The Black Cat (2007)

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

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.

Stuart Gordon, to horror fans known for adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft (Re-Animator, From Beyond, Castle Freak, Dagon, and second episode of this show), this time goes for adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat". This episode is very faithful to both the original material and the real life of the famous writer, and it is a real refresh in a series that has become quite monotonous. The film follows Poe trying to write a new story, while at the same time cares about his wife suffering from tuberculosis and struggles with poverty and alcoholism. The story is chaotic and confusing, but very atmospheric, and Jeffrey Combs perfectly plays the role of an alcoholic who sinks deeper and deeper into madness. Sepia colors greatly contribute to the dark atmosphere. The only thing standing out from sepia is color of blood and it makes gore scenes extremely striking. The piano scene is perhaps the best I've seen in this series. Together with the adaptation of "Dreams in the Witch-House" by H.P. Lovecraft, also directed by Stuart Gordon, "The Black Cat" is, in my opinion, the highlight of "Masters of Horror" and makes Stuart Gordon the most successful director of the series.8/10

So many versions are already made of The Black cat and here we go again. This version has nothing to do with horror at all. This is about Edgar Allen Poe himself and the life he lived.Jeffrey Combs plays Poe and that's all excellent but I was waiting to see some horror in it. Sure, you will say, didn't you see the ax going into a head, yes I did and it did looked gruesome and yes, being captured behind a wall and yes, poking out a cat's eye, I've seen it all but somehow I wasn't attracted to the story. Maybe I was thinking to see something magical between Stuart Gordon and Jeffrey Combs like they did earlier in another Poe story, Re-Animator (1985).Maybe it was towards the end the back and forward situations build that makes it less watchable. As a whole it could have worked out fine for a full feature but for an episode of MOH it didn't deliver on my part.

Middling entry in the erratic TV series, purporting to illustrate the conception of the much-filmed Edgar Allan Poe short story as a hallucination experienced by the famously troubled author! Given director Gordon's involvement, it features some gross-out gore: Poe's wife suffers from TB, so she is seen spurting pools of blood throughout, while at the climax he attacks the titular feline (after having gouged out one of its eyes) with an axe…but only manages to graphically split the head of his spouse – who, unfortunately, gets in the way – in two! Though it was inevitable that Gordon's frequent muse Jeffrey Combs would be assigned the leading role here, it is also remarkable how well he is made to resemble him! This episode, then, is interesting in what it tries to do and fairly stylish into the bargain (in view of the period setting) but, alas, the central plot and its twist ending have grown stale with the constant retelling!

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. ****