I really don't care what anyone says; "The Black Cat" is pretty damn cool. As far as the gore goes, it's not excessive as most of Fulci's films are, but it doesn't need to be. That being said, this film is not for the faint of heart. If you watched it with your grandma or someone who has not been jaded by the blood and guts in Italian horror films, you'd see it from a different side. A dude gets impaled, a girl burns to death, rotting corpses are found in a hot boat shack, and a cat repeatedly rips the flesh off a guy's face, goring him up. I mean, it's not "New York Ripper" but it's not a slasher film. It's more like a giallo.

This film is most notable for the brilliant cinematography. The shots from the cat's point of view are awesome. And then there's the excellent acting (for a Fulci film). Mimsy Farmer is decent! And the other dude, Patrick Magee from "Clockwork Orange" isn't bad either. Better than other Fulci stuff for sure.

The fact that the acting is above par and the fact that there isn't a constant onslaught of gore has contributed to the low rating on here. The film is a good giallo-style horror movie and it oozes with old school ambiance and mood. The soundtrack is great and all in all, it's a great adaptation of the Poe story.

I recommend it to Italian horror fans who can stand to be entertained without seeing people get disemboweled.

7 out of 10, kids.

• Fulci's The Black Cat is "freely adapted" from Poe's story. I suppose that "freely adapted" means that the last 10 minutes might bear a vague resemblance. The Black Cat is the story of a man who uses his psychic abilities to force his cat to kill for him. But the tables soon turn when the man tries to kill the cat. The cat becomes master and uses the man.

• The more Fulci I see, the more impressed I become. I started out with a couple that many people list among their favorites (The House by the Cemetery and City of the Living Dead) and neither did anything for me. But now that I've seen The Beyond, The Black Cat, A Lizard in Woman's Skin, and Don't Torture a Duckling, my opinion has changed. I now see the genius of Fulci that I've heard others rave about over the years. The Black Cat may not be his best, but it's an enjoyable Gothic thriller with loads of atmosphere. While the gore quotient may be turned down, there's still a few scenes that are undeniably Fulci.

• Patrick Magee, in one of his final roles, gives a very solid performance as the mad psychic. He effectively displays a wide array of emotions and is generally believable in each. Magee really was in the same class with the likes of Karloff when it came to portraying menace. Mimsy Farmer co-stars as a photographer who is as dull as dishwater.

• The cinematography is another area that stands out. Sergio Salvati presents some very noteworthy camera work. Chief among the scenes that stand out are the ones shot from the cat's point of view. The way the camera moves through the grass just as a cat would are very nicely done.

• The weakest point of the movie, as is so often the case with Italian horror, is the plot. Much of it makes little sense. For example, why does Magee really want these people dead? There's no clear motivation from what I could tell. Also, there are several plot threads that look interesting, but are not explored in any detail. The example I'll cite here is the exploration of the ruins. They look interesting, but we learn nothing about them and only see them in one ten minute stretch of the movie.

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.