Due occhi diabolici (1990)

Directors:

Dario Argento
George A. Romero

Writers:

Dario Argento (segment)
Franco Ferrini (segment)

Release Date:

25 October 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

When I Wake You...You'll Be Dead.

Plot:

Two horror tales based on short stories by Edgar Allan Poe directed by two famous horror directors, George A. Romero and Dario Argento.

Plot Keywords:

Cat | Black Cat | Alcoholic | Photographer | Hypnosis

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Adrienne Barbeau	...	Jessica Valdemar (segment "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar")
Ramy Zada	...	Dr. Robert Hoffman (segment "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar")
Bingo O'Malley	...	Ernest Valdemar (segment "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar")
Jeff Howell	...	Policeman (segment "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar")
E.G. Marshall	...	Steven Pike (segment "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar")
Harvey Keitel	...	Roderick Usher (segment "The Black Cat")
Madeleine Potter	...	Annabel (segment "The Black Cat")
John Amos	...	Det. Legrand (segment "The Black Cat")
Sally Kirkland	...	Eleonora ("The Black Cat")
Kim Hunter	...	Mrs. Pym (segment "The Black Cat")
Holter Graham	...	Christian (segment "The Black Cat") (as Holter Ford Graham)
Martin Balsam	...	Mr. Pym (segment "The Black Cat")
Chuck Aber	...	Mr. Pratt (segment "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar")
Jonathan Adams	...	Hammer (segment "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar")
Tom Atkins	...	Det. Grogan (segment "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar")

Also Known As:

Edgar Allan Poe (USA) (working title)
Two Evil Eyes (USA)

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

Italy | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Italy:VM14 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Australia:R | France:-16 | Germany:18 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | UK:18 | USA:R | Spain:18 | Australia:MA (DVD rating) | Argentina:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

ADC Films

Trivia:

Dario Argento originally wanted the film to be a collaboration between four directors: himself, George A. Romero, John Carpenter and Wes Craven. Carpenter and Craven pulled out, so Argento and Romero decided to tackle the project as a two-part story, each directing his own segment separately.

Quotes:

Jessica Valdemar: I married a rich, old man. I let him use me, for pleasure and for show. Now I'm going to let him pay me for my services.

Movie Connections:

References Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

TWO EVIL EYES (George A. Romero and Dario Argento, 1990) **1/2

This two-part film was a project initiated by Argento, who invited Romero to make an anthology together in which each would direct his favorite story from the celebrated horror author's work. Incidentally, the fact that both these stories had already been incorporated into Roger Corman's own Poe compendium, TALES OF TERROR (1962), renders this a semi-remake of that film!

The resulting mélange is tolerable but rather unsatisfying as a whole – it must be said, however, that both directors' careers had already started slacking by this point. Romero's decision to adapt "The Facts In The Case Of Mr. Valdemar" reveals perhaps why he feels such a strong affinity with the zombie subgenre; still, the results here are pedestrian and curiously uninvolving – though the zombie moans are decidedly creepy. The cast includes Adrienne Barbeau (ex-wife of John Carpenter, a contemporaneous genre exponent) and E.G. Marshall (who, memorably, had played an insect-hating businessman in a previous anthology Romero had directed by himself – CREEPSHOW [1982]).

Even if it's an image of the undead Mr. Valdemar which made this film's poster, Argento's segment – yet another adaptation of "The Black Cat" – is actually more highly regarded; still, despite boasting some of the director's trademark visual flair, the segment is generally heavy-handed and overlong. Harvey Keitel brings his method training to the characteristically expressionist Poe landscape; this clash of styles lends the proceedings a welcome air of black comedy – especially in the star's openly hostile relationship with the ill-fated titular creature. It also provides irrelevant inserts of gory detail since Keitel is a crime-scene photographer named Rod Usher (Argento must have had his Poe stories mixed-up at this point!) where the murder victims, appropriately enough, have expired in the sadistic fashion typical of the author's work – including an unlikely and cumbersome pendulum device. There's a nightmare sequence, too, in which Keitel finds himself in medieval times and suffers an excruciating death lifted from the notorious CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979) – and, needless to say, we're treated here to the usual cat-meowing-revealing-a-body-hidden-behind-the-wall ending! Martin Balsam appears as an elderly nosy neighbor of Keitel's, but his contribution doesn't amount to much.

Pino Donaggio's score is most effective during the closing credits sequence; responsible for the gruesome effects in both segments is Tom Savini, a Romero regular (with the half-putrefied kitten at the end being a particularly inspired creation).