when I realized that Two Evil Eyes was another anthology, I was thrilled! Especially since I greatly admire the work he did on Tales From the Darkside, an anthology TV series that ran from 1984-1988.***The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar - Directed/Screenplay written by George Romero***The lead female role, Jessica Valdemar, is played by John Carpenter's ex-wife Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog 1980, Swamp Thing 1982, Creepshow, and notable television work). The premise concerns Jessica's attempt to cheat her terminally ill father out of his assets with the help of her lover, Dr. Robert Hoffman. They achieve this by hypnotizing Ernest Valdemar with the intent of falsely misleading the lawyers that require certain paperwork to be completed on his behalf. Suddenly, Mr. Valdemar goes into cardiac arrest during a hypnosis session and his body is moved into the basement. Then...moaning and other noises are heard throughout the night.It's also worth mentioning that Tom Atkins appears in this story as Dectective Grogan. Atkins has been in a number of horror films himself, with The Fog, Creepshow, Halloween III: Season of the Witch from 1982, 1988's Maniac Cop, the 2009 remake of My Bloody Valentine, and 2000's Bruiser which I'll be reviewing in just a bit. He seems to gravitate towards the role of an old-school detective even if its a minor one. There are some who claim that Romero laced this story with an undercurrent theme of capitalism but I just enjoyed it for what it was. It was Poe's genius that created this tale but it's very entertaining to watch Romero adapt the story into film and revisit, yet again, the walking dead. There is also a very good adaptation of this Poe tale in 1962's Tales of Terror with Vincent Price, Joyce Jameson (Amaryllis from The Comedy of Terrors!), and Basil Rathbone.***The Black Cat - Directed/Screenplay written by Dario Argento***Rod Usher, played by Harvey Keitel, is a crime scene photographer who lives a gritty and harsh lifestyle in comparison to his girlfriend Annabel, who enjoys playing the violin and appreciating the arts. When Annabel introduces a new cat into the house hold, Usher grows increasingly violent towards the animal - eventually causing him to murder it. Several days after its death, Annabel grows suspicious of the whereabouts of her pet, and even concludes that Usher played a part in its disappearance. A stray cat with identical markings of the diseased animal is brought home, much to the surprise of Usher, who attempts to kill it once more. The madness that follows thereafter, builds to an exciting finale.It's a relief that Argento had access to English-speaking actors and did not have to resort to dubbing the audio - this enables the film to rest alittle easier on the viewer's patience. I read that Argento mixed several different elements from Poe short stories into his version of The Black Cat. The character name of Rod Usher, short for Roderick Usher, assuredly, is taken from another Poe short story entitled The Fall of the House of Usher - which happens to be a personal favorite of mine! Tom Savini even makes a cameo but most of his work is realized in the form of special effects. This is such a great combination of talent on all fronts...even when Argento fails to deliver in every other department, his vision, at least aesthetically, is always represented so morbidly; it's fantastic. Argento guarantees you that much.**An 18-year-old Julia Benz also appears in this film as a young violin student. You may know her as Rita from the hit TV show Dexter featured on Showtime.In conclusion, Two Evil Eyes is a must-see for anyone who appreciates anthology films, a must-see for anyone that loves Argento, and a must- see for any Romero fan. The stories chosen may not touch accurately enough to be considered true derivatives of Poe's work...but out of the many adaptations that I've seen, this almost always seems to be the case.