Director: George A. Romero, Dario Argento
Year: 1990
Country: Italy/USA
Alternate Titles: Due occhi diabolichi
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
Two of the genre's biggest and most respected directors adapt short stories based on the work of Edgar Allen Poe.
Review:
The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar-Trying to exploit her terminal husband, a woman and her lovers' plan to collect the money from his estate runs into trouble when he dies before he's required. Desperate for their plans to succeed, they realize that when he was hypnotized before his death the condition carries on into the afterlife only to find his state far more dangerous than they realized. This was quite a wholly enjoyable and thrilling take on the story. Updating the classic period story into a more modern setting, replete with the updates to the insurance methods and finding out how to prolong the death sentence which manages to provide a faithful adaptation of the original story. This one still features enough cleverness in bringing out the haunting angle which slowly creeps into the segment and really begins working nicely here delivering rather chilling scenes trying to bring him out of his condition. Although the ending is somewhat cliché and formulaic based on the type of storyline present, overall there's a lot to like with this effort.
The Black Cat-Trying to get his career going, a photographer finds that his girlfriend's pet cat has taken an extreme dislike towards him which eventually causes him to kill her and the cat. Carrying on as if she left him, he finds that the idea of keeping her stored away isn't as foolproof as he intended when he fears the cat might not be dead after all. This here is quite the disjointed if somewhat enjoyable effort. When this one works, it tends to work based on the tormenting done to the cat, which manages to feel really well done here with the concept of the photoshoot holding the cat roughly or just physically abusing it which is what makes up the majority of the segment here. The scene of him initially snapping and providing this one with him chopping up the one victim gives this one some extra energy for that scene, and it really plays nicely with the second story adaptation being utilized for the finale. For the most part, though, nothing much happens in this one as it's mostly just the threat of the cat doing something rather than anything actually happening as he spends the main part of the segment trying to get away with his ploy. There's never any tension with anything that happens, and it has so few action scenes that it really just drags on without much happening as a vast majority of its plot threads are dropped and never picked up later on at all. It's enjoyable enough on its own, but there's still plenty of flaws here.
Overview: ****/5
A solid if slightly uneven anthology, this one comes off rather well with quite a lot to like in both segments even though one is a bit better overall. This is highly recommended to fans of either creator, those curious about it, or enjoy the genre as a whole while those turned off by those factors might want to heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment