The Black Cat (2007)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Stuart Gordon is one of the directors who truly deserve to be called "Masters of Horror", and his second contribution to the "Masters of Horror" series is another proof for that. The director of "Re-Animator", who is best known for adapting the great H. P. Lovecraft's work in an awesome manner, decided to get into another deity of macabre literature, the all-mighty Edgar Allan Poe, for this eleventh episode of the second season, which bears the famous name of its literary model - "The Black Cat". This is, after his 1991 version of "The Pit And The Pendulum" only Gordon's second Poe-themed creation. The most brilliant Poe-adaptations are (and always will be) Roger Corman's films starring the immortal Vincent Price, and the greatest adaptation of "The Black Cat" in particular is arguably Sergio Martino's Giallo-masterpiece "Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key" (1972). This is not to say that great Poe-adaptations can't still be made, and Stuart Gordon does so in a very original manner. Gordon makes the alcoholic and struggling Poe himself the protagonist of this episode, and the man is played by none other than Gordon's regular leading man, Jeffrey 'Dr. Herbert West' Combs. In Philadelphia of 1840, Edgar Allan Poe, is struggling with alcoholism, the lack of money and the illness of his wife. Eager to write poetry, but only popular for his macabre short stories, Poe is also struggling with nightmares and upcoming insanity... "The Black Cat" is doubtlessly one of the most atmospheric entries to the series. The episode is very dark and more complex than your usual MoH episode, and the performances are excellent. Especially the great Jeffrey Combs is once again brilliant in his role, I couldn't imagine anyone to fit better in the role of Poe. "The Black Cat" is another proof of how great a director Stuart Gordon is and an absolute must-see for fans of the "Masters Of Horror" series.

Some directors needs to show a cat been mutilated for scare. "The black cat" is the worst episode of this series, I think is tie with "the screwfly solution" (Joe Dante), another propanga, women murder instead of animals (maybe Dante thinks a woman is an animal because of that he wants to murder them. "The black cat" shows the worst of Edgar Allan Poe (father of the suspense) and the worst of the human, kill cowardly innocent animals. If you're an animal lover don't watch this episode, besides it's not good with an empty plot, it is humiliating and shows how a poor innocent animal is mutilated, tortured and finally kill. Stuart Gordon I think you did that before, you have s h i t in your head for show this. I'm excuse for my English.

The life of a genius is not an easy one. In literature, the status is often incumbent on the adage, "ok, you're good, but what have you written lately." This then will be the eventually legacy of the actual man who was in fact the great American writer and classical poet, Edgar Allen Poe. Pressed by the enormous pressures of poverty, reoccurring alcoholism and the lack of inspiration, Poe suffers for his art. With historical retrospect,, we have come to lay wreaths of glory and monumental accolades on his works and therefore it's difficult to see how a great man could not have found success earlier. In this film we have another great artist Jeffery Combs, playing the part of the legendary and literary icon. One marvels at how uncanny Combs captured the haunting visual image of Poe and then imbued him with such mortal conviction. He thus awaken the conflicts of the Poet and his struggle for a horror story which would not only scare audiences throughout the decades, but may have paid his wife's medical bills. By immersing himself in a surreal fantasy, he discovers that fact and fiction are separated only by pain. All in all, I suspect this particular film will easily become a classic. ****

I'm a huge fan of the MOH series, and this episode did not let down at all. Things start off pretty slowly, as we find Edgar A. Poe and his wife Virginia living in Philadelphia, with Poe trying to eek out a living as a writer and his wife staying at home and looking hot. Combs is nearly unrecognizable under the Poe makeup, but that doesn't stop him from doing the very typical Jeffrey Combs overacting, as usual, and for a short time, one begins to wonder where the horror is. My advice to you is to be patient. Because of the slow start, by the time things start getting bloody, you are so invested in the characters that you kinda wish the story wasn't so horrific. There are beautiful, blood-soaked scenes and horrific, disturbing ones. There is a murder in this episode so disturbing that I almost had to turn away. That's as big a compliment as you'll get from me. 9 out of 10.