The Black Cat (1981)

Today is the 171st anniversary of the death of Edgar Allen Poe to the day. Edgar Allen Poe has been claimed by my hometown and current living place of Baltimore. He happened to live his last few years in Charm City and died a puzzling death here. We named our football team after him and his history is celebrated all around the city. The foremost Poe spot is his grave on the West side of downtown. The adjoining church was actually where my school had our prom. There has long been a mystery surrounding Poe’s grave as on this day for decades somebody has left a bottle of cognac and three roses on his grave. This unknown ‘toaster’ was a popular Baltimore legend that grew with the telling. It is very romantic even though Poe most likely died from complications caused by alcoholism. Still, Poe was a master at suspense and gothic dread and will always be a legend in both the mystery and horror genres.

Black cats get a really bad rap. At some point, they had a public relations failure and they were saddled with a reputation for being evil or bad luck. They were often depicted as a familiars for witches or shapeshifted witches. They were associated with bad luck as well. As the tales go, if a black cat crosses your path then you will have bad luck. Of course, people forget that there are equally old traditions that name black cats as omens of good luck as well. It does not help that the genetics of black cats makes yellow the most common eye color, an uncommon color. Couple that with the way that cats’ eyes seem to almost glow in the dark because they have particular reflective parts of their eyes and you have a creepy shadow with glowing eyes staring at you in the dark. To this day, black cats go disproportionately unadopted in shelters because of a stupid superstition. I have had several black cats and I am only mildly possessed.

The first thing I noticed was how lovingly the titular cat is shot. Such attention to detail and it is a very real cat that they got to do cat things and probably filmed it for hours (what is this YouTube?). This is directed by Lucio Fulci a legend in Italian horror who I have only watched a little of. He has a distinctive style and his shots are all beautiful. He was a former med student so he definitely knows how to gore and he is well known for it. There is not as much gore here but what is there is brutish yet well done. The whole film has a surreal quality to it that seems absurd yet eerie. This concept could have been played for laughs but I am fascinated that it was played with deadly seriousness.

The movie stars a black cat who I assume is male. So much screen time is devoted to the cat, of course. The human star of the movie is Mimsy Farmer, an inquisitive American tourist who stumbles upon a supernatural mystery. Patrick McGee plays an eccentric, grumpy old man with a strange connection to the cat. While on the case, Farmer meets hunky motorcycle cop Al Cliver and a square-jawed inspector played by David Warbeck. The acting is in a somewhat melodramatic style which heightens the story and the eerie mood of the movie. Also, we get a lot of tight shots of characters’ eyes so we can tell exactly what they are thinking. It is unnerving to say the least.

Overall, I really liked the movie even if there is not a lot of meat to the plot. It is shot really well and there are some really brilliant and imaginative bits but it’s not as tight as it could have been. Still, it is a great take on Poe’s original story. Like Poe’s take on supernatural horror, it does not explain anything too much and leaves much for your imagination to fill in.

Tags: Edgar Allen Poe, Fulci, Halloween, Halloween 2020, Movie Review, The Black Cat