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Two Evil Eyes
A duo of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations about a greedy wife's attempt to embezzle her dying husband's fortune, and a sleazy reporter's adoption of a strange black cat.
Release : | 1991 |
Rating : | 6.1 |
Studio : | Gruppo Bema, ADC Films, |
Crew : | Production Design, Set Decoration, |
Cast : | Adrienne Barbeau Harvey Keitel Ramy Zada E.G. Marshall Madeleine Potter |
Genre : | Horror |
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Thanks for the memories!
Perfect cast and a good story
A Masterpiece!
I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
I like the film - it was entertaining. I wasn't crazy about the ending, it ended way to abruptly for me but otherwise a decent watch. It's two short stories - about one hour each.1st: "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" - A very wealthy older man is dying and his young wife is after all the money. The wealthy dying man has a young doctor that his wife is seeing. The doctor keeps him alive to sign papers through hypnosis - signing all over to the wife. They have to keep him alive for awhile longer to get all the paperwork taken care of but the man dies while under hypnosis... is he still alive? Has the wife gone crazy? I really love this first one - I wasn't expecting what happens after the man dies. Kept my interest all the way through! 8/10 2nd: "Black Cat" - A woman finds a black cat and decided to keep it. She lives with her photographer boyfriend who is not crazy about cats but says okay to her keeping it. Later on the boyfriend tortures the cat for photos, kills the cat and the girlfriend knows he did it. They argue a lot as he goes deeper into madness - people end up dead.A pretty good story. It starts out good, hits a lull for a few minutes, then picks back up again. After the girlfriend dies it gets really interesting! 8/10 Overall interesting anthology - I liked it.8/10
After viewing Dario Argento's interesting 1996 Giallo The Stendhal Syndrome,I took a look at other Argento DVDs that I had placed by the side of my bedroom,and was pleased to spot an anthology title that Argento had co-directed with George Romero,which led to me deciding,that this would be the perfect time to open the 2 evil eyes wide. The plot:Note:due to there being 2 stories,I am going to spilt the plot into 2 parts.Story 1: The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar.Looking at her old husband laying on his death bed, Jessica Valdemar decides that after having spent the last few years being Ernest's arm candy,that it is time to make her "sugar daddy" pay for all the years Jessica has given him.Starting an affair with Ernest's doctor, (Dr. Robert Hoffman)Hoffman hypnotises Ernest,so that he can give his approval to all his cash being given to Jessica.As they count down the final days to the transfer being confirmed,Jessica and Robert are left shaken,when Ernest suddenly dies.Desperate to get their hands on the cash,Jessica & Robert decide that the best thing to do is to chuck Ernest into the freezer (what a charming couple!) As they start to relax round the house,Robert and Jessica begin to hear strange noises coming from the freezer.Story 2:The Black Cat.Returning home after taking photos from the latest police crime scene,Rod Usher goes into his photo lab,and starts developing the pics.As the development is taking place,Rod notices that a mysterious black cat has somehow gotten into the room.Talking to his long-term girlfriend Annabel,Rod discovers that she is adopted the cat,due to her belief of black cats being connected to historical witchcraft.Gathering up photos for his first to be published book,Rod finds a rapid hatred suddenly growing between him and the cat,with a gap increasing in his relationship,as Annabel finds herself standing by the cats side.Placing the cat in the middle of a photo-shoot,Rod finds himself hating the very sight of the cat,which leads to him killing the fur ball.Finding his relationship with Annabel to become more fragile from the pets sudden 'disappearance',Rod is left speechless,when the shadow of the murdered moggy suddenly returns. View on the film:Filmed just before he entered the Decade of the Dead-Ends,co- writer/ (along with Peter Koper) director George Romero disappointingly stays away from displaying the Valdemar's decadent life style,with Romero giving his segment a frozen appearance,which appears to be largely focused on Tom Savini's cartoon-style practical effects,that leads to Adrienne Barbeau performance as Jessica to feel extremely cold.Updating Poe's story,the writers brilliantly dip the segment into Film Noir waters,as Jessica is showed to be a dame who will betray anyone,in order to get her hands on some cold hard cash.Gradually increasing the presence of a horror element,the writers show Jessica and Roberts Greed to be something which will lead to them having to pay in "blood" money.Swinging into action with a wonderful score by Pino Donaggio,co- writer/ (along with Franco Ferrini) director Dario Argento hits his US debut with a tremendous confidence,as Argento smoothly swings from cheerful nods to Poe's works, (such as The Fall of the House of Usher & The Pit and the Pendulum)to threading his own web of mysterious terror.Avoiding the chance to make the segment a direct copy of Poe's story,the writer's instead slowly transform the plot from gritty police protocol into tense paranoid horror,as Rod finds the mysterious cat digging into every part of his life,which leads to Rod falling into insanity,as he tries to destroy the black cat'O nine tails.Leading the segments cast, (which includes a very good Kim Hunter)Harvey Keitel gives a brilliant performance as Rod Usher,with Keitel showing Usher to be a clean-cut crime photographer,who has demons laying on the fringes of his psych,that are being awaken by the claws of a cat.Standing in the way of Keitel and the fur ball, Madeleine Potter gives a great,fragile performance as Annabel,thanks to Potter showing Annabel being horrified of the claw marks that have entered her relationship with Rod,and eventually finding herself tangled in a deadly game of cat's cradle.Opening his segment with a swing from Poe's Pendulum,Dario Argento and cinematographer Peter Reniers pull out the dirt from the cats nails,to show the doom-laden world that Rod is in,as Argento subtly covers Rod's house in the darkness that he brings back from the crime scenes.Along with the doom-laden horror atmosphere,Argento also shows a startling eye for ultra-stylised left-field chills,with Argento revealing the truth behind the cat in a dazzling dream/possible flash cat,as the black cat opens its two evil eyes.
Romero's half is actually not bad. Seems to work with the expertise of his genre and Poe's story. Builds the suspense gradually and has a creepy tone to it. And then Tom Atkins shows up as a detective, puffin' a cigar while holding a gun. That's worth a watch alone.7/10 Argento's half ain't bad either. Nudity and visual trademarks are present. Thought Keitel's character wearing a beret alone was dumb, but at least that was something to laugh at. It had an unnecessary scene involving medieval times which added nothing. The third act turned into a parody of some kind, not to mention the kid that comes in for a session with the trimmed sleeves "he's lying, lying!" Retarded ending, but funny.6/10
When the two greatest Horror directors alive (and two of the greatest of all-time), George A. Romero and Dario Argento make a movie together, a fan of Horror might rightly hope for a masterpiece. "Due Occhi Diabolici" aka. "Two Evil Eyes" from 1990 features two separate 1 hour films based on the work of Edgar Alan Poe, "The Facts In The Case Of Mr. Valdemar", directed by Romero, and "The Black Cat" directed by Argento. "Two Evil Eyes" is certainly great entertainment and a pleasant Horror experience, however it does not quite come up to the high expectations one might have of a film by these two brilliant directors. It must be said, however, that it may be very difficult for a Poe-themed movie to impress me after Roger Corman's brilliant Poe-cycle from the sixties, starring my all-time favorite actor, the great Horror icon Vincent Price. These films, such as "Pit And The Pendulum", "The Haunted Palace" and "Masque Of The Red Death" (just to name the three most ingenious masterpieces of this brilliant cycle) are essential all-time Horror greats, no Poe-themed film has ever come close to those flicks, and it is very unlikely that any ever will.The second segment, Argento's "The Black Cat" is, in my opinion, a lot better than Romero's "Mr. Valdemar", not only for the fact that one of the greatest living actors, Harvey Keitel, plays the lead, but also since it is far more twisted and atmospheric. "The Facts In The Case Of Mr. Valdemar", mainly based on Poe's short story of the same name, tells the tale of a woman named Jessica (Adrienne Barbeau), who, alongside her ex-lover (Ramy Zada), is willing to do quite anything to inherit the entire property of her terminally ill older husband (Bingo O Malley)... The 1 hour segment has some very eerie moments, and a chilling atmosphere over-all. As mentioned above, however, Roger Corman handled the same topic with a lot more depth in 30 minutes as the final segment of "Tales Of Terror" (1962). Admittedly, Corman had a brilliant cast, Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone and Debra Paget."The Black Cat", is also mainly based on Poe's short of the same name. However, this second segment furthermore contains elements from certain other Poe works. A crime-scene photographer with a familiar name, Roderick Usher (Harvey Keitel) and his younger girlfriend Annabel (Madeleine Porter) live happily together in a nice old building. Until one day Anabel takes a black cat home... The second segment is highly atmospheric, nightmarish and very eerie, and crowned by Harvey Keitel's leading performance.All said, "Two Evil Eyes" is neither a highlight of Romero's nor Argento's career, however it is still a good film. Let's not forget we're talking about two geniuses here! If you set your expectations too high and expect a masterpiece of the brilliance of "Night Of The Living Dead" Or "Suspiria" you'll be disappointed. Nevertheless, this is great Horror entertainment. Just keep in mind that you're not about to watch something comparable to Romero's or Argento's masterpieces in quality, and you will have a great time as a Horror fan. My rating: 6/10 for Romero's segment and 8/10 for Argento's segment, makes an overall 7/10. Recommended!