Wopsploitation: "Il gatto nero"(1981)d/Lucio Fulci

It's been a decalescent sixty ticks since we covered Fulci at the Wop, so I figured we'd remedy that here tonight with an underrated effort that often gets lost amidst Lucio's other films of the period, like L'aldila(1981), Paura nella città dei morti viventi(1980), and Quella villa accanto al cimitero(1981), and wrongfully so.Unlike those other titles, Gatto relies more on atmosphere and tension than perspicuous levels of grue, with an opulent gothic British setting and a cast led by excellent Irish actor Patrick Magee of 'A Clockwork Orange' fame, and supported by Mimsy Farmer, David Warbeck, and Italian genre regulars Al Cliver and Daniela Doria(who doesn't regurgitate animal entrails or get her nipples razored here).Not to say tonight's review is bereaft of Fulci's trademark violence, mind you, there's just less of it here than usual.One signature flair the maestro didn't cut back on for this production is extreme close ups of eyes, as there are numerous to be found.Maybe it had something to do with Magee's woofing eyebrows or the attempted hypnotism in the plot, loosely based on the zeugmatic short story by Poe of the same name, but I thought the peeper shots were actually pretty effective in this instance.While showing constraint in serving up bucketloads of claret to his diehard gorehound following, Fulci instead displays artistic skill in moving Sergio Salvati's camera like never before while setting up beautiful frames worth of eerie unease, and I swear there's even a choice crane shot in there, as well.Enjoying a renaissance of sorts thanks to a recent Anchor Bay release on dvd(I've never been patient enough to wait for such things, scoring the 1999 EC print years earlier), The Black Cat might not be Fulci's crowning cinematic achievement, but it's required viewing, and a satisfying one, notwithstanding.

Worst of all, his policy didn't cover flaming heads through the windshield.
After witnessing his black cat stow away in a car to hypnotize the driver into slamming headfirst into a parked car at high speed, we meet Miles(Patrick Magee), the eccentric town psychic, as he sits at home, intently listening to weird latin recordings spoken in a whisper, before being interrupted by the aforementioned cat violently clawing his hand.We're next introduced to American photographer Jill Trevers(Mimsy Farmer) as she documents the ruins of a local cemetery, finding a small microphone at a crypt that's been broken into.That night at the pub, she overhears the locals dismissing Miles as mad for his graveyard excursions to communicate with and record the voices of the dead.She takes the opportunity to visit Miles and return his microphone, also noticing that his feline seems to despise him, savagely clawing his hands.Later that same night, the cat follows Ferguson(Bruno Corazzari), one of Miles' detractors, as he stumbles pissed from the pub, cornering the sot in a warehouse and causing him to plummet from a gangplank to a spiky death below.When Inspector Gorley(David Warbeck) of the Yard enlists Jill to photograph the crime scene, she notices the same clawmarks on the corpse's hand as on Miles'.The cat then manages to trap an amorous young couple, Stan & Maureen, in a storehouse on the docks, where they ignominiously suffocate, half-naked.The girl's mother(Dagmar Lassander) visits Miles, begging him to use his psychic intuition to locate Maureen(Daniela Doria), even offering to re-ignite their own old flame, if need be, and gets pointed towards the storehouse, where the already decaying corpses are discovered, as well as a curious set of cat tracks in the air conditioning vent.

Accupuncture.Wait, that doesn't look right.
The cat then pays a visit to the grieving mother, knocking over a kerosene lamp and setting the room and woman ablaze, causing her to swandive, engulfed in flames, to the street from the third story window.The feline drops in on Gorley, too, clawing his face multiple times before influencing him to walk in front of an oncoming car.It turns out that Miles has been using the cat as a tool of vengeance against any and all who he feels have wronged him, and, confident that his enemies have been effectively smited, feeds his pet a sedative-heavy meal, throws it in a burlap bag, takes it out into the woods, and hangs it from a tree, causing a psychokinetic furniture explosion at Jill's place.Aware that Miles' cat has been responsible for all the recent gruesome deaths, she ties the remaining loose ends while snooping around the psychic's estate(she's even attacked by bats in the catacombs a la Fulci's earlier Una lucertola con la pelle di donna), earning her a wooden plank to the domepiece from the murderous senior with the wild eyebrows.He hurriedly packs a suitcase at her flat, then returns to brick her up in her cellar, when the local police pay him a visit with Sgt. Wilson(Al Cliver) and a bandaged Gorley in tow, still alive.After denying everything and claiming his cat has passed on, he and his visitors are startled to hear the echoed moan of a cat coming from downstairs.After pinpointing the location of the sounds, they take down the fresh bricks with a pick to reveal an unconscious Jill inside.The black cat also jumps out and stares down his master, who he's turned the tables on after having been used for nefarious misdeeds for so long, as Miles had earlier predicted he would.Credits.

Sorry to burst in on you like that, before you've had a chance to put your face together...
Also conspicuously missing from tonight's review is Fulci's obligatory cameo, though a scene where he plays a doctor ended up on the cutting room floor.The effective soundtrack is provided by Pino Donaggio, marking the only time the composer would ever work with Lucio.Magee, who lent his presence to genre films like Dementia 13(1963), The Masque of the Red Death(1964), The Skull(1965), and Tales From the Crypt(1972), would appear in The Sleep of Death(1981) and The Monster Club(1981) before succumbing the following year at the age of sixty.Mimsy Farmer appeared in Argento's Four Flies on Grey Velvet(1971), Armando Crispino's Macchie solari(1975), and Deodato's Camping del terrore(1987) before retiring from acting, while Warbeck scored roles in Twins of Evil(1971), L'aldila(1979), Margheriti's L'ultimo cacciatore(1980) and L'isola del tesoro(1987) before dying at the age of fifty-five in 1997.Daniela Doria turned(her toes) up in Paura nella città dei morti viventi(1980), Quella villa accanto al cimitero(1981), Lo squartatore di New York(1982), all for Fulci, and even appeared in Di Leo's Avere vent'anni(1978).Though I can see hardcore Fulci-ites balking at the lack of red stuff here, this is one cat I'm not the least bit allergic to(probably the only one), and as such, it scores an impressive three Wops on the ratings scale, and comes highly recommended.Snag yourself a copy!