Masters of Horror: The Black Cat

Directed by Stuart Gordon
Written by Stuart Gordon and Dennis Paoli
Based on the short story “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe
Starring Jeffery Combs and Elyse Levesque
Original Airdate: 1/19/07
Current DVD release: 7/17/07
Anchor Bay

The Masters of Horror anthology series has offered its fair share of entertaining short films however Stuart Gordon's The Black Cat , based on the short story by Edgar Allan Poe, is the first to go beyond its low-budgeted limitations and be a fully realized film work.

The film centers on writer Edgar Allan Poe (Jeffery Combs) and his wife, Virginia (Elyse Levesque) who is suffering from tuberculosis. Poe wants to leave his macabre tales behind and focus on his poetry which is of little interest of his editor. However, with a sick wife and little money he agrees to write a new story. Soon his wife's sickness worsens and Poe begins to experience writer's block. Frustrated at both his wife's illness and his inability to pen a new tale Poe gouges out the title cat's eye, who he blames for Virginia 's tuberculosis. After a fight about the cat's eye Virginia collapses. Believing his wife is dead Poe kills the cat and sets fire to his home. At a wake, Virginia seemingly comes back from the dead and before long the once presumed dead cat follows suit. The cat begins to terrorize Poe by following him home in affective scene. Excited about the cat's return Virginia and Poe have another argument that leads Poe to accidentally commit a horrible crime.

Director/co-writer Stuart Gordon, no stranger to literary adaptations having brought Re-Animator and From Beyond to the screen, does a fine job translating The Black Cat as a sort of meta-fiction by placing Poe into one of his stories. With a deliberate pace Gordon is able to construct a superior film that doesn't feel rushed or undercooked. He also offers up a twist ending that isn't convoluted or absurd. Gordon and his Re-Animator co-writer Dennis Paoli smartly create a script that doesn't try to cram too much into a limited amount of time. As Edgar Allan Poe, Jeffery Combs delivers on of his finest performances. Over-the-top and yet restrained at times Combs is a living embodiment of what modern audiences believe Poe to be, a tormented genius. The other performances are serviceable but are easily overshadowed by Combs.

The film is nice looking with decent, if unspectacular, cinematography and agreeable set design. The Black Cat is a low-budgeted film that doesn't look cheap but rather consciously sparse. The film has a filmed theatrical performance feel to it similar to Ingmar Bergman's The Magic Flute . Richard Ragsdale's score is unobtrusive and appropriately fits the atmosphere. The credit sequence and title theme reminds one of Gordon's breakthrough film, Re-Animator. Possibly the finest of the Masters of Horror series, Stuart Gordon's The Black Cat is a focused gothic tale featuring an outstanding lead performance and a smartly written script.

By Andy Swope
reprinted from BOFFM #4 (forthcoming)