The Black Cat Movie Review

The Black Cat is a 1981 horror movie directed by Lucio Fulci and starring Patrick Magee, Mimsy Farmer, David Warbeck and Dagmar Lassander.

The movie begins with a man in his car. He sees a black cat in the back seat and he goes into a trance. He crashes his car and dies. The cat wanders into its house, a big house owned by Professor Miles(Magee). He is a bit of a weirdo who says that he is a medium. A woman called Jill(Farmer) is wandering around taking pictures of a crypt when she finds a microphone in there. She meets a policeman who warns her not to into the crypt again. A couple are looking for somewhere to have sex. They find a storage room but the cat is around. The couple loses the key to get out of there and the power is cut. They are stuck inside the room. There is no air. The girl's mother,Lillian(Lassander) goes to the police about her daughter who has disappeared. By this time, the couple are dying.

Inspector Gorley(Warbeck) is brought in from Scotland Yard to investigate the case. Jill wanders around town and meets Miles and they talk. He tries to put her in a trance but the black cat intervenes and scratches him. Jill gets away before he can do anything. The cat wants to kill him. A local man meets the cat at night. He throws a stone at it and it follows him into a building and gets stuck on a ledge, the cat scratches his hands and he falls to his death. The inspector needs Jill to take photographs as she is the only photographer in the village. The cops find the dead man and they think that it was just an accident, Jill sees the cat scratches on the man's hands and wonders. Lillian goes to see Miles about her daughter who is still missing. She gives him an object of her daughter's and he concentrates on it. He tells her that she is by the water. The cops go to the boathouse and they find the couple inside, dead.

Miles realises that the cat is to blame for the deaths. Lillian sees the cat before her house goes on fire. She gets burned alive and the cat wanders off. Jill calls Miles and she shows him the pictures of the cat scratches. He agrees that the cat is to blame for the deaths. Miles tells her that the cat can think and he is clever. Miles goes to hang the cat and end its reign of terror. He sees a shadow of it hanging. He almost has an accident. Then he sees that the shadow has disappeared. The inspector wonders what is going on. Jill is going to show him the cat scratch picture but she finds that it has gone. He goes to see Jill and they talk about the cat and Miles. They manage to squeeze in a kiss in between. Miles sees the cat. It has come back!!! The cat follows the inspector and attacks him. It hypnotises him and he stands out in the road and gets hit by a car.

Jill asks the man who hit the inspector what happened. He tells her that Gorley was acting as if he was in a trance. He tells her that there was a cat there. Another inspector arrives in town. Jill visits Miles and he tells her what he did to the cat. Jill wanders around his house and she takes pictures.
She hides when she sees Miles coming. He realises what she is going. Jill meets the evil kitty. She uses the flash from her camera to fend it off. It appears, then disappears. This is some cat! It tries to get her, but fails. Miles finds her and he tells her that the cat is to blame for everything. He says that he used the cat as a front for his evil deeds. The cat has become strong and now it is in charge. She runs off and gets attacked by bats. Miles knocks her out and hides her car and clears out her place to make it look as if she has left town. The police are looking for Jill. The new Inspector suspects foul play. Miles is going to wall her in in his basement. Gorley informs the new Inspector about the evil cat. Gorley and the police pay a visit to the dodgy Miles and  they asks him about Jill. He tells them that she left. They look around and they hear the cat roaring from the basement. They find Jill. The cat jumps out too. Miles is horrified as the cat is back and has come out on top.

This was a good film. I really enjoyed it. I loved the evil cat angle and it was a good mystery overall. The cast were decent and there were some pretty good scenes in it. Although it is not the best Fulci offering, I found it enjoyable and good fun. There is not loads of gore or anything, but the story is interesting and it is enough to keep you entertained. I have to say that I had not heard anything about this movie before I watched it, but I am glad I did. I had a good time watching and I recommend it as a good horror/mystery. I will give it a 7/10.