Review of The Black Cat (1981) by Scott W — 16 Apr 2013

Directed by Lucio Fulci (Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979) and The Beyond (1981)), this is a film based on Edgar Allan Poe's 1843 short story of the same name, which had been previously adapted as part of Roger Corman's anthology Tales of Terror (1962), this one was a departure of setting for Fulci, whose previous films had been set mostly in America, but it does have some good scares within, and some good camerawork.

Somewhere in the English countryside, psychic Robert Miles (Patrick Magee) has the ability to talk with the dead, and works with literacy, but whenever someone rubs him up the wrong way, they seem to end up dead at the receiving end of a black cat, which has a violent streak.

Meanwhile, Scotland Yard Inspector Gorley (David Warbeck) and American journalist and photographer Jill Trevers (Mimsy Farmer) come to the village to investigate these deaths, but they can't seem to pin Miles to the murders, as there's no evidence.

Local Police Sergeant Wilson (Al Cliver) would rather Gorley and Trevers didn't go around investigating, but the black cat soon reappears, causing trouble. It's a good Fulci film, and he gets some good scares out of the English countryside, and this is one bad cat at the centre of the film, but Fulci manages to build up suspense and a taut mood throughout the film, and it's well worth watching.