The Black Cat

1984 "When you hear this cat breathing down your neck… start praying… before you finish your Amen… you're dead!"
5.8| 1h32m| R| en| More Info
Released: 10 February 1984 Released
Producted By: Italian International Film
Country: Italy
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Townspeople of a small English village begin to die in a series of horrible accidents, and a Scotland Yard inspector arrives to investigate a mysterious local medium who records conversations with the dead.

Genre

Horror

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Director

Lucio Fulci

Production Companies

Italian International Film

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The Black Cat Audience Reviews

Steineded How sad is this?
Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.
Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
GL84 After a strange series of deaths, a woman in a small-town joins up with a Scotland Yard investigator where they find an eccentric man's troubled black cat is being driven to kill by his psychically- powered thoughts and race to stop his deadly rampage.This one here wasn't all that bad of an effort. One of its better features here is the fact that this one really goes for the exceptional Gothic atmosphere, which not only belies its source material but also works for the film as a whole. The general concept of the socialist investigating the dead in the manner depicted here, using the different paranormal instruments in a quest to unlock the secrets of life after death, feels incredibly Gothic in origin while also managing to work in a typically Gothic reasoning that ultimately ties them together. As well, that forces the film into the scenes of him into the fog-enshrouded graveyards tampering with his tools or walking along the streets as it rolls along making for a wholly chilling atmosphere for this one. Another enjoyable feat here is that their connection to each other also gives this one some really enjoyable attack scenes featuring the cat, which for the most part are pretty shocking in concept and rather realistic in execution. The opening attack in the car gets this one going along nicely, the ambush of the couple inside the boating house comes off as really chilling once they've realized they're trapped and the stalking of the lone victim on the town streets as it continually leaps out of the darkness all give this one quite a lot to really love about this one by employing really fun action scenes. Still, the film's best scenes here are the cats' stalking of the drifter into the abandoned warehouse where it chases him onto the upper floors before leading to a spectacular death and a great scene of it intentionally starting a fire in one victims' house while they're still inside leading to a grand finale which is quite action-packed here which makes for rather impressive scenes here. As these scenes not only give off some nice gore effects and the ability to see the cats' impressive skills at work, these here hold this one up over it's few flaws. One issue with this one is the excessive use of close-ups throughout here which gets tiring very quickly as character's eyes and nose ridge are on-screen more than the cat is. There's an extremely alarming amount of them spread throughout by just about all of the characters, and they become distracting after a while. Another big problem is the almost incredulous plot. The fact that the cat is never really dismissed as a potential suspect is quite troubling, as the fact that a little cat can take out large victims is passed off as being plausible from the very start. Strangely, in a film like this, it needs to hedge the doubt about it a little more, especially from the police inspectors to make their contributions a little more believable. The film's biggest problem, though, is the pacing which spends a lot of time doing nothing in particular which leads to a lot of downtime in here. Otherwise, there's not much to dislike here.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Brief Nudity, Language and violence- against-animals.
MovieGuy01 I Thought that The Black Cat was a good Italian horror directed by Lucio Fulci. The film is about Strange things that are happening in a small English village. It all starts when a man driving a car suddenly notices a strange black cat in the back seat of his car. The cat suddenly stares at the man and causes the man to crash his car into a lamp post, killing him.The black cat then walks off back to its home, which is an old house which is owened by Robert Miles (Patrick Magee), Robert is a former college professor of the supernatural and he is also a medium and he lives alone except for his black cat. He spends his time making audio tape recordings at the tombs of people who have recently died. He uses the cat on his enemies. suddenly a photographer who works for the local constables begins to notice cat scratches on some of the accident victims. I Thought that this was a good horror Lucio Fulci who has made a lot of good horror films. RECCOMMENED.
Bezenby This is one of those rare Italian movies where it doesn't pay to have beers during it's playing time, because if you do, you'll be in a coma by the halfway mark.That's not really a criticism though, because the Black Cat is a nice change of pace from the splatter of early eighties Italian horror. Rather than spend the running time making people vomit up their own guts, Lucio Fulci has sought to bring back the Gothic tone of those late sixties supernatural movies (The Ghost, Blancheville Monster etc).Patrick Magee (love those eyebrows), is a cantankerous medium taken to wandering graveyards at night, recording the voices of the newly dead. There's plenty of newly dead in this sleepy English town too, which has got something to do with Magee's Black Cat. The two of them spend an awful lot of time staring at each other.Meanwhile, Mimsy Farmer, a visiting American (I think) photographer, gets interested in Magee and spends her time annoying him at his house, just as cop David Warbreck arrives in town, to help local bobby Al Cliver search for some missing teenagers.I'm surprised that Fulci managed to create something so coherent during the run of films that included House By The Cemetery and Manhattan Baby. Although not gore-filled, the first half of the film does consist of the cast being stalked and wasted in a variety of ways, and the only time the film falters is when it starts actually following the story of Poe's Black Cat. Plus, you've got great B-movie fodder in the form of Al Cliver (err...great dubbing there), Daniella Doria and the aged, but still lush, Dagmar Lassander.It wouldn't be a Fulci film without some daftness though, eh? Well, apart from people acting terrified of a cat (although a teleporting, hyper-aggressive cat might be a bit scary), you've got Lassander trying to put out an inferno with a cushion, an absolutely awful bat attack, and I'm still not sure whether to be impressed or start laughing every time Magee appears on screen.Good enough for any Fulci collection, just don't expect gore. Great soundtrack too!
Witchfinder General 666 ***SPOILERS!*** The work of Edgar Allan Poe has been brought to screen on many occasions, most brilliantly by Roger Corman with seven films starring the great Vincent Price in the early sixties. Poe's story "The Black Cat", in particular, has been filmed on various occasions, most memorably probably by Sergio Martino, with his 1972 Giallo-masterpiece "Your Vice Is A Locked Room and only I Have The Key". While it has hardly anything to do with Edgar Allan Poe's story, "Gatto Nero" aka. "Black Cat" (1980) is a creepy and unusual film by Lucio Fulci, which is especially interesting for its uncanny Gothic atmosphere.A small English village has been struck by a series of bizarre murders. After the investigating Scotland Yard Inspector Gorley (David Warbeck) asks Jill (Mimsy Farmer), an American photographer, for her help it soon becomes clear that the black cat of the local psychic Professor Miles (Patrick Magee) was involved in all the crimes. Miles, who has psychic powers, is suspected of being responsible for the murders, but it seems as if his cat is also committed to killing her owner... In this rare case, a vengeful or evil character of a cat is not merely suggested, but the cat is actually a murderous key character of the film. The storyline may not always be 100% logical, but it is definitely intriguing, and the film maintains a creepy atmosphere from the beginning. The English village is a great setting, and the murderous black cat is actually a villain far more vicious and interesting than one might imagine. Partick Magee ("A Clockwork Orange", "Masque Of The Red Death",...) is great as always in his creepy role. Beautiful Mimsy Farmer, a regular female lead in Italian Horror films ("Four Flies On Grey Velvet", "Autopsy", "The Perfume Of The Lady In Black",...), fits in her role well, and is nice to look at as always (even though she keeps her clothes on this time). The cast also includes David Warbeck and Al Cliver, both of whom are regulars of Italian Horror/Exploitation productions. This is not nearly one of Fulci's goriest films, but there are still a bunch of well-done and pretty nasty gore scenes. The best aspects of the film are doubtlessly its stylish Gothic looks, genuinely creepy atmosphere and brilliant score as well as the incredibly sinister Patrick Magee and the premise of a murderous cat. Overall, "The Black Cat" is not one of the absolute must-sees by Fulci, but it is definitely an original, creepy and highly atmospheric flick that should not be missed by lovers of Italian Horror. Highly recommended!