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This is, without a doubt, my all time favorite movie about a homicidal cat. The cat is the main masterpiece of this movie; it is personified beautifully, Lucio Fulci gives the cat it's own character which makes the whole piece very eerie indeed. The idea of having a cat, especially one that looks as evil as the one in this movie, doing the killing is different, fun and strangely, it works! The murders that the cat commits are inventive and imaginative and overall, this is a very decent movie, which deserves a lot more praise than it's getting.Lucio Fulci has directed a few movies that have won high praise among horror fanatics; The Beyond and Zombie Flesh Eaters, most notably, but this movie easily deserves equal praise. Unlike the majority of Fulci's repertoire, The Black Cat is low gore and relies more on the Gothic and eerie atmosphere to deliver it's scares - and it works a treat. The film, based on a story by the master of Gothic horror, Edgar Allen Poe, is set in a quiet town in England and follows the story of Professor Robert Miles (Patrick Magee) that is able to control the mind of his cat in order to take out his vengeance on various people. One of the best things about this movie is the way that the relationship between man and cat is presented. We can almost feel the antagonism between the two characters, shown by the cat attacking Magee, and him saying that the cat will eventually kill him. This movie features some sequences that are at the very top of horror cinema, most notably the very creepy and atmospheric sequence in which Magee attempts to strangle the malevolent animal. Lucio Fulci is able to direct this scene so it both believable and frightening. His direction throughout this movie is competent and throughout the movie, it is surprising that this is a movie by the same man that brought us the disgusting zombie gore-fests due to it's level of constraint.Overall, The Black Cat is an excellent slice of horror cinema that is unfairly criticized and criminally overlooked. Fulci fans may not like it because of the lack of gore, but if you like creepy, atmospheric horror films, you will love The Black Cat.
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