Gatto nero

This is a creepy horror film plenty of suspense, chills, brutal images and gory events. Being loosely based on the story: "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe. Bizarre things are occurring in a small English village beginning when a man driving a car suddenly encounters a strange black cat in the back seat and through the mesmerizing stare, the cat causes the man to crash his car into a lamp post, killing him. The black cat travels back to its home, a rambling old house occupied by Robert Miles (Patrick Magee), a morbid and hostile former college professor of the supernatural who is reputed to be a medium. Professor Miles lives alone except for his equally hostile black cat, and spends his time making audio tape recordings at the tombs of the recently deceased. Meanwhile, a nosy American photographer named Jill Travers (Mimsy Farmer), ventures into an open crypt to take photographs for her scrapbook when she discovers a small microphone on the floor of the place. She is confronted with rare happenings: people are cruelly murdered and some of them are bitten by a cat and a person (Bruno Corazzari) has a lethal fall. But she doesn't know what a new horror is waiting there . Venturing out, she meets the local police constable Sergeant Wilson (Al Cliver) and later a Scotland Yard detective (David Warbeck) arrives and investigates the series of bizarre deaths in the small English village which are connected to a local literacy professor who lives at an old mansion. When you hear this cat breathing down your neck...Start praying!!!. When the black cat cries...someone dies!.When you hear this cat breathing down your neck... start praying... before you finish your Amen... you're dead!.It purrs. It stalks. It kills. Cat got your tongue? It's still hungry. Flesh Ripping Felines!

Spaghetti splatter-meister Fulci, best known for his unbashed ripoffs: ¨Zombie¨ and ¨Gates of Hell¨, tones down the gore this time in a vaguely Poe-ish tale of a medium with some marbles loose -well played by Patrick Magee- whose kitty provides the temporary habitatfor spirits its master calls up. This is a chilling, eerie Italian terror flick full of screams, thrills , intrigue and lots of blood and guts. Production design is pretty good with a nice setting from a dreary English village. And Sergio Salvatti's downright myopic camerawork is original, adding up an opressive viewing experience, especially with the menacing frames and close-ups of the black cat wandering here and there. . This genuinely frightening story with adequate utilization of images-shock is well photographed on location in Hellfire Caves, West Wycombe, West Wycombe Park, Buckinghamshire, England, UK and Italian studios: Incir De Paolis .The orchestral music by Pino Donaggio (Brian de Palma's usual composer) helps a lot to raise the tension, providing poignant moments and elevating the intrigue to the maximum. It's a decently made Fulci film and better narrated and competently developed than his other flicks. This is a classic excruciatingly horror film in which the intrigue,tension, suspense appears threatening and lurking in every room, corridors , cellar, stable, morgue and many other places. This unrelenting shock-feast packs good make-up and special effects make-up by Paolo Ricci, replacing the ordinary Gianetto De Rossi. It's a an Italian/British co-production, financed on a budget enough by Giulio Sbarigia and as associate producer uncredited Harry Alan Towers.

The motion picture was well realized by one of the most controversial filmmakers of terror movies ,Lucio Fulci. He is a gore-feast expert, making many films in his usual style and peculiar trademarks with flaws and gaps but being professionally made because he is a skilled craftsman . He created strange horror thrillers that managed to be both scary and skilfully made, deserving cult status . Fulci made a lot of movies with full of gory, gruesome, and ghastly feasts in which killers, spectra, Zombies or stumbling stiff dead committed astonishing murders . Reviewers are divided over booth the morals and talents of Fulci (1927-1996) who sometimes directed under the alias ¨Louis Fuller¨. For some critics many of his movies are cruel and shockingly violent, yet their gory surface often conceals religious, social commentaries or intelligent issues. Whether he should be viewed as a cheap sensationalist or just a genius Fulci has a loyal fan base and undeniably has an important and unique influence on the terror genre , creating great works on a low budget such as proved in ¨ The black cat ¨, ¨Manhattan baby¨, ¨Gates of Hell¨, ¨Island of the living dead¨, ¨New York ripper¨ , among them. This is one more imaginative horror pictures in which the camera stalks in sinister style . It's just one long unrelenting guts-feast and passable budget horror movie that still packs a punch for those who like to be terrorized out their wits. Gatto nero(1981) will appeal to Lucio Fulci aficionados.

I really don't care what anyone says; "The Black Cat" is pretty damn cool. As far as the gore goes, it's not excessive as most of Fulci's films are, but it doesn't need to be. That being said, this film is not for the faint of heart. If you watched it with your grandma or someone who has not been jaded by the blood and guts in Italian horror films, you'd see it from a different side. A dude gets impaled, a girl burns to death, rotting corpses are found in a hot boat shack, and a cat repeatedly rips the flesh off a guy's face, goring him up. I mean, it's not "New York Ripper" but it's not a slasher film. It's more like a giallo.

This film is most notable for the brilliant cinematography. The shots from the cat's point of view are awesome. And then there's the excellent acting (for a Fulci film). Mimsy Farmer is decent! And the other dude, Patrick Magee from "Clockwork Orange" isn't bad either. Better than other Fulci stuff for sure.

The fact that the acting is above par and the fact that there isn't a constant onslaught of gore has contributed to the low rating on here. The film is a good giallo-style horror movie and it oozes with old school ambiance and mood. The soundtrack is great and all in all, it's a great adaptation of the Poe story.

I recommend it to Italian horror fans who can stand to be entertained without seeing people get disemboweled.

7 out of 10, kids.

"The Black Cat" is an interesting and atmospheric 'stab' at being an English Gothic film. The first half is has more gore and succeeds in heightening the suspense only for a rather ineffective summation and climax. Patrick Magee plays the part of a median who controls the mind of a cat.

The deaths are suitably impressive and deserved by the characters concerned aside from the supremely sexy Mrs Grayson (Giallo/Sleaze/Horror favorite Dagmar Lassander) who never fails to 'light up' the screen.

Not Fulci's best; but reasonably enjoyable nonetheless.

6/10 (I refuse to grade films out of four stars)

The plot of "The Black Cat" is a real doozy that might have you biting your tongue: creepy old medium Patrick Macnee (who's really overdoing the quivering monotone thing here) supposedly has a psychic link with a black cat, who he orders to kill the residents of a small village. Fulci does well with the flamboyant material, and keeps piling on the gore, atmosphere, and dark sets with gusto. For the most part, the cast (including Euro-vets Mimsy Farmer, David Warbeck, and Al Cliver) doesn't take the material any more seriously than they have to, resulting in some unintentional (but welcome) comic relief. Granted, this isn't "House by the Cemetery"-caliber, but it's not bad, either. 3 out of 5 stars.

Director Lucio Fulci's THE BLACK CAT kicks off with a vehicular death, involving the felonious feline of the title. Enter photographer, Jill Trevers (Mimsy Farmer) who makes an odd discovery while taking pictures of some local ruins. As more "accidental" deaths occur, the police are baffled, and call in Inspector Gorley (David Warbeck) of Scotland Yard, who soon enlists Jill's talents.

What, if anything does all of this have to do with the town medium, Professor Miles (Patrick Magee) and his alleged communications with the dead? What is his relationship with the killer kitty?

Another example of Fulci's mastery of bizarre, supernatural horror, this film offers his typical gore-drenched sequences and terrifying set pieces. It's a great mystery / thriller as well. The Director's penchant for eye closeups is used well, adding intensity, and making the cat come across as all the more malevolent and dangerous.

A fantastic movie made during Fulci's "horror cycle" prime. This is true, even with the glaring bloopers, such as the visible hands of the wrangler holding the cat during an intense scene, and the glaring wires holding the rubber bats!

Co-stars Al Cliver as Sgt. Wilson.

P.S.- Poe fans will love the finale...