Il Gatto Nero

The Black Cat, AKA Il Gatto Nero, is loosely based on a Poe story of the same name. Horror veteran Patrick Magee plays a man who has psychic powers that he exercises with the help of his cat familiar. When he realizes that the cat is evil and killing people, he poisons and hangs the cat, but the cat comes back to life and controls him.

Director Lucio Fulci is known for gore, but didn't have much in this film. He has a thing about eyes, and there are countless frames of closeups of eyes. The English village where it is set is picturesque.

The film really didn't do anything for me. There was no suspense, no surprise, and a languid pace. Fulci's horror works were not received well in Italy, but he has found an audience among Euroshock fans in the US.

NUDITY REPORT

Daniela Doria exposes her breasts in a fairly long scene in good light. Doria is half of a young couple murdered early in the film while hiding in a boat house to make out.

VHS info from Amazon.

Scoop's thoughts:

Wasn't Gatto Nero married to Vanessa Redgrave for a while?

Patrick magee, among many other roles, was the old writer whose wife was raped in A Clockwork Orange

The Critics Vote

no major reviews

The People Vote ...

With their votes ... IMDB summary: IMDb voters score it 4.3,

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a D+. Borderline, even for genre lovers.