The Black Cat (1981)
"Black Cat (Gatto nero)" (original title)

Robert Miles is a psychic that can communicate with the dead. He also has the ability to control the mind of his cat (who incidentally is black). He uses the cat to take vengeance upon his ... See full summary »

Director:

Lucio Fulci

Writers:

Lucio Fulci (screenplay), Edgar Allan Poe (story),

Stars:

Patrick Magee, Mimsy Farmer, David Warbeck

Cast

Credited cast:
Patrick Magee	...	Prof. Robert Miles
Mimsy Farmer	...	Jill Trevers
David Warbeck	...	Inspector Gorley
Al Cliver	...	Sgt. Wilson
Dagmar Lassander	...	Lillian Grayson
Bruno Corazzari	...	Ferguson
Geoffrey Copleston	...	Inspector Flynn
Daniela Doria	...	Maureen Grayson
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lucio Fulci	...	Doctor (scenes deleted)

Storyline

Robert Miles is a psychic that can communicate with the dead. He also has the ability to control the mind of his cat (who incidentally is black). He uses the cat to take vengeance upon his enemies. A photographer who happen to be working for the local constables begins to notice cat scratches on some of the accident victims that are turning up. She pays a visit to Magee (kitty just happens to be present) and conveys her suspicions of the cat's involvement in some of the local deaths. Kitty doesn't like this at all, and it's his turn to control the mind of owner Magee to take it's vengeance out.

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Plot Keywords:

cat | psychic | death | photographer | black cat | 

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Taglines:

When you heat this cat breathing down your neck...START PRAYING!!!

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

10 February 1984 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Black Cat

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Italian International Film, Selenia Cinematografica

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The role of professor Myles was offered to Peter Cushing, but he refused to accept the part because of director Lucio Fulci's reputation for making gory horror-movies.

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Goofs

What appears to be fishing line can briefly be seen holding up the bats as they attack Jill.

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Quotes

[Sergeant Wilson sees Jill coming out of an underground crypt]
Sergeant Wilson: Miss, let me give you some advice, don't go down there anymore.
Jill Trevers: Why not?
Sergeant Wilson: My Grandad used to tell me when I was a lad that the dead like to be left alone. They're not very hospitable.

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Connections

Version of Tales of Terror (1962)

User Reviews

Cats, Rats And Bats...Oh My!!!

Featuring as it does as homicidal and nasty-tempered a feline as has ever been shown on screen, Lucio Fulci's "The Black Cat" (1981) is certainly not a film guaranteed to appeal to the average ailurophile. Although the picture jettisons most of Poe's 1843 short story, from which little but the title remains, it still tells an interesting tale indeed. In it, we meet Robert Miles (intensely played by veteran actor Patrick Magee in one of his last roles), a crusty eccentric living in a small English village whose two main hobbies seem to be recording the voices of the dead in a local cemetery and avoiding being mauled by his pet, the titular black tabby. American photographer Jill Trevers (the attractive Mimsy Farmer) investigates after a wave of homicides sweeps through the small town. Along for the ride in a small part is Dagmar Lassander, here sporting a good deal more avoirdupois than in, say, 1970's "Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion" but still giving a blazing performance nonetheless. Fulci's direction here is typically stylish, replete with stalking cat's eye POV and more close-ups of eyes in general than you've ever seen (probably in excess of 100 such close-ups, I'd guesstimate), and Pino Donaggio's intriguing title tune does set the baroque mood nicely. Many events in the film go unexplained (that levitating bed, for instance, and that hanging-cat etching), and a repeat viewing did not help me understand things any better than the first. Though hardly a giallo per se, the picture does feature any number of grisly murders, even if there is never a mystery for the viewer as to who the (four-legged) culprit is. A rampaging bat sequence late in the film seems almost a direct lift, strangely, from an earlier Fulci film, 1971's "Lizard in a Woman's Skin." Still, any movie with cats, rats AND bats can't be all bad, right? And oh...another great-looking DVD here, from the always dependable Anchor Bay.