The esteemed 1843 story of psychologic distress by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Black Cat", has been utilized as somewhat of a substructure for numerous interpretations upon film, of which several are generally considered to be worthy of audience attention, even in those cases when any connection to the Poe original is tenuous at best, but such will not apply in the instance of this flabbily assembled version that is substandard in virtually all production characteristics, a condition that must be charged to its director who is additionally credited as the work's producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. Poe's tale, related in the first person, depicts a man who is trapped within a web woven from his morbid imagination, a state that brings about insanity along with the commission of violent actions, and here director Rodnunsky attempts to craft a style of narrative that will include elements from its model, but it fails to come off due to a meandrous story line that envisions characters switching personalities, with a result that their identities become an equivocal compound of invention and reality. Jack (Shaun Kurtz) reports to local police that his wife and their teenage son are missing, and is then held and sequestered for questioning in the matter at a police station, the investigative process being under the personal supervision of a detective named Eleanor, who leads a careful search of Jack's home, whereupon the film becomes a general muddle of inexplicable events as Eleanor, upon petting the family's black cat, may (or may not) be hallucinating that she is involved in a romantic and very physical relationship with Jack's absent wife, although numerous ostensible flashbacks would seem to indicate that Eleanor's past existence has in some manner been melded with that of Jack. Or something of that sort. Building upon a confusing plot, there are two "surprise" endings, but each is denied impact because of a dearth of technical assurance from the production, including piteous post-production ADR work that induces drastically inept synching. Editing for the picture is largely slipshod, combining with swoopy videotape camera-work to beget an irksome viewing experience that is exacerbated by consistently off-the-mark dialogue, despite an attempt by Kurtz to create his role. The director's penchant for closeups of his principal players is not to the advantage of these performers, two of whom are listed within the opening and closing credits as having different names than those displayed upon the DVD package. Voiceovers by the female lead, reading several lines from the Poe work that are enscripted upon the screen during the film's opening and closing moments, are in essence the sole artistically satisfying ingredients to be found during the course of this tedious mishmash.
