New horror/exploitation company Shameless' 6th DVD release is Lucio Fulci's 1981 movie The Black Cat, a slightly advanced variation of Edgar Allen Poe's novel of the same name starring horror legends Patrick Magee and David Warbeck.
Made just after Fulci's four most successful movies (The Beyond, Zombie Flesh Eaters AKA Zombi, City Of The Living Dead, and House By The Cemetery) this was the last clearly legible movie of the talented directors history. Although I'm not stating the movie is 100% fluid, with some fairly odd and disjointed story arcs, it stays faithful to the concepts that made Lucio Fulci a legend in his native Italy and France.
Set in England (and clearly so without permission) The Black Cat follows events in a small village just off the River Thames. For many moons things have been going peacefully in this country idyll; but nutty professor Robert Miles (nothing to do with music) played by Patrick Magee has started trying to communicate with the recent dead, much to the distress of his little black cat. But this is no petty feline, it seems that this cat is playing an active part in the string of recent deaths that have occurred in the village. As dashing police inspector Gorley (David Warbeck) arrives, things take a downward spiral further, and despite his claims nobody will believe Professor Miles that the cat is the one to blame.
The Black Cat is possibly the most beautifully shot of all of Fulci's movies, coming in neck and neck with his paedophile thriller Don't Torture A Duckling. The movies colours are so warm and vibrant, its locations despite the fact that they were shot on the fly so to speak have been given a lot of thought and attention, this
is no normal British village; few in the UK have this natural beauty about them. Its setting creates a less alien feel to me being a UK resident, and I guess this is a fact that warms the movie to me. Many of Fulci's other settings often shot in Italy in ultra modern often space age environments, or again on the fly in America's deep south.
Like most of Fulci's work this is not a conventional horror in the sense that we are all usually forced to endure. Any Italian horror movie is a rather unique experience, its harsh intensity only hampered by its poor dubbing; which less qualified eyes often accuse of being poor acting. While some find the first encounter of an Italian horror movie quite funny, others are horrified by what they see and often make it their last venture into this highly refined genre. I have been recently showing these Italian classics to a work colleague who says she finds them most refreshing, and considerably more entertaining than Hollywood horror. Rather like old episodes of Doctor Who special effects are a lot more "individual" little money available to refine these effects often meant a very hit and miss affair, but I'm pleased to report that The Black Cat's effects all work rather well, from the effects of oxygen depravity, impalement, and death by fire.
The story itself as I indicated at the start of the review is a one of the last clear ones of the director's career, in his later works he spent a lot of time experimenting with more unconventional horror, and new special effects over story matter. Here however the story makes perfect sense and despite the unbelievable elements, and in that I mean a cat that can open doors, and remove keys from doors etc; the story is fairly paced, and incredibly well delivered.
Cast as often was the case in a Fulci film pays little matter here, you could have a bit of a debate over whom the movies star is. Patrick Magee is certainly first billed, but I feel that this is more in line with a sale perspective the actor best known for movies A Clockwork Orange, Zulu and Cromwell. Second billed actor, actress Mimsy Farmer only spends about eleven minutes on screen. And David Warbeck (The Beyond, Razor Blade Smile) is just kind of there. I guess if anyone is the star it's the nameless cat whose name is never known both in the movie and real offscreen life. The fact that the movie has no star does not seem to bother the movie too much, it carries on accepting whomever is onscreen at that particular time.
As is often the case with directors Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento, the movie has a killer musical score, here orchestrated by Pino Donaggio, who has delivered the scores for numerous Italian movies but also for the films Don't Look Now, Dressed To Kill and Blow Out. Here he delivers an almost traditional British horror score taking a firm nod from Hammer in its large orchestral sound. However the murderous cat has his own beautifully charming score that while works wonderfully in the movie is not necessarily in keeping with the cats' general nature. Indeed the cats theme is actually the first thing I ever consider when I give the movie a thought, it's one of those things that once you have heard it, it's difficult to forget.
If I have one criticism of the movie it is that the character of Professor Miles and his "I must talk to the dead" mission is given far too much attention, somehow this kind of cheapens what would be a sterling all-round piece without it. The professors insistence that "The cat wants to kill me" kind of annoys after a while, and I remember thinking half way through let the damn thing kill him then.
About The Shameless Release:-
Shameless have again put a great amount of care in the release of this movie, rather than purchasing the old Redemption print they appear (though I may be wrong) to have gone to Anchor Bay US and used their greatly restored print, which appears crisp and clean with only a few glitches as reel join points, but to some degree this adds to the charm. Also the print here is in widescreen, and not a fake widescreen as was often the case especially when widescreen became interesting to the public. The disc itself has no special features as such but does include trailers for New York Ripper, The Night Train Murders, Ratman, Flavia The Heretic, Venus In Furs, Manhattan Baby as well as the trailer for The Black Cat.
The case is given greater consideration, in its now familiar yellow case and background layout for the cover, which is oh so reminiscent of 80's Video releases (specifically VTC replacing their gold for yellow) and of course a term familiar to the genre Giallo, which is Italian for yellow, but also the term referred to their unique breed of thriller. The case tells you lots of information other DVD companies might not including a brief background on the cast and crew, in respect of previous works. An accurate runtime of the movie down to the second, as well as its status; in this case UNCUT. The trouble with these sort of movies is that they have terrible difficulties at the British Board Of Film Classification, Shameless have the decency to inform you if any of their movies have been censored. The fun does not stop there however, as well as Shameless' own cover idea; their own unique artwork in this case a cat in attack mode, on the reverse of the cover is the more traditionally associated cover with the movie given the Shameless treatment of course.
I have said this before and I'll say it again, these sort of movies are incredibly popular overseas but here in the UK are pretty much snubbed. Occasionally some companies appear with good intentions releasing these rare gems to the UK audience; trouble being is that if they are not supported these classics might never see the light of day in the UK again, forcing collectors to look over seas for them. My message is simple, if you enjoy these sorts of movies then invest in a copy; your support may just well bring about something that can really be appreciated, in the case of Shameless in particular they want to bring movies into the UK that we have never seen before and I think that deserves support.
The Black Cat is available in HMV priced £12.99 or if shopping online why not venture over to play.com where you can obtain a copy for £9.99.
Spencer Hawken 02/08
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Cracking review, this sounds very familiar - think I might have caught a bit of it somewhere, or I'm getting confused with another killer cat horror.... lol xxx
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