black cats

There are no two sweeter words in the low-budget horror language than "public domain." Roger Corman made his career on the back of Edgar Allen Poe, crafting a feature length movie out of nearly every novel, short story, poem and turn of phrase the author put to paper. And thanks to U.S. copyright law that categorized any pre-1923 published work in the public domain, the producers didn't have to pay a dime for the idea. Of course, most of Poe's stories needed some updating but his work proved surprisingly malleable; so much so that filmmakers continued to use his macabre masterpieces for some free-of-charge inspiration.

Arrows Films has put together an unexpected double-feature of Italian titles under the heading of Edgar Allen Poe's Black Cats, a handsomely packaged set that includes blu-ray / dvd combo special editions of Lucio Fulci's The Black Cat (1981) and Sergio Martino's Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key (1972) both of which incorporate elements of the same source material: Poe's short story written in 1945.

Neither film is going for a straightforward adaptation, but Fulci's take is the more literal of the two...though not necessarily the best. Filmed between two of the director's better known projects (City of the Living Dead and The Beyond), The Black Cat is far less focused on gore, evolving into an atmospheric mystery built around the character of Professor Miles (Patrick Magee), an anti-social eccentric who records the voices of the dead and communicates with spirits at his convenience.

A series of accidental deaths in the small town put him under suspicion (anyone with eyebrows that unruly is bound to be evil!). However the only evidence found at the scene is some cat fur and unusual scratches on the victims. A freelance photographer (Mimsy Farmer) begins to gather her own evidence and teams up with a London cop (David Warbeck) to solve the supernatural crimes.

Fulci's camerawork here is as comfortable as an old pair of slippers. Even without the disturbing special effects he was known for, the director crafts a fan-friendly horror film that looks as good as any of his other work. From clever cat POVs to foggy graveyards, The Black Cat adapts the gothic conventions of Poe's story to the modern world quite beautifully. Like much of Fulci's work, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense afterward, but that doesn't matter a lick at 24 frames-per-second. And Pino Donaggio's wonderfully familiar score (lifting elements from his work on The Howling and numerous Brian De Palma films) really elevates the experience.

Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (the title of which comes from Martino's earlier The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh) only uses Poe for its epilogue, but is still one of the better giallos (Italian mysteries) to come out of the '70s. Oliviero (Luigi Pistilli) and Irina (Anita Strindberg) share a decrepit mansion and a sadistically twisted marriage. The arrival of their niece, Floriana (Edwige Fenech), creates an even more perverted love triangle, with each party trying to seduce the other. Meanwhile, a string of unsolved murders both outside and inside the mansion point the finger at one of the trio...but exactly who is trying to kill whom is a question that, in typically giallo fashion, is best answered in the final frames.

Director Sergio Martino uses many of the common giallo conventions, but focuses on the psychological and sexual hang-ups of the main characters in a way Argento never bothered to attempt. These are sick, unlikable people. Fenech's arrival on screen is like an electric shock, jolting the film to life and providing the actress with her best role. The screenplay runs through it's black-gloved paces and provides a few moments of vicious bloodletting, but its the mind games and emotional manipulations that you'll remember.

The four-disc set offers each film in its best presentation to date (both were available separately in standard def in earlier editions), starting with damn good hi-def transfers and an inordinate amount of extras. On The Black Cat there's Beyond Terror, an overview of the film and how it differs from Poe's version, plus a tour of the original shooting locations and two lengthy interviews with Warbeck and co-star Dagmar Lassender.

Your Vice includes the previously released featurette Unveiling the Vice and three new ones, two focusing on director Sergio Martino's career and another on Fenech, plus a short intro by director Eli Roth, who cast the actress in Hostel 2. Viewers can choose from either the Italian or English-dubbed version of each film. The package itself contains a reproduction of the original Poe story along with interviews and liner notes. It's just the sort of release fans hoped for when Arrow announced they were coming to the States!