Masters of Horror: Stuart Gordon:The Black Cat
You can find the movie on Instant Watch on Netflix. The movie has a three star rating. I have watched some of the other Master of Horror collection and they are hit or miss on a good story line. Looking forward to seeing what this one is like.
Watched it today at lunch. Will return with a review next week.
ReplyDeleteMight contain some spoilers.
ReplyDeleteMasters of Horror: Stuart Gordon: The Black Cat
At first I couldn't find anywhere online to watch this movie so I looked up the short story by Edgar Allan Poe which it is based on and read it. The short story is really short, only 11 pages so in order to make a movie lasting an hour out of it, the story has been a bit altered and fleshed out.
I'm not going into the details of that more than simply point out that there are always translation problems when a story is shifted from one medium to another. Movies are all about motion through time and has to handle story elements differently than a text on a printed page. That said I think the director has done a good job in translating the story from text to screen. The movie tells the story as the story of Poe himself struggling to write the short story, while the short story is a story not obviously about Poe himself even if it's told by a nameless narrator who may or may not be the author.
In both cases the narrator is suffering from the effects of drinking/alcoholism which brings a distorted view of reality and makes the reader/viewer a bit uncertain about whether or not events are real or only taking place in the narrator's mind.
The black cat - Pluto - is prominent in both the text and the movie.
The cat becomes the scapegoat for everything wrong with the narrator as a person and for everything going wrong in the narrator's life.
The narrator attaches supernatural powers to the cat and fears it, while his wife loves the cat.
In the end though the cat also helps to bring the narrator to justice for his crimes.
I felt really bad for the narrator even though he performed terrible acts of violence and cruelty (or was it only in his mind?), for his wife being severly ill and suffering and for the cat (who also suffers a great deal)
The movie is very well made and the actors are all good. The effects are used where they are needed but without going overboard. Everything is kept as real as possible which I appreciate because it makes the horror of the story more effective.
As a writer it is easy for me to identify with the struggles of the narrator in the story trying write while facing all kinds of distractions and other obstacles. However I do not use alcohol in order to forget my problems and I also believe it is not a good idea to use any kind of drugs if you want to be really creative.
Back to the movie. I liked it and would probably watch it again.
Another good choice for the Movie Club.
Alright I already left this review but it seems it did not post. I read the story in high school and enjoyed much better than the movie. The director did a good transfering the story onto the screen but, I have to say I really did not like the movie. I would not watch it again. I guess the old saying is true, "the book is normally better than the movie." I gave it two stars. I recommend pass on the movie and read the short story.
ReplyDeleteI'd say the book is not only normally but always better. Especially when I've read it long before ever watching a movie version. I never wanted to watch the The Lord Of The Rings for that reason, and when I finally did I was disapppointed to say the least. The vision I had built in my mind of the story over the years was not matched by what had been put on the screen. Not even close.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of The Black Cat I think the short story is better than the movie even though I liked the movie version.