El gato negro

Demons 6 (1989)

* (out of 4)

Here's yet another example of the Italian horror genre and their crazy titles. Lamberto Bava made DEMONS and DEMONS 2 but when DEMONS 3 had its title changed to THE CHURCH the producers then took Bava's THE ORGE and made it DEMONS III. Then, for no reason, Michael Soavi's THE SECT was released as DEMONS 4 while Mr. Bava made THE DEVIL'S VEIL, which was pretty much a remake of his father's BLACK Sunday, only it was released under the fake title of DEMONS 5. Then, that same year, director Luigi Cozzi made a film called THE BLACK CAT, which then was released as DEMONS 6. Oh yeah, Cozzi also intended this to be the third chapter of Dario Argento's at the time incomplete "Three Mothers" series, which had SUSPIRIA and INFERNO. I'm certain most fans aren't going to consider this to have anything to do with the Argento movies and I think it's fair to say that in reality there are only two movies in the DEMONS series. The rest were simply named to cash in on something.

The film has an actress (Florence Guerin) and her director husband (Urbano Barberini) getting ready to make a movie based on the witch in SUSPIRIA. They plan on making the movie but the actress/wife begins to be haunted by the witch who doesn't want a movie based on her. Soon bodies are starting to pile up as the actress slowly loses her mind and crosses over into the world of possession. No matter if you call this DEMONS 6 or THE BLACK CAT, there's no denying that this is one major disaster that doesn't work on any level let alone fit in with the Argento films or even the earlier DEMONS flicks. There are several scenes where the Argento movie is mentioned so director Cozzi certainly wanted to at least link his films to SUSPIRIA but let's get real here. This is just a major hack fest that doesn't have a single thing going for it. For starters the screenplay is a downright joke as it never really makes too much sense. We start off with the actress making a version of Poe's The Black Cat and then we jump back and forth to other events. Most of her visions have the witch showing up in a mirror and one sequence has the mean witch puking up green slime and blood. There are a couple gory deaths scenes but they too look incredibly silly including one where a woman's heart begins beating so fast that it explodes out of her chest. Another throat slashing doesn't impress either. The performances are hard to judge thanks in large part to the horrid dubbing but Euro favorites Caroline Munro and Brett Halsey appear as another actress and producer.

I have watched a lot of schlock and I really love 80s horror and the stuff coming out of Italy in the 70s and 80s. However, this film has no redeeming qualities, zilch. Most movies have at least 1 or 2 things going for them, be it the effects, the camera work or the atmosphere, but this movie just feels cheap, cheap, cheap.

Story sucks, the actors suck, the English dub sucks, the effects suck, the atmosphere sucks. Even a guy like Cozzi can do better, what were they thinking?

'Black Cat' (1989) (aka 'Demons 6: De Profundis') I saw this today on Amazon Prime Videos. It's an Italian made horror film. This description intrigued me "Ann Pritcher is a new mother and actress in her husband's film. A film about a terrible witch, Levana, whom Ann is playing. But when Ann starts researching the part of Levana, she is haunted by visions." I like older Italian made horror films like those starring Barbara Steele. Often they had a haunting Gothic look and off beat stories compared to run of the mill American made movies. I cut all foreign films some slack because maybe the English dubbing isn't always the best and the film might be better in its native language. This film even beyond the laughable dubbed English is a total mess. The effects are laughable and the story is dragged out with nothing of real interest to it. Who ever did this seems obsessed with bright neon like lights for a scary effect. They like to have the bright light, especially green, emitting from windows, refrigerators, drinking glasses, eyes...everything but the black cat's butt. And the gore was also laughable. They also seem to like using green goo...just looks like pea soup. I don't like overly gory films, this didn't bother me because it was so phony looking. It seems anyone using the title 'Black Cat' or the like can pretend it's based on a story by Edar Allen Poe to attract viewers. About the only tie in to this is Mr. Poe's name may have been mentioned someplace in the dialog. Frankly this film, and I use the word "film" loosely, was not worth my time. I give it a 0 rating but the IMDb forces me to make 1 the lowest.

Il Gatto Nero aka The Black Cat does not belong to the best horror movies Italian style, but still - the atmosphere is dark and creepy, the visuals top notch for a B-movie of the early 80s, on top we get some hand-made gore (not that CGI-nonsense of modern days). The story is maybe a little too confusing and misses some momentum here and there, but anyway, The Black Cat is classic horror Italian style and beats most of today's Hollywood "horror" movies easy, and it got that shot of nightmare-like state that makes it rather special. Recommended if works of Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, Umberto Lenzi and Dario Argento are regulars on your menu.

Despite the title, Luigi Cozzi's The Black Cat has only the most tenuous connection to Edgar Allen Poe's classic tale: there are a few random black cats thrown in for no real reason, and the lead character, actress Anne Ravenna (Florence Guérin), recently starred in a movie based on Poe's novel.

Anne's next role is to be that of witch Levana, inspired by the ancient occult tome Suspiria de Profundis, the same work that provided the basis for Dario Argento's Three Mothers trilogy. As Anne prepares for the part (to be directed by her husband Marc, played by Urbano Barberini), she is menaced by the ugly old hag, who isn't too happy to be the subject of a horror movie.

The bulk of the film consists of random supernatural events, all lit using coloured filters borrowed from Cozzi's pal Argento: Levana emerges from a mirror to spew green slime over Anne's face, makes the Ravenna's fridge malfunction (how evil!), causes intestines to spill from their TV (she really has it in for home appliances), grabs Anne through a wall, conjures up an otherworldly repairman to fix the fridge (no, really), and in the film's goriest moment, sends a woman's guts flying through the air (an effect borrowed from Cozzi's own Alien rip-off Contamination). Meanwhile, Anne's friend Nora - Caroline Munro, still looking good at 40 - is having an affair with Marc, which adds nothing to the plot (not that there is much of a plot anyway).

It's all incredibly dumb and makes no sense whatsoever, with pointless shots of planets and stars, and a foetus only adding to the confusion, while the bizarre use of sudden bursts of rock music at inopportune moments only adds to the silliness (Bang Tango's Someone Like You is used at least four times, Cozzi getting his money's worth).

2.5/10, generously rounded up to 3 for the erupting stomach (an oldie but a goodie). It says a lot that The Black Cat is even worse than Argento's own, seriously sub-par Mother of Tears.