Edgar Allen Poe’s classic story gets yet another big screen adaptation care of the late, great Lucio Fulci. I’m not entirely familiar with the Poe story, but this seems to hit all the same notes as in the other Black Cat films I’ve seen. A black cat corrupted with the hate of an elderly man stalks the man’s enemies causing them to die in horrible accidents. With Fulci behind the camera we get all we expect out of him from maggot covered corpses to his trade mark eye shots. The Cat is the star attraction as it hunts it’s prey and the directing is handled well enough to make the cat’s unnatural demeanor actually quite believable. After bodies begin piling up, the old man decides the cat must be dealt with and hangs his furry little friend by a noose he ties to the low branch of a tree. We see a silhouette of the dead cat for a moment before that same shadow is cast far from the scene haunting the old man as well as some locals. Back on the prowl the cat returns with a supernatural vengeance. While it isn’t the best adaptation of the story I’ve seen, Fulci’s trade mark gore, and directing ability still make this one worth seeing.
