The Black Cat – Severin Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1989
Director: Luigi Cozzi
Writers: Luigi Cozzi, Daria Nicolodi
Cast: Florence Guérin, Urbano Barberini, Caroline Munro, Brett Halsey, Luisa Maneri, Karina Huff, Michele Soavi

Release Date: October 27th, 2020
Approximate Running Time: 88 Minutes 57 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $29.98

"From Luigi Cozzi – the writer/director of Starcrash, Contamination and Paganini Horror – comes the over-the-top meta-shocker about a production company filming a new sequel to one of ‘70s Italian horror’s best-known classics and the resurrected supernatural demon that may destroy them all." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "now transferred in 2k from pristine vault elements for the first time ever."

The Black Cat comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 26.3 GB

Feature: 24.1 GB

The source looks excellent. Colors are nicely saturated; image clarity is solid; black levels are strong; and compression is very good.

Audio: 4.25/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD stereo mix in English with removable English SDH. The audio sounds clean, clear, and balanced, and the score sounds robust.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 9 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), and an interview with director Luigi Cozzi and actress Caroline Munro titled Cat On The Brain (9 minutes 58 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles).

Summary:

Directed by Luigi Cozzi, whose other notable films include The Killer Must Kill Again, Starcrash, Contamination, Paganini Horror, and a pair of Hercules remakes. Before becoming a director, Cozzi also worked on Dario Argento’s The Cat o’ Nine Tails and Four Flies on Grey Velvet.

The narrative revolves around a horror movie production that unknowingly resurrects a witch named Levana, who wreaks havoc on the world.

Though Luigi Cozzi is most known for his work within the science fiction and fantasy genres, his late 1980’s forays into the horror genre, Paganini Horror, and The Black Cat prove that he’s capable of excelling in other film genres.

Content-wise, The Black Cat is an odd film, even by Italian genre standards. The Black Cat shares the same title as an Edgar Allen Poe story. This film has no connection to Edgar Allen Poe. The Black Cat’s other connection to horror’s past is by way of co-screenwriter Daria Nicolodi, who wanted to complete the Three Mothers trilogy (the first two films are Suspiria and Inferno). That said, The Black Cat did not complete the Three Mothers trilogy. The result is an inventive spin on Thomas De Quincey’s Suspiria de Profundis.

From a production standpoint, The Black Cat has all the elements that have become synonymous with 1980’s Italian horror cinema: stylish visuals, gory murder set pieces, a soundtrack that features heavy metal bands like Bango Tango (Someone Like You) and White Lion (Radar Love), and music cues from Goblin’s Suspira score.

Despite being filmed in English, it’s obvious that some of the cast’s voices were overdubbed in post-production. Fortunately, this never takes away from any of the performances, which are more than adequate for the story at hand. The cast is filled with recognizable faces: Urbano Barberini (Opera), Brett Halsey (Cat in the Brain), Caroline Munro (Maniac), and Michele Soavi (Cemetery Man).

From its opening moments, The Black Cat is a well-executed horror film that’s always entertaining. The movie-within-movie premise of The Black Cat is effective because it revolves around characters being confronted by an evil entity that prevents them from making a movie about it. Ultimately, The Black Cat is a text-book example of Italian genre cinema’s ability to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.

The Black Cat gets a first-rate release from Severin Films that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and an informative interview, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer